M-4 Military Question?

[LaTrooper]

The M-4 military rifles have the three shot burst. Your selector would first be on safe, second one shot, third three shot burst. Does the rifle have a forth position for full auto?

 

[Abu Josh]

There’s no full auto on the standard issue M4, just the SAFE, SEMI, and BURST.

Cheers !

 

[krotsman]

Research showed that 3 round bursts were more effective and accurate than full auto.

 

[mukwah]

Research showed that 3 round bursts were more effective and accurate than full auto.

Three round bursts was how I was trained back in the early '70's. Just kinda stuck with me.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[SpeedRacer]

It’s either/or, none have both. M4 is burst, newer M4A1 is full auto.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4_carbine

Look under “Variants”.


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[rcm192]

While not military issued, there is a 4 position aftermarket option.

https://robrobinette.com/M16_4-Way_Selector.htm

 

[charlie12]

Three round bursts was how I was trained back in the early '70's. Just kinda stuck with me.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

Yep our M16A1 was Safe - Semi - Rock and Roll in the early 70's.

 

[sailem]

We just had safe, semi, and burst.

 

[buttanic]

I believe all 3 shot burst weapons have / are being converted back to semi and full to eliminate the difference in trigger feel. There are two disconnectors in the burst guns and every third shot you have to release both disconnectors to fire the shot. That is why you have the heavier trigger pull every third round. The 3-rds burst feature was crap not because of the philosophy but because of the weird ratchet system Colt concocted that didn't reset itself after the trigger is release. If you don't hold the trigger down long enough for a full three rounds, the next time you pull the trigger, the remainder of the burst fired. That means if you shot one round and released the trigger then the next time two rounds would come out before the system resets itself.

 

[Core]

The M-4 military rifles have the three shot burst. Your selector would first be on safe, second one shot, third three shot burst. Does the rifle have a forth position for full auto?

No.

Colt and other companies made what they called a 4-way fire control unit. The fourth position is Auto. Some armorers used these 4-way FCGs to modify the M4's. While in the Navy in the 1990's the M16 and M4 we used were mostly converted to M16/M4A1 and the burst cam was removed and FCG restored to Full Auto. Still using a 3-way Safe, Semi, Auto modes.

The Marine's were also converted to Full Auto. It was determined at some point within the Department of Navy that Burst was getting folks killed and became a liability. The Army and Air Force maintained the M4 for some time: I would imagine they still have them today. The Army has decided to phase them out and convert or retire the M4 for the M4A1.

I have worked with teams guys who told me stories of using the burst guns and the issues it posed. I also have heard from various other branches of specops guys who told me stories of battles and fights with the burst and the lessons learned from it. Most teams guys I worked with used Semi Auto. They also had commercial FCGs swapped into their M4A1's. I was trained by NSW to use mostly Semi Auto. It's my opinion that the issue with early M4 and M16 was gas related and cyclic fire rates in earlier models were impractical for combat. Colt's resizing of the gas port and adding a heavier buffer slowed the fire rate to more practical rates. Earlier designs had a fire rate over 1000 rpm. The M4 cannot handle that rate of fire, nor can most operators handle it effectively. I believe Stoner never intended on the design to be so lightly buffered and it was a result of cost savings.

 

[DAVE_M]

No.

Colt and other companies made what they called a 4-way fire control unit. The fourth position is Auto. Some armorers used these 4-way FCGs to modify the M4's. While in the Navy in the 1990's the M16 and M4 we used were mostly converted to M16/M4A1 and the burst cam was removed and FCG restored to Full Auto. Still using a 3-way Safe, Semi, Auto modes.

The Marine's were also converted to Full Auto. It was determined at some point within the Department of Navy that Burst was getting folks killed and became a liability. The Army and Air Force maintained the M4 for some time: I would imagine they still have them today. The Army has decided to phase them out and convert or retire the M4 for the M4A1.

I have worked with teams guys who told me stories of using the burst guns and the issues it posed. I also have heard from various other branches of specops guys who told me stories of battles and fights with the burst and the lessons learned from it. Most teams guys I worked with used Semi Auto. They also had commercial FCGs swapped into their M4A1's. I was trained by NSW to use mostly Semi Auto. It's my opinion that the issue with early M4 and M16 was gas related and cyclic fire rates in earlier models were impractical for combat. Colt's resizing of the gas port and adding a heavier buffer slowed the fire rate to more practical rates. Earlier designs had a fire rate over 1000 rpm. The M4 cannot handle that rate of fire, nor can most operators handle it effectively. I believe Stoner never intended on the design to be so lightly buffered and it was a result of cost savings.

There were indeed 4-way selectors made by Colt and DPMS. It’s one of those things that will fade away in history.