This might be a dumb question but I am fairly new on the AR scene: What company makes M-16's for the US Military?

M-16 I believe is Sabre Defense.

FNH and Colt. that is all.

Colt makes M4's
FNMI M-16's

Mark

Some

LMT (Mk18 Mod0)
Colt (M4)
Sabre and FN (M16)

Anyone have a photo of the LMT?

Search GOOGLE IMAGES.  There are hundreds of them.

all of the M-16's I have shot are Colts,  but most of them are pretty old.

Sabre recently got a contract for the production of M16A4s

LMT (Mk18 Mod0)
Colt (M16 and M4)
Sabre (M16)
FN (M16 and M249)

My last day I left the Army before terminal leave I spent checking in a new shipment of M16's to the armory.  We recieved 250 spanking new M16's from Colt...so I know they are still supplying the Army (don't know about the other forces) with M16 as well as M4's.

The Mk18 Mod0 is Navy and Spec Ops only.

M4's are all Colt across the board.

Does anyone other than FN supply the M249's anymore?  I believe they might have an exclusive contract on those.

Who supplies the M240's?  I don't remember where the 2 we had came from...

You are correct that FN supplies the 249 but we're talking about AR/M16 platform weapons.

Fabrique Nationale makes the M240G also.  In my entire time (20) years I never saw any M16 variant that wasn't made by Colt. Maybe times are a changing?

..and the MK19 is made by Saco Defense Industries (now a division of General Dynamics Armament)

In the past, Colt , FN ,H & R & General Motors Hydramatic Division have made M16s.

colt m4 here. Army

Yea...I had a Sabre Defense M16 that I pretty much trashed once.  Gas tube was the initial point of failure and the reason I had to take it to the armorer...but he discovered the barrel was "shot out".  Odd as it didn't really loose any accuracy, but he said it wasn't up to snuff (I think he was just trying to get new weapons).  But all my other's were Colt.

I had an A2 refurb with a Hydromatic lower at one time.

Trashed already? I didn't think that Sabre had even delivered the first shipment yet?

Kind of cool...



M16A1
M16A2
M4
M16A4

is someone going to say bushmaster for the supposedly few dozen they sold during gulf 1

I don't know how true that is it's just something I heard or read a while back

Like I said....I don't think it was trashed...I think the damn armorer had something against the roll mark.

The same folks will tell you this is real!

When was this?

I just wanted to add from my time in the military:

I've personally shot Colts and FNs

I've seen pictures of GM Hydromatics, H&R, Balimoy, LMTs, and Sabre Defense and know they are real and were, will be, or are currently in service.

I have heard the rumors of Bushmasters being in service and personally knowing how the government works, I honestly do not doubt a few are out there.  We supplied a few to the Iraqi Army and the Georgians so who is to say we didn't keep a few?  Stranger things have happened.


Now here is where you are going to flame me.  While I was deployed, in Iraq I saw DPMS M4 rifles on LSA Anaconda.  Yes, they were real and I saw them.  They had glacier handguards and everything.  I am not saying anything for or against DPMS except for the fact that I saw a few of them.  If you can't handle that then I am sorry.  I know they were there.

I also saw a Glock while on LSA Anaconda.  A guy in solid tan fatigues had it in a paddle holster on his right side as I went into a DFAC.  I think it was a 19 or a 23.  It may have been a 17 or a 22.  I have plenty of Glocks at home and I know that backstrap with the little lanyard hole in it when I see it.  It was not an M9 Beretta or an M11 Sig.

I have had people dome the same way.  They simply cannot believe the facts even
after confronted with them.  They always know someone who had, carried, saw, ect.
one while they were in the military.

I have even offered cash to people if they could give me verifiable proof of a Mattel
M-16.  Such as an actual rifle, piece of a receiver with an intact rollmark, ect.  However,
no one can seem to come up with anything.

If there ever was any such thing, there would be one for sale somewhere at an
outlandish price.

I would be very hesitant to have a definitive answer about what the U.S. miliatry has in inventory.  Certainly we know who has secured contracts from the government for m16, m4 etc., but don't discount purchases from sprecial forces units that have a greater freedom on who they procure weapons from.  As for Iraq and Afghanistan, you can see almost anything.  Besides U.S. military you have CIA, FBI, defense contractors and others walking around on the FOB with all manner of weapons.  While in Iraq back in 2004, we were given the O.K. to convert our M16A2's by buying shorter barrel uppers, carbine buttstocks, etc.    So I can see how someone could be confused between what they saw and what is actually issued.

I believe those weapons were for export only, and NOT used by OUR military....but I could be wrong.

Augee, what is the roll marking on the MK18? Is it just a M4 lower marked as such? Or does it say MK18 on it?

I just love watching these kind of threads.

I agree...awesome thread.  I 've learned a buttload from this single one.

Maj

FN, Colt, and Beretta for the M9

At LSA Anaconda during 04-06' I had 4 Bushmaster XM15E1 carbines (full auto, 14.5" 1:9, flat tops) that were assigned to my S2 section.  These were issued to "other" people that came from other US agencies, they were not US Army property but I did have to due a weekly inventory on them.  Last year I was down range as a contractor and had Double Star carbines and SIG 226s issued to us.  Saw the guard force that mans some of the DFAC in BIAP using DPMS and S&W carbines.  I ran around the country with standard US weapons (M4, M9, M1911A1, M79, M240 etc), SOF specific (SCAR,HK416, Mk44 minigun) and foreign weapons (AKs, FALs, vz58, MG3) to name a few.  Point being just because you see it doesn't mean its approved at type classified.

My last assignment was as an Unconventional Warfare Instructor at Camp Mackall.  The weapons that we would train our guerilla force had some interesting M4 Carbines.  Alot were marked M16A2 Carbine with fixed carrying handle and full auto (factory rollmarked and not over stamped) and others standar M4A1s (no burst guns at all).  Our AKs on the other hand we had a few military grade Polish/Bulgarian/ChiCom and a bunch of semi only Romanians with the plant of Apes stock.  

One thing about any weapon that US forces have to have before any fielding is a safety certification letter.  This is what held up our delivery of a certain .45 cal SMG a few years ago.

CD

I personally have a contract with the military. That means anything I do or say is MILSPEC. HA!

The following is a Saber Defence Industries press release:

NASHVILLE, TN (July 15, 2008)- Sabre Defence Industries, LLC (SDI), a government contractor for the manufacture of machine gun parts and accessories and commercial XR15 rifles, is proud to announce that Sabre Defence has been awarded an IDIQ contract for a minimum of 4,952 M16A3 and 702 M16A4 rifles to support the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and foreign military customers. Nine bids were received with Sabre being only the third company in the 45-year M16 history, besides Colt and FN, to be awarded a contract to supply a Mil-Spec M16 to the U.S. government.

The M16 project will take place at Sabre Defence’s Nashville, Tennessee facility and is expected to be completed by end of December, 2010. Sabre’s growing reputation as a top quality manufacturer of XR model rifles in the commercial market will not be affected by the military contract. Production continues to meet demand of the highly accurate XR15A3 series rifles and new models are scheduled to be released in the coming months.

For more information on any of Sabre Defence’s rifles, handguns, or barrel assemblies, log on to www.sabredefence.com or call 615-333-0077.

Quality Parts Inc Bushmaster Firearms claimed to have done US Army contracts for M4s in the early 90s.

Then the rifle was definately not a Sabre.  This was back in 2001!  (it's been so long yet it feels like yesterday!!).  The rifle in question definately wasn't a Colt (because I remember thinking the armorer just wanted another colt).  But I could have swore it was a Sabre...definately not though.  Like I said originally, whatever it was didn't loose accuracy even though the gas tube failed and the armorer said it was far worse...

There are some others who made replacement receivers.  I can't think of them off hand.

Press release:

"January 2, 2009:  Hesse is proud to announce a contract to supply the U.S. military with 48,525 M16 rifles.  These will replace the Vulcan rifles currently in service in Iraq and Afghanistan."

I have already ordered my A5 clone.

The Sabre Defence release is already suspect, at least in terms of fact checking.  Sabre is *not* the third company to produce M16s on a government contract.  As others have pointed out, H&R and GM Hydramatic both produced M16s, even before FN did, during Vietnam.  

As far as M16A4s go, both Colt and FN continue to produce M16A4s.  M4 and M4A1 Carbines are produced by Colt exclusively, though there have been some "conversion" M4s that came out of Anniston, none to my knowledge have left the factory either as M4s or M4A1s.  

Balimoy also produced replacement M16A2 lower receivers for a time, and IIRC were marked with the MFG number, and had no real "logo."  

What you thought may have been a Sabre Defence lower may have been an older FN, the markings were dot matrix marked with an electro-pencil similarly to current stripped Sabre lowers.  

I would suspect that the majority of Sabre M16s are fulfilling the "foreign government sales" part of that contract, though some may find their way into Navy or Marine Corps.  Nevertheless, 702 M16A4s is not really a statistically significant compared to Colt and FNs contracts for the M16A4.  

As for the Quality Parts/BFI "M4 contract," don't believe everything you hear on the internet.  Bushmaster did not produce M4s or carbines for the US military during Gulf War I or otherwise.  IIRC, there was some evidence of a very small government contract during that time, but there's no evidence that they were actually used by the military.  It would be as if someone claimed that RRA produced "mil-spec" M4s because the DEA bought some carbines from them.  

If you peruse the 99+ page Mk 18/CQBR threads, you will see that there's a lot of debate as to whether or not LMT provides Mk 18 upper receiver and barrel assemblies to NSWC Crane.  Nevertheless, as far as I know, and as far as anyone has been able to prove, LMT has never provided any complete Mk 18 Mod 0s to the military.  Complete Mk 18 Mod 0s [and presumably Mod 1s] do come from Colt, usually equipped with LMT SOPMOD stocks, LMT rear sights and KAC RASs supplied to Colt by NSWC Crane, and 10.3" barrels.  LMT may have, and perhaps may still provide CQBR upper receivers, but there's precious little solid documentation.  

For all practical intents and purposes, the only providers of M16s and M4s to the military are Colt and FNH.  

~Augee

As I have said many many times over the years on this forum, The first M4 I ever shot in the Marine Corps was a Bushmaster with an A2 fixed carry handle. This was a Fam-Fire at Camp Lejuene in winter of 1999.

My only reason to post the Sabre PR was to show the date being only 6 months ago.  IRRC Bushmaster had the contract (that Sabre now has) originally but it was cancelled after Bushmaster was bought out and no longer was considered a small business.

M16: FN/Colt
M4: Colt
LMT lowers are used in some of the Army's 'EST2000' simulator weapons (with a pneumatic/electronic upper, this system is used to create a video-game training tool that simulates rifle marksmanship & combat scenarios)....

Some Sabre Info:

Sabre Contract

Order breakdown

I've seen your posts before.  Please don't take this as anything malicious or hostile, but I continue to doubt the veracity of this claim.  I am not calling you a liar, but I'd like to offer a few possibilities.  

Your recollection may be in error, you may simply be mistaken about the rifle being a Bushmaster.  

You may have "fam-fired" a personally owned rifle.  They may not have necessarily told you that it was personally owned.  It sometimes happens, an individual serviceman on the training cadre could have had a better collection of "modern" weapons than what was available to the unit, since for a simple fam-fire, a Bushy is close enough to an M4 to familiarize you with the weapon system and the concept.  

Of course, there is always the slight possibility that there was a very small contract that was used for T&E, and after the T&E was completed, the rifle found its way into your armory somehow.  This does not however, make it a "military contract service rifle" by any means.  

Finally, it could simply be a one off that was somehow or another ordered COTS by some enterprising supply guy at some point, a fluke, a freak, a one off, and does not constitute a contract carbine.  

As always, I'm more than prepared to eat crow if anyone can provide some documentation and/or solid evidence.  However, considering the number of outlandish claims I've heard about the system, such as people who swear up and down, and cannot be made to back down, that they carried a Mattel M16s, I cannot accept simple hearsay from an unverified source.  

I realize and understand that you will probably just think I'm an ignorant asshole who refuses to believe you, and probably nothing I, nor anyone else says will convince you.  I can accept this, I have no need to convince you.  And as I said, I very well could be wrong, I've simply not seen anyone who was able to provide any documentation other than hearsay.  

V/R,
~Augee

Those contracts do seem to imply that the Marines will be getting at least some of the Sabre A4s.  However, such a small number is still statistically insignificant, however it looks almost like an initial trial contract, and could be a stepping stone to larger contracts in the future.  We may very well see Sabre become a much bigger player and get more contracts in much higher volumes.  

Some examples of military contract M16s and M4s that I spoke of earlier:

Current contract FN M16A4:


FN M16A3:


H&R M16A1:


GM Hydramatic M16A2 (reconditioned A1 lower):


Colt M4 Carbine:


Colt M4A1 Carbine:


Anniston rebuild M4 Carbine (remarked FN lower):


Early FN M16A2 electro-pencil marked:


Sabre stripped lower for comparison with above:


Balimoy replacement A2 lower:






Colt build Mk 18 Mod 0 with M4A1 marked current production lower and 10.3" barrel:


~Augee

Air Force M16A2.  Pic taken at the 2007 MacDill AFB AirFest.

The was a story on it in SOF in 93 I believe. I had the issue.

How come no one has mentioned Vulcan yet? They are the arms of the "special forces"!!

SSSHHHHHHHH .... OPSEC!

Love It !