Quote:
Originally Posted by Team Sergeant
An M-4 mag catch assembly was not designed to hold the weight of a firing M-4. It's an already flimsy catch that barely holds in the magazine. With a 20 rd mag holding the weight of the M-4 might not be bad a 30rd mag will rock back and forth and as was pointed out might start to bend/crack parts that were never intended to hold weight. I'd sure like to examine the mag catches on those that have been firing with mag touching the ground and view the wear. Especially compared to those that have not used the mag as a firing platform.
Also, as a sniper, I cringe at the idea of using the mag as a firing platform and then attempting to double tap, or acquire the sight with speed as my weapon jumps off the hard ground from the first round.
I fairly certain we already had this discussion concerning harmonics ie the weapon touching something hard like a rock, or a mag resting on a rock and then fired as opposed to firing with a hand in between the stock (or mag) and the rock.
There's a reason we have "free floating" barrels and heavy barrels. And while I know the M-4 is not a free floating barrel the whole idea is not to touch anything hard that might affect barrel harmonics.
Now if you want to sling lead downrange then have at it. Hell I saw a video of a police shooting the other day where the police officer was employing the "gangster hold" on his pistol.
And while I appreciate your unit conducting testing, I'd rather see an weapons engineer from say "Colt" conduct those same "tests" and see what they have to say.  |
Jeff, the moment one starts thinking there is nothing new to learn and stops looking at a subject with an open mind is the moment one becomes outdated. If you doubt what has been said here, then go out on the interwebs and google this topic. I can save you some time though and tell you that resting the magazine of the M4 on the ground doesn't have a detrimental effect. As has been mentioned here, the anti tilt followers in todays magazines is probably the biggest reason but even if you have an older one without the anti tilt, chances are you won't experience a malfunction.
This practice has even sparked industry to produce what is called mag-pods. These are placed on the bottom of magazines to help make a more stable platform for using this technique. And as you can see, it's also in the manual now. Not saying that it's right just because its in the manual, as we've all seen wrong things in manuals before. Remember when 6400 mils was in the sniper manual and that higher humidity meant the air was thicker? Both used to be repeated ad nasuem and even taught when I went through SOTIC. Today, no up to date instructor will repeat any of that dogma, as it has been proven to be incorrect. However, even in this "new" manual, they still managed to fuck it up and use 6400 mils in Fig 3-2 when discussing MOA and MILs in chapter 3. So I can see how even now, you might be skeptical of placing a magazine on the ground despite what others have said.
The point being is that you don't have to believe me, the manual or anyone else in the shooting industry. But if you are dead set on not believing what has been presented, then go out and try it for yourself and see how it turns out. In fact, I encourage you to go out and do it and prove the rest of the world wrong. I know what the outcome will be....but what do I know.
