Posted: 5/3/2009 4:43:55 PM EDT
I was watching Commando last night and got to wondering what is the purpose of the "Commando" style ARs by Bushmaster? Have these style rifles ever seen military use? I would think that if you must have a 16" barrel, why would you want a 11.5" and a 5.5" flash hider? Wouldn't that be a significant loss in accuracy? Not to mention those 5.5" flash hiders are some heavy POS! What does ARFCOM think?
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I think they were marketed towards enthusiasts of the old XM-177/CAR-15 (although I see the one in your picture has an M-4 buttstock instead of a CAR style).
ETA: Bushmaster might have some overseas military contracts, but to my knowledge they have never supplied any weapons to the Pentagon. Maybe I'm wrong? |
| I took one in trade and I kinda like it. I've been using it with my CMMG .22LR conversion kit as It has a 1 in 9 twist barrel. The one advantage I see is that you're buying a short barrel with a pinned on flashhider. If you decide you want an SBR you can easily unpin the FH after you get the stamp....viola....instant SBR with no extra parts to buy except a short replacement FH. As far as weight, they aren't really overly front heavy. |
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Quoted:
I was watching Commando last night and got to wondering what is the purpose of the "Commando" style ARs by Bushmaster? Have these style rifles ever seen military use? I would think that if you must have a 16" barrel, why would you want a 11.5" and a 5.5" flash hider? Wouldn't that be a significant loss in accuracy? Not to mention those 5.5" flash hiders are some heavy POS! What does ARFCOM think? http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/1264/bmcommandoa3.jpg Vietnam XM models. |
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As already noted, they were meant to simulate the looks of a Vietnam era XM177E1 carbine. The moderator used on the originals was classified as a suppressor and would have to be pinned and welded for legality. They are for looks only. Doesn't mean they aren't fun though. |
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Then why did the Vietnam era model have the long flash hider? They were a "moderator" and reduced the concussion and muzzle flash from such a short barrel. The real moderators wouldn't make it to 16 inches pinned and were classified as a suppressor, so a fake was made so people could have a carbine that looked like an XM177. |
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Quoted: Then why did the Vietnam era model have the long flash hider? It was more than a flash hider. It was designed to lower the sound level and reduce the muzzle blast from the shorter barrel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XM177 Unlike the civilian look a like which is just a hollow tube, the military version had a internal design to trap and slow down the escaping gases. |
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ETA: Bushmaster might have some overseas military contracts, but to my knowledge they have never supplied any weapons to the Pentagon. Maybe I'm wrong? They sold a small number of M4's to the US .mil back in the 90's. One time deal. Done a lot of business for overseas .mils. |
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Then why did the Vietnam era model have the long flash hider? Because they haden't really figured out the whole gas port size/barrel length thing...Colt made what they called a moderator; basically a 4" long cylinder with some milled steel guts in it which retarded the gas flow a bit, back into the gas tube, so the gun would cycle. It had the side effect of sligltly lowering the muzzle blast so it pretty much sounded like a normal 20" rifle, out of a 11.5" barrel, when all was said and done. Thus, the long "flash hider"...it really wasn't, but people thought of it as such. (And, to be true, it did have the side-effect of reducing/removing muzzle flash) The ATF under the Carter administation decided that they were sound supressors, and should be taxed/registered as such. In a double-whammy, the Carter administration also decided that America won't export sound supressors any more...which effectivly killed the whole Colt model lineup using the moderators. This is just what I've read over the years, I could be wrong... |
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Quoted: Quoted: Then why did the Vietnam era model have the long flash hider? Because they haden't really figured out the whole gas port size/barrel length thing...Colt made what they called a moderator; basically a 4" long cylinder with some milled steel guts in it which retarded the gas flow a bit, back into the gas tube, so the gun would cycle. It had the side effect of sligltly lowering the muzzle blast so it pretty much sounded like a normal 20" rifle, out of a 11.5" barrel, when all was said and done. Thus, the long "flash hider"...it really wasn't, but people thought of it as such. (And, to be true, it did have the side-effect of reducing/removing muzzle flash) The ATF under the Carter administation decided that they were sound supressors, and should be taxed/registered as such. In a double-whammy, the Carter administration also decided that America won't export sound supressors any more...which effectivly killed the whole Colt model lineup using the moderators. This is just what I've read over the years, I could be wrong... That sound right to me, at least what I have heard as well. I completely forgot about the gas pressure part though. |
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ETA: Bushmaster might have some overseas military contracts, but to my knowledge they have never supplied any weapons to the Pentagon. Maybe I'm wrong? They sold a small number of M4's to the US .mil back in the 90's. One time deal. Done a lot of business for overseas .mils. And other non-.mil .gov agencies and entities to this day, but that's been discussed ad nauseam in past threads. |