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Kajet
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Huh... Is metal getting that expensive these days? Seems like after enough use a plastic firearm would begin to... break
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Phoenix
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Keep in mind the AR-15 was deployed during the Vietnam war, and it was adopted by then Secretary of Defense McNamera. It was controversial and unpopular among the Marines of the day, and I've read some extremely scathing criticisms of its deployment by Vietnam-era Marines, including a Marine Corps armorer.
The use of plastics is kind of a mixed bag, and the AR-15/M-16 has been both lauded and vilified by grunts and civies alike for more than just the plastic on the gun, though it plays into the checkered history of the weapon. With plastics, you have an advantage in reduced weight, and improved weather resistance over that of a wooden stock. Any grunt wants to tote around less weight and not having water rot out your stock is a plus. Wood tends to hold up better under high heat, though plastic tends to take high humidity better. You have a disadvantage in that plastic ages poorly and can crack and break. Anyone with an old car can tell you what they think of how plastic ages. Newer polymers like Zytel are a lot tougher than the original plastic used on the first M-16's, so there's been some improvement in that department. Glock makes some excellent polymer-framed handguns that are tough, reliable, and very accurate. There's one example of "plastic done right".
Any grunt will also tell you they'd like their weapon to not break when subjected to harsh conditions. Bludgeoning an enemy when your rifle jams is one of those conditions, and jam it did - a lot - in Vietnam. The "brass" of the day didn't listen to Eugene Stoner (guy that designed the AR-15 rifle) when he told them to use stick powder and to clean the gun a lot. The grunts were actually told the rifle was self-cleaning when first issued owing to a lack of available cleaning kits, and the ball powder used in manufacturing the mil-spec ammunition fouled the guns over twice as bad as the stick powder Stoner designed it around and said they really needed to use. Far too many Marines and Soldiers were found dead with a cleaning rod up their gun trying to kick out a non-ejected casing because the fouling caused it to get stuck in the barrel. Some were even found with empty sidearms and broken rifles where they HAD used them as clubs as a last resort when they didn't have time to reload their handguns, or when they flat out ran out of pistol rounds. You can beat the hell out of someone with an M-1 Garand or an M-14, or even a Soviet made SKS or AK-47. The M-16 does not work well as a club at all. Now all of these weapons can take a bayonet. The SKS has a pretty decent sized one built in under the barrel that swings forward to lock in place, the Garand and M-14 have fairly large, attachable bayonets that work quite well as daggers even when off the gun, and you can attach a somewhat smaller bayonet to the M-16 or AK, though neither is designed to work very well in the "pig sticker" role. Granted, if you're down to using a bayonet or clubbing someone with your gun you're probably already screwed anyway, but it takes time to affix a bayonet and if you're caught between reloads sometimes you only have time to take a good swing at the guy charging you. There's general durability to think about with any weapon, and the wood vs plastic debate is something still argued to this day, though plastic is a lot more accepted for use in rifle stocks than it was 10-20 years ago, and it's pretty much replaced wood in military long rifles completely.
Now you want to go the opposite direction from the AR-15 pattern, take a look at the M-3 "Grease Gun". There's a solid, no BS weapon. Extremely reliable, cheap to manufacture, and very effective. It won't win a long range shooting match, being a close-range open-bolt submachinegun, nor any beauty contests, but it works, and works, and keeps working. It's entirely made of metal and has that WWII-era "pure function" look. Grunts of the day originally didn't like it, preferring the more expensive (and more conventional looking) Thompson subgun, but once it proved itself in battle the guys using the M3's became inseparable from them. Here's some info about it with lots of picture goodness:http://www.world.guns.ru/smg/smg32-e.htm
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  I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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Sucutrule
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I'm listening free bird from lynard skynard.
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How I am supposed to type will all this cheese laying around?
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Kajet
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I think it's time for a font color change, though I could be wrong.
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Kajet
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No not really
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Sucutrule
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How bout' this one?
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How I am supposed to type will all this cheese laying around?
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Kajet
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Meh, kinda hard to see actually, not eye hurting...
I'd think this color would hurt less than this one
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Kain-Xavier
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The off-topic topic has now become the temporary-topic topic.  |
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Dr Sean
Ogre
Posts: 50
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^ Lynard Skynards alright, but my favorite's David Allan Coe, or Hank Williams.
No, both... er... Hank first.
-Side note, I like mountain dew
-Side note, I like shooting my shotguns at flying clay pigeons (skeet) repeatedly
(Edit after seeing the M-16 things)
-One more: I want an M-16! But i'd need a license right? Whatever, shotguns suit me fine.
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« Last Edit: 2007-10-30, 02:35 by Dr Sean »
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Tabun
Pixel Procrastinator
Team Member
Elite (3k+)
   
Posts: 3330
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Well, you could always go.. over the top.
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« Last Edit: 2007-10-30, 02:57 by Tabun »
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| Tabun |
?Morituri Nolumus Mori? |
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Sucutrule
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How I am supposed to type will all this cheese laying around?
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Sucutrule
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Oh man, it's that pesty nuclear bomb that always bullies my on my way out of school! Gotta run!
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How I am supposed to type will all this cheese laying around?
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Lopson
Elite
Posts: 1133
Still Going In Circles
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OK.
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Phoenix
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Luke Skywalker gets his arm cut off with a light saber. Reaction:
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!! OMFG! OMGOMGOMG, IT @!#@!# HURTS!!!"
*turns white as a ghost, looks pretty sick, goes into shock*
Anakin Skywalker gets his arm cut off with a light saber. Reaction:
"Guhhhhh...."
Darth Vader gets his arm and both legs cut off with a light saber. Reaction:
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! I HATE YOU!!" and promptly bursts into flames...
Count Dooku gets BOTH his arms cut off with a light saber. Reaction:
*Startled Expression, thinking to self... WTF, dude cut my arms off?*
Darth Maul gets cut IN HALF with a light saber. Reaction:
*Thinks to self, Oh, bloody hell, chap just cut me in twain! Bollocks, now I can't do those fancy martial arts moves anymore. Oh well, stiff upper lip, wot? Might as well give it a grin, got me fair and square 'e did. Least he didn't cut me 'ead off. Oh, fiddlesticks, I'm going to fall down that shaft now aren't I? Oh well, cheerio!*
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I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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scalliano
Elite
Posts: 1095
Yup, that's me
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At last, someone else who realized that Star Trek's definition of differing species of alien was determined entirely by which pattern they had on their forehead.
Black Knight's reaction to losing all four limbs: "Oh. Oh, I see. Running away, eh? You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll bite your legs off!"
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PSN ID: scalliano
The Arena knows no gender, colour or creed, only skill.
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Kain-Xavier
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At last, someone else who realized that Star Trek's definition of differing species of alien was determined entirely by which pattern they had on their forehead. Heh. It has always been a gripe of mine that the majority of aliens in Star Trek are human-like in physique. The non-human species on the show are always depicted as a non-sentient menace/nuisance. I had really high hopes for the "Scorpion" race introduced in Star Trek: Voyager, but it was later revealed they could transform themselves into human-like creatures. *Sigh* At least, we still have the Gorn. |
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