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Posted: 6/30/2002 7:56:30 PM EDT
| Why does the military use that brown tape on the butstocks and magazines of thier AR's?? |
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I once entered a competition where there were around ten CAR's that looked exactly like mine. To distinguish mine from the others, I wrapped a piece of red duct tape around the fore end and the grip. I did not win the competition, but I did give a very respectable performance. Since then, I've wrapped a piece of red tape around the fore end for good luck. |
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If I remember right, the buttstocks I saw taped up in Blackhawk Down looked like they were trying to convert a conventional sling into a makeshift tactical design... And the only reason I can think of for taping a magazine is to differntiate between types of ammo...i.e. the taped one will have a tracer every 5 rounds or whatever...dunno. |
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Tape on buttstocks: To hold on a "tactical sling adapter" that uses a stock GI sling for a top-sling. Tape on magazine: To protect the mag when dropping it ? To make "mine" look different than others ? I knew guys who put tape on their mags to help keep them from rattling in their mag pouches as well. |
| The tape is there to keep the mags from clicking together when you are on patrol. It also serves to keep you from inserting it upside down. A mag will go in easily upside down, but it is difficult to remove. Add that bit of stress to an unpleasant day when everyone seems to be shooting at you and you may wish you had put 100MPH tape around the bottoms of your mags. |
| The tape on the mags were to make expediant "magpulls". A short piece of paracord secured by the tape at the base of the mag. There are now a polymer "magpull" that serves to protect the mag when they are dropped from the weapon during competition, training, etc. |
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Tape on buttstocks is mostly people trying to improvise a tactical setup. People gotta remember that BHD is about events that happened almost ten years ago, they didn't have all the ready made goodies they do now. As far as reinforcing the stock, an A2 buttstock is fairly tough, if you break it the tape ain't gonna do s#it. The tape on mags is both for noise and along with some 550 to form a magpull. Although depending on your method, you don't need tape for the magpull setup. The tape and 550 setup is SOP for all mags im most units. |
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