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.
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.