[judcargile]

Lessons Learned:

I do not have a tab.

I can not expect to be equal in the forum.

I can not expect the benefit of the doubt.

It will take time and performance, I will have to show a reason to EARN credibility.

Reasons to start fresh:

If you never quit, you never fail.

I have a responsibility that goes beyond me to serve my contractor.

This forum provides an extraordinary content of insight above and beyond other defense product related forums.

Humility is a virtue, pride is the the root of all of the deadly sins.

Plan of execution:

I have a big shit sandwich, with very little bread to eat here. I am to take what I have coming and respond with "yes sir" and "thank you" as I have found that it even works in shoddy traffic stops because the constitution only protects my rights in some parallel universe. No need to get caught up in the trap of the way things ought to be, it is what it is and you can take the path of least resistance.

With that said, as I remember there seems to be the question of Surefire's HCM being reliable and it makes the world of difference to me regarding the value of trying to develop an M4 platform with an open-bolt capability. I have attempted to look over the issue of being reliable as I had first found, shortly after their being introduced. I believe the Marine Corp did contract a fairly large run of these 60 and 100 round magazines to be used with LWRC's version of the open-bolt design of the M4 that was contracted by the USMC to serve as a SAW in the squad level operations. I have found no information on the current status or reports of that trial being favorable or not.

I did find that within the first year of the release that debris, blow back residue from suppression and tilting followers did cause Surefire to work up a solution and I have not been able to verify that it in fact, resolved those issues.

As to the issue of the beyond debris, but, full blown trash coming into the ejection port of the rifle, outside of having to constantly close the dust cover under movement, I am thinking that in the way of the 4-way fire control group that I have seen, that could be a direction to consider; But, If I had this weapon and I was going to be in an environment that seemed to be prone to fouling up an open chamber, I would select semi/closed bolt config and try to remember the dust cover.

Please keep in mind, I am not presenting a finished project. I am tasked with developing it and right now the basic questions of the open-bolt design remains the first objective to answer.

Below is the basic set up of the Colt LMG. It was different than what I was expected to see. I have heard bad things about it's being reliable and I have heard good things about it. I was told that the Canadian forces use this currently, so, it should be considered; However, I am curious of other designs and need to confirm the Colt design as practical.