[eclancy]

Gentlemen,
....Lighter for Combat Carry ? When the AR's first came in they were about 6.5 lbs but after fixing what was needed they now are about the same weight as the M 14 they replaced all in the name of saving weight. Any ideas.
Thanks again
Clancy

[genwinters]

at the time, no. it was still steel and wood. lightweight plastics weren't perfected. early M16s came in before the design was perfected so they had to add alot to them to make them work properly

[Ben Hartley]

Well, yes, most likely, the M1 could have been lightened. But at what cost? A lighter rifle would of necessity be less rugged and more prone to breakage/failure. (As was the early AR15/M16 family... I saw one of the first ones at Ft Bragg in 1963, and wasn't overly impressed.)

Lesser weight also increases the effect of felt recoil; remember that one of the "selling points" for the M1 was reduced shooter fatigue. Tests did reveal that riflemen of equivalent skill could fire the M1 longer and more accurately than they could the M1903.

Oh, all right, that last isn't as serious as it looks if one accepts the .276 Pedersen cartridge. If one drops all the way to 5.56mm, however, one trades three rounds of very light bullets for one bullet of the same weight. (1 M2 AP = 168 grains; 3 rds 5.56 mm ball = 165 grains, approximately.)

Make the M1 lighter? sure. But why?

Ben Hartley

[Stock Doc]

The first AR was a heavy baby. The 308 I mean. Rick B