[Tenderribbs]

I always thought they carried colt m4 but someone else said armalite. I googles it but couldn't get a straight answer . Just curious

so that others may live

 

[hotrod1016]

They use whoever is the cheapest seller. My brother in law is a marine.

 

[PlaysWithZombies]

I believe they're gearing up for a switch to remington but i may be mistaken.

 

[Retaks]

When i was in USMC we had a very broad mix of brands out there. When in boot camp the Colts seemed to be the least reliable.

 

[c3shooter]

There have been several different suppliers of M16s and M4s. For some time, Colt Defense Industries had the contract. At last renewal, contract went to Remington, but they have not yet started delivery to DoD.

 

[Tackleberry1]

I was active from 91 to 97 and only saw the Colt M16A2 but I think procurement has reached out to other builders since adoption of the M4. Most line units began swapping their A2's for m4's around 98.

Tack

 

[JonM]

good and bad about colt losing the contract. bad is the troops get a crappy remington. the good is maybe we peons will have wider access to colt rifles!!

 

[trip286]

Right now, at the moment, FNH is supplying the vast majority of all small arms. (except Beretta and their pistol). There are some special forces who use some different stuff, but the standard issue grunt carries FNH for the most part.

Who has the contract now? Seems like c3 knows better than I do.

The Colt's from boot camp? The only ones I saw mess up were the ones that were obviously the most worn. Remember also, a training weapon is going to see more use and abuse than an actual weapon carried in combat.

 

[kmglocks]

Back in boot camp in '00 at Ft. Leonardwood I was issued an M16a2 with a Colt lower and an FN upper, I **** you not. Needless to say both top and bottom receivers had alot of wobble.

si vis pacem....parabellum.

 

[trip286]

Back in boot camp in '00 at Ft. Leonardwood I was issued an M16a2 with a Colt lower and an FN upper, I **** you not. Needless to say both top and bottom receivers had alot of wobble.

si vis pacem....parabellum.

Don't know how the army does it, but at Paris island, at the end of a cycle, the inspection process leaves a huge opportunity for uppers and lowers to get mixed up. shhh..it happens.

 

[kmglocks]

Don't know how the army does it, but at Paris island, at the end of a cycle, the inspection process leaves a huge opportunity for uppers and lowers to get mixed up. shhh..it happens.

Yeah man, it was a complete s**t show the quality of weapons we were issued. But, it was typical Army otherwise.

si vis pacem....parabellum.

 

[Mdrums]

I'm picking out a AR 15 in the next few weeks....hard to figure out what to go with. Today I scored a ticket to the Special Operations Forces Industry Show in Tampa. Colt was not displaying at this show but Remington, Daniel Defense, Knights Armaments, LaRue, FNH, Beretta, LWRC, Glock, Sig Sauer all where there. Not being in the industry some ignored me but Beretta, Knights and Sig talked to me and explained there products. the Sig guys started taking there 516 and 400 apart to show me the different system on each riffle...very cool!

 

[kmglocks]

I'm picking out a AR 15 in the next few weeks....hard to figure out what to go with. Today I scored a ticket to the Special Operations Forces Industry Show in Tampa. Colt was not displaying at this show but Remington, Daniel Defense, Knights Armaments, LaRue, FNH, Beretta, LWRC, Glock, Sig Sauer all where there. Not being in the industry some ignored me but Beretta, Knights and Sig talked to me and explained there products. the Sig guys started taking there 516 and 400 apart to show me the different system on each riffle...very cool!

Do your research on companies that interest you but more importantly check out their quality control. I saw one time that Colt measures and tests their parts 15 times before even test firing. Lower end ARs probably are cheaper because of alot less quality control measures.

si vis pacem....parabellum.

 

[fsted2a]

When I was a private, the brands varied a lot. Mostly because of replacement receivers. I would see a General Motors branded lower on somebody elses upper. You could tell they were replacement parts because of the different shades of black than the upper. If they were the same shade upper and lower, it was probably a Colt. Just whoever was the lowest bidder on the replacement parts that year. I think the current contract for the rifle is FN.

 

[Mdrums]

Took some time on my sales calls today and stopped by a big gun shop with noncommissioned sales people. Looked at a Colt 6920 and 6940...nice and the sales guy recommended them. He showed me many other brands too but I also liked the feel of the Sig 400 and 516....looked and felt super nice with lots of nice features. The Knights Armament guns he showed me were nice too. I even put a $3000+ HK in my hands...dang, really detailed and nice but so where the $1600 guns too.

Then we started getting off the AR platform and I looked at a FNH that supposedly won the new Marines contract. It takes a AR15 mag but the platform is not AR15. Really well balanced gun in my hands, great trigger feel dry firing.

 

[rab]

Amen!

They use whoever is the cheapest seller. My brother in law is a marine.

I was surprised to see my first M-16 was from H&R. I don't remember seeing a Colt...

 

[Fixer]

Do your research on companies that interest you but more importantly check out their quality control. I saw one time that Colt measures and tests their parts 15 times before even test firing. Lower end ARs probably are cheaper because of alot less quality control measures.

si vis pacem....parabellum.

^ This is correct. Search Mil-R-63997B for the spec on the M16 and Mil-C-71186 for the M4. These two mil-specs list the testing of each.

To the OP,
The M16 family is supplied by Colt, and by FHN in cooperation with Colt using Colts technical data Package (TDP)...(basiclly Colts secret sauce on how they make the AR15).
Originally Armalite designed the AR15 and shopped it around. Then Colt bought the design. There are (were ) like 600 Colt-ArmaLite AR15s in the military.
During war times, the DoD shops around and allows many manufactures to fill goals that Colt and FN can not meet. Sabre Defense and General Motor's Hydramatic being two highly prized roll marks. There was talk of Bushmasters out there, but no hard proof of that has ever surfaced. So if the DoD needs 18,000 M4A1s and Colt and FN can only produce 15,000 in the time frame, the DoD will outsource the remaining 3,000.
SF units can get approval for anything they want....so you will see KAC, DD, and Wilson Combat used by those units.

 

[MikeJK]

good and bad about colt losing the contract. bad is the troops get a crappy remington. the good is maybe we peons will have wider access to colt rifles!!

I haven't seen that there was a shortage of Colt branded ARs in the civilian market. 6920s seem to be everywhere I look and they have been releasing more and more models to the gen public as of late. I have my eyes on the LW 6920 (6720?).

--------

Our arms room was full of M4s all of which were marked Colt sporting KAC rails. Uniformity from top to bottom.

All the SOF, NSA, and CIA guys in our FOBs were all uniform as well. Man dresses and matching AKs

 

[Quentin]

I'd love to have a Colt 6720 and was very tempted to get one instead of my recent BCM LW build. The carbine length gas is the only turn off for me and why I went BCM midlength.

 

[MikeJK]

I'd love to have a Colt 6720 and was very tempted to get one instead of my recent BCM LW build. The carbine length gas is the only turn off for me and why I went BCM midlength.

Exactly. I would like to have a Colt but I'm not going to purchase one just to have it when mid length works best for me.