I refer to the Colt Commando or XM177E2.

A friend of mine asked me if it is true that shooting the Colt Commando, the flash and the blast can cause serious problems to the shooter.

Can anyone answer me, and is here anyone that really used this weapon in operation?

Thanks

How about Bob DeNiro in "The Deer Hunter"?

Seriously, I think the special forces types got some of these during the Vietnam War.  The suppressor on the end has been "officially" declared a noise suppressor by our Masters in Washington, and was supposed to reduce the blast, noise and flash out the short barrel.  Meaning it was still damn loud, but not as loud as it could have been.

Yep..Platoon leaders and company commanders got them in our battalion back in '69-70'

anyone got a picture?

I had a chance to fire the newer Colt Commando a few years ago. Shooting it side by side to an M4a1 carbine, the Colt Commando was allot louder. It was noticable even with ear plugs. Also when it became dark, it produced what seemed like a 3 foot fireball out of the muzzle. This was with USGI ammo also.

Mine sounds like a 300WM with the can off and produces one hell of a fire-ball.

www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/pcca890f60675649ae1a6eccfddb340bc/fe103bb6.jpg

The XM177, XM177E1 and XM177E2 models were used extensively by various special operations and select regular units in Vietnam.

For a number of reasons the production of those models stopped but special operations units used them as long as they could before some newer models arrived, for example the M653 carbine, basically the XM177E2 but with a 14.5 inch thin profile barrel w/A1 flashhider.

I think there was a mix of weapon types and parts were swapped as was need.

The noise/flash problems with the XM177e2 were mostly related to the old ball powder used in the M193 ammo. The same problem that led to jams in the M16 system. And even though there were fewer reports of CAR15's jamming, this could just as well been a mix of improved maintenance or the fact that there were fewer CAR15's in country.

The flash/noise supressor in the Colt Commando has several channels to indeed supress the muzzle blast. These channels apparantly got clogged with calciumcarbonate rendering the device nearly useless.

The weapon was used by LRRP units, SEAL teams, Airforce FAC teams, MACV Studies&Observations Group(SOG), Green Berets, and selected infantry personell(mainly RTO's, NCO's and officers). Strange enough a large number of REMF's used the XM177E2 riding on the "special status" the weapon gained. Leaving short supply to the operators in special ops.

The XM177E2/CAR15/Colt Commando was used well into the late eighties when it finally was replaced by the M4 carbine for it's intended purposes.

edited to add pics

Note the 11.5" barrel with the noise/flash supressor, the telestock was aluminium at that point


cuttrough of the flashhider shows the channels, now you can imagine what would remain of the funtionality if these become clogged



Kuiper

To belong to this brotherhood is PRICELESS!!!

I shot, two months ago, a K3B by Oly, with military ammo, and I didn't notice all the blast problems. But I noticed that Commando is another kind of toy...

Thank you again!