13 Aug 02

Sage rifle comments from a friend in the Philippines:

"AR15's have always been popular here. They were made locally from 1983-1987 under license from Colt. Most are still in active service. The black market is the ONLY source for these rifles, as none can be transferred legally.

Connected (‘qualified') civilians are allowed to possess and even carry them outside their homes. Many are thus ditching their MP5s and UZIs. Pent up demand, coupled with news photos of US soldiers armed with M4s during their local exercises, has driven the cost of these black-market ARs through the roof.

In the last few months, among my friends I've seen every conceivable permutation of this rifle! Anything from an eight-inch barrel to a twenty-four inch, heavy barrel, with every imaginable gimmick glued, screwed, taped, or pinned onto them.

You Americans are not the only gimmick-happy race in the world! Most folks here too just can't seem to be content with any species of ‘stock' rifle. They predictably load them up with widgets until they weigh more than an M-14.

‘Accuracy' jobs are just as common. Like you, I've seen nearly all of these modified guns malfunction with monotonous regularity. Curiously, their demonstrated unreliability is usually lost on their naive owners. Some things never change!

Standing in stark contrast are full-time military people I know whose lives literally depend on the reliability of their individual weapons every time they go on an operation. Most of my military friends have been on many. Their M-16s are all stock, ‘plain vanilla' as you would say. These men have survived numerous, live contacts with the enemy. Their rifles work, every time. Those with unreliable rifles are no longer with us!"

Lesson: Take this advice from the mouth of one who knows. You need to be serious about your "serious" weapons.

/John