28Nov05

Comments on readiness:

"I can attest to this. I have been deployed four times since 9/11. The first time was in Egypt, and we were told that we would receive ammunition upon arriving in Country. They lied! When we arrived, due to confused politica l protocol, no ammo was issued, even though we were informed by J-2 that we h ad been targeted by local terrorists. I suddenly got that ' cannon-fodder-feeling!' Marines down the road were a different sto ry. Every Marine was hot and good-to-go at a moment's notice. Their commander wasn't worried ab out a ' career-ending-faux-pas.' He only cared about his guys. It was ref reshing indeed to see his attitude! We borrowed ammunition from them, but I promis ed myself that I would never deploy again without my own ammunition.

I got the chance to test my theory one year later. I was commanding a detachment in Afghanistan and procured rounds for all my guys BEFORE we left CONUS. Packed in our A&B bags, we arrived in Country with weapons AND ammunition. Once off the plane, we were all carrying hot within ten minutes! We didn 't say anything, and no one asked. I'll never be caught short again!=80

From a friend in the Philippines:

"I find this puzzling. Over here, everyone on base is armed, and all personal weapons, rifles and pistols, are loaded all the time- on post, off post, in the chow line, or sitting on the toilet. NDs are unheard of. You might find it curious that this mode of thinking was imparted to us by American trainers when your Foreign Military Assistance Program had your GI s training our troops during the Cold War. Those GIs were always packing hot

pistols, and to be caught without one, or even an unloaded one, was cause f or disciplinary action!

This was only two decades ago. What happened to you guys during the last twenty years?"

/John

28Nov05

Comments from a master, military riflesmith on the subject of lead, sometimes called "freebore," and its function in military ri fles:

"Freebore specifications vary. Most often, it's not the length of fr eebore but the angle of the throat. Most military chambers have an eighth-of-an-i nch of freebore and then a slow taper into the rifling. This allows the bullet to pop out of the case quickly but then softly enter the rifling, which kee ps chamber pressures from spiking, but maintains consistent bullet alignment f or the sake of accuracy. The most extreme case of freebore was actually found in the old Norma Magnums. They had an entire inch of freebore. It allowed the bullet to completely exit the case mouth before engaging the rifling. Chamber pressures were low, but accuracy suffered.

Loose chambers, also found in military rifles, surely enhance functional reliability, particularly when rifles get hot and dirty. However, commerci al ammunition has thin brass, compared with military counterparts. Loose chambers, combined with thin brass, can lead to case-head separations.

With regard to your JLD/PTR (H&K-91), keep the bolt head clean. Rifles wit h fluted chambers share the "crap-in-the-receiver" problem wit h AR-15s. Fluted chambers eject soot and unburned powder back into the receiver, and it accumulates on the bolt. Even when using clean ammunition, H&Ks (CETMEs and

JLDs) will start choking at one thousand rounds. Bolt, chamber, and locking-roller recesses thus need cleaning every five-hundred rounds. =9D

Comment: Most main-stream, utility-grade, military rifles currently produce d domestically work just fine. Manufacturers adjust chamber dimensions and freebore so that the rifle can safely fire just about anything that will fi t into the chamber. Accuracy is acceptable, but not anal. Chamber pressures are reasonable.

A problem arises when manufacturers, catering to the anal/target crowd, produce tight-chambered rifles with no freebore. It would not be a problem if they just painted such rifles pink, so we could all tell what we were shoot ing! Ostensibly "military" rifles, with labels like =80=9CMat ch" or "Target=80=9D should thus be avoided!

/John