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Posted: 10/12/2012 8:17:11 PM EDT
| The air soft M203 thread got me wondering something. I know Colt made the M203. Did the M16A1's come from the factory with M203's already installed, or was this an armorer's job in country? Were Colt M16A1's the only ones to have the Colt M203's, or could they have made their way on to a GM or H&R? I'm not sure I'll put one on one of my GM's, I am mainly just curious. Thanks! |
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While I don't know how they were purchased or were shipped but do know that they are two separate units. They each have their own SN# and line in the property book so it could have easily ended up on any other AR in the arms room. M203s are not on every weapon so if one went down it would be easy enough to switch the 203 to another rifle and continue on and keep the 40 in the fight.
What am I saying? If you want, feel free to put it on whatever you like as I don't think it would be unheard of. |
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you don't need an armorer to mount / unmount the M203 from the m16a1, it s very easy. Yes its very easy but in the US military its the armorer's duty/responsibility to put it on the weapon.You will not see a soldier walk in to an arms room and the armorer throw it at him and say here put it on. |
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They come seperate and are mounted by unit armorers. Up until 2004 the only M203 I ever saw were Colt, but that doesn't mean that other 203 manufactures weren't being used by the mil. My personal opinion is that a Colt M203 would be appropriate for a A1. They only other manufacturer would probably be FN, the other currently available manufactures for M203 were probably not around in the A1 days
sorry didn't read OP closely enough. A unit would put the 203s on whatever rifle they wanted so they could end up on any rifle manufacturer. |
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The units I was in, the M203s were assigned to the Mortar Track Driver/Ammo Bearer. When you changed duty position, you got assigned the rifle with the M203 so you had to go rezero your weapon instead of the Armorer moving around the GL. Used to be it was documented on the MAL (Master Authorized List) by the largest caliber portion of the Dual Purpose Weapon System, as the M16/203 combo used to be called, you signed the weapon roster with the M203's serial number but that soon changed to splitting the box and listing both rifle and M203 serial numbers. |
| AAI developed the M203 and the first 600 units supplied for testing were made by them. After that, Colt made the balance of the M203s. KAC, LMT, and Airtronic have been involved in production of commercial M203s acquired by the US military and M203A1/A2 launchers acquired both for the US military and for foreign militaries through FMS. Diemaco also made the M203 before its acquisition by Colt, but I do not believe that any launchers it produced went to the US military. |
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AAI developed the M203 and the first 600 units supplied for testing were made by them. After that, Colt made the balance of the M203s. KAC, LMT, and Airtronic have been involved in production of commercial M203s acquired by the US military and M203A1/A2 launchers acquired both for the US military and for foreign militaries through FMS. Diemaco also made the M203 before its acquisition by Colt, but I do not believe that any launchers it produced went to the US military. Actually, I found that AAI also won the original production contract of 10,000 M203. I need to put the details up on the Timeline. |
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AAI developed the M203 and the first 600 units supplied for testing were made by them. After that, Colt made the balance of the M203s. KAC, LMT, and Airtronic have been involved in production of commercial M203s acquired by the US military and M203A1/A2 launchers acquired both for the US military and for foreign militaries through FMS. Diemaco also made the M203 before its acquisition by Colt, but I do not believe that any launchers it produced went to the US military. Actually, I found that AAI also won the original production contract of 10,000 M203. I need to put the details up on the Timeline. Good to know. I was citing that number from your timeline hehe 
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AAI developed the M203 and the first 600 units supplied for testing were made by them. After that, Colt made the balance of the M203s. KAC, LMT, and Airtronic have been involved in production of commercial M203s acquired by the US military and M203A1/A2 launchers acquired both for the US military and for foreign militaries through FMS. Diemaco also made the M203 before its acquisition by Colt, but I do not believe that any launchers it produced went to the US military. Actually, I found that AAI also won the original production contract of 10,000 M203. I need to put the details up on the Timeline. Good to know. I was citing that number from your timeline hehe I first learned of AAI's contract for 10,000 M203 through a collector who had AAI-marked M203 receiver stubs with serial numbers in the four digit range. Later, I discovered that the December 1969 edition of "American Rifleman" magazine mentioned that the M203 was standardized August 29, 1969, and that AAI was awarded a $2,953,000 contract for 10,000 M203. I then searched the National Archives for AAI's Fiscal Year 1970 (July 1969-June 1970) contracts in Federal Supply Class 1010 (Guns over 30mm up to 75mm). The NARA listing shows that a contract was awarded in September 1969 for a value of $2,954,000. The value discrepancy could simply be a difference in rounding. The contract's estimated date of completion was December 1970; however, funding actions were still awarded until June 1973. |
| Nope, both are complete weapon systems and one is not shipped with the other. That being said, I have never seen a 203 mounted on anything other than a Colt. However, in the Air Force, the only weapons I've seen have been A2s that came from FN, Colt A2s, and older A1s (all Colt or even Armalite) that were converted over to A2 standards. Hydramatic an H&R may have been for an Army contract which might explain their absence from USAF armories or there are some out there I just haven't seen yet. Either way, you could get away with mounting a Colt 203 on any rifle be it FN, Colt, Armalite, H&R and Hyrdamatic and I would say that it would still be correct. |
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