[SOT]

Well I got a chance to look at some of those "new" $49 M16's and M14's.
If you are not familliar with the program. The US gov't is "lend/leasing" these guns to departments for $49 per unit (I think that's the cost) and it covers shipping to said department and some administrative paperwork.

Good news, they are actually getting to departments...bad news...a lot of them are real beaters coming out of training bats and are basically "shot out"....good news most seem to have the "small hole" lower so they will match just about any upper out there.

Of the 30 or so that we looked at about 30% were field ready, the other 70% needed some work.
Of note: headspace with a go/no go guage. Timing of the sear was a bit off on some, many were "shot out" so an upper replacement was needed, lots had worn out pivot holes (not an easy fix) and a few of the real shooters were freaking nearly brand new.

Maybe someone here has a link to the program.

A quick fix for these and still cost effective. Buy a new upper for $300 (or whatever) and you'll have nearly a brand new gun. Since these are all machine guns, you can put even the smallest upper on these things - so long as you keep the old ones in the event they need to be sent back.


The M14's...prolly a little too much power for most urban environments. Neat to see but not really practical.

 

[MVS]

um, ok.. :shock:.. That entire post was like a foreign language to me. I can shoot and clean my sidearm, other than that -- can't help ya. The parts on my gun that I know of are the trigger, slide, barrell, magazine/clip, safety,.. and thats about it.. oh yeah, and that springy thing inside. :lol:

I know what an M16 looks like, but I haven't a clue about the "uppers" and "lowers" -- sounds like a narcotics issue to me.

 

[SOT]

Ok small lesson:

The M16/AR15/M4 platform is generally built by putting two component groups together.

The Upper:

Which consists of the barrel, the hand guards, the upper portion of the rifle, the bolt, charging handle, bolt carrier, sights, and is either a flat top or has that handle on it or has both and the handle is removable.

The Lower:

Generally consist of the fire control group (trigger and do dads inside) the lower itself (the part that is considered the firearm) a stock choice, grip, magazine well.

Now the part that generally gets "shot out" is the upper. Which in the US is NOT a firearm. So a simple solution to really bad $49 guns are to replace the upper, check the lower to make sure there are no cracks and all the little springs and parts are serviceable, and you've got a brand new gun for half the price. If your department figures $900 for each patrol rifle, the Gov't "lend/lease" guns are $49 plus the cost of the upper ($250-1000) so lets say $49 + $300 for a normal upper, plus maybe $50 a gun for general fit and timing if you don't do that in house. that' $399 for a gun that can provide service for 10-20 years in your department...a great value. Now most departments seem to rotate guns out every 5 or so years...but that's still a great value.

Now on some of the lowers, the holes that attach the upper to the lower are off size (on the Colts) and some may have been warn out. Not something that's really easy to fix due to the lower being aluminum but you work with it and see how it goes. of the 100+ rifles we've now seen, only about 10% are to the point of being "parts" guns and not serviceable.

Last note: The AR/ M platform is a very viable platform in that as long as the holes of the lower and upper match up, there's an infinite variety of "uppers' you can purchase.
From .22 caliber training uppers, to 9mm and 40 caliber suppressed uppers, uppers that are in different calibers (6.8 SPC) to bolt action uppers up to 50 caliber.

 

[Channy1984]

Well I got a chance to look at some of those "new" $49 M16's and M14's.
If you are not familliar with the program. The US gov't is "lend/leasing" these guns to departments for $49 per unit (I think that's the cost) and it covers shipping to said department and some administrative paperwork.

Good news, they are actually getting to departments...bad news...a lot of them are real beaters coming out of training bats and are basically "shot out"....good news most seem to have the "small hole" lower so they will match just about any upper out there.

Of the 30 or so that we looked at about 30% were field ready, the other 70% needed some work.
Of note: headspace with a go/no go guage. Timing of the sear was a bit off on some, many were "shot out" so an upper replacement was needed, lots had worn out pivot holes (not an easy fix) and a few of the real shooters were freaking nearly brand new.

Maybe someone here has a link to the program.

A quick fix for these and still cost effective. Buy a new upper for $300 (or whatever) and you'll have nearly a brand new gun. Since these are all machine guns, you can put even the smallest upper on these things - so long as you keep the old ones in the event they need to be sent back.

The M14's...prolly a little too much power for most urban environments. Neat to see but not really practical.

That's a nice deal for LE departments. I think you could also take the M14 and convert it into a scout model which makes it more workable in urban environments.

Oh yeah... are these M16's the A1 or A2 models?

 

[SOT]

It differs crate load to crate load. Most seem to be a1's that I've seen so far. Some A2's.

The SOPMOD from Troy is a really great way to dress up the M14...bit pricy but very worthwhile.

Well I got a chance to look at some of those "new" $49 M16's and M14's.
If you are not familliar with the program. The US gov't is "lend/leasing" these guns to departments for $49 per unit (I think that's the cost) and it covers shipping to said department and some administrative paperwork.

Good news, they are actually getting to departments...bad news...a lot of them are real beaters coming out of training bats and are basically "shot out"....good news most seem to have the "small hole" lower so they will match just about any upper out there.

Of the 30 or so that we looked at about 30% were field ready, the other 70% needed some work.
Of note: headspace with a go/no go guage. Timing of the sear was a bit off on some, many were "shot out" so an upper replacement was needed, lots had worn out pivot holes (not an easy fix) and a few of the real shooters were freaking nearly brand new.

Maybe someone here has a link to the program.

A quick fix for these and still cost effective. Buy a new upper for $300 (or whatever) and you'll have nearly a brand new gun. Since these are all machine guns, you can put even the smallest upper on these things - so long as you keep the old ones in the event they need to be sent back.

The M14's...prolly a little too much power for most urban environments. Neat to see but not really practical.

That's a nice deal for LE departments. I think you could also take the M14 and convert it into a scout model which makes it more workable in urban environments.

Oh yeah... are these M16's the A1 or A2 models?

 

[anesthes]

um, ok.. :shock:.. That entire post was like a foreign language to me. I can shoot and clean my sidearm, other than that -- can't help ya. The parts on my gun that I know of are the trigger, slide, barrell, magazine/clip, safety,.. and thats about it.. oh yeah, and that springy thing inside. :lol:

I know what an M16 looks like, but I haven't a clue about the "uppers" and "lowers" -- sounds like a narcotics issue to me.

How do you enforce firearms regulations then?