Accurizing Army Issued M16A2

[TheRoadWarrior]

I'm armorer for my unit and was curious if there are any simple ways to accurize our M16A2 Iron Sight rifles without being permanent or obvious since the weapons must be guaged by outside sources and any changes made to them would be picked up on.

I was thinking about cheek rests, maybe get double sided tape and some strips of thin texturized rubber, like non slip bathtub material to place on the buttstock so that it molds to the face a little bit and lets you rest your cheek on textured material less likely to slide around, ensuring proper sight alignment each time and in various firing positions.

I was also thinking about putting moly on the triggers to smooth them a bit, I don't know if that is recommended or if it will only attract more dirt I'll have to clean out more frequently.

I was thinking of a simple foregrip that can mount to the A2 heat shield without permanent modification, at least make the prone unsupported and kneeling position a bit more accurate, even if it is only marginal.

I'm also thinking about getting laser bore lights to zero the sights myself instead of just group and zero guess work, if it is more accurate then I'll have the whole unit do it at our own range some day so that our 25meter zero is truly zeroed and not just guess work. I hate the typical generic phrases like "watch your breathing, or stop jerking the trigger" rather than asking if you are at least keeping the same sight picture in between volies and where exactly your POA is on the target. I've seen a lot of people that keep aiming all over the target without realizing it, the borelight would be a great way to see where exactly the person is aiming, then work from there.

I'm also going to do more traditional methods of dry fire practice such as shadow boxes and dime tests and so forth.

 

[10mmAuto]

Packing foam taped on a buttstock is on my short list of best mods for an M4/M16/M14.

 

[hoytinak]

The best thing for your unit to do is more range time.

 

[10mmAuto]

More range time is easier said than done typically.

 

[hoytinak]

More range time is easier said than done typically.

I know, I've got 11 1/2yrs active duty and going on 3yrs in the guard.

If you start messing with the M4s your 3rd shop with find out about it once they start the gauging or when you take them in for maintenance.

Also when you do go to the range, make proper sling usage (for stability) part of your PMI, that'll tighten up their groups considerably.

 

[jrothWA]

Did following to myColt HBAR..

pushed out retaining pin, degreased the four corners of the LR, reassembles the two receivers together, hung by carry handles and used feeler gages to determine the gap at those four corners.
Used paper punch to make shims to epoxy on LR surface and re-assembled for overnight. you end up with a tight assembly.

You could try a plastic shim for entire LR surface, that eliminate the open gap.

light polishing of sear assembly for smoother function, BUT not much.

Keeping it tight SEEMS to assist.
polish chamber to insure extraction.

 

[kraigwy]

Contact the Army Marksmanship Unit at the Benning School for boys, they will tell you what to do and how to do it legally.

In my 25 years (RA and NG) I did a lot of things people said was not autorized but actually was.

I even Matched out an M-60 for our State Machine Gun Team, Tightened up some sloppy M1911a1s, M14s and M16a1s.

 

[Rob3]

A Grip Pod might help your guys out on the range. Small sections of rail are easy to put on the hand grips. They are an NSN item that can be ordered. Keeping the front sight post properly blackened helps a lot also. The old burning MRE spoon works but there are special sprays that work better. Also check your barrels to make sure they are within specs, you might be surprised how many are shot out or bent. Accuwedges are a cheap way to tighten up the recievers.

What Kraig said was spot on too. You would be surprised what you can legally do. You can even spray paint them now. There are no two guns alike in our arms room.

 

[HorseSoldier]

The issue M16A2 is accurate enough for what it needs to do. It sounds like what your unit needs is to find someone to provide some real combat marksmanship training aimed at producing effective gunfighters, rather than guys who can score good on the qual course.

More range time is easier said than done typically.

+1. Just miracle some more bullets into the unit's ammo account and away you go . . .

 

[TheRoadWarrior]

Great advice guys, I appreciate it. Just one problem...we are all fobbits and extra range time is out of the question. Most range time we got is about every 3 months is your lucky, and you only go if your needing promotion points, not just for a badge, so if you don't need points youre looking at every six months maybe longer.

I plink at the range on weekends to spend as much trigger time as I can.

As for someone to try to work with the unit to get some actual shooting tips, we are all medical, most of the guys don't care how they shoot and don't expect to ever use their weapon in defense. I don't think my command would care enough to get someone to do a class with us when we are medical, that is time that could be spent learning medical things that apply to our mission. I'll be honest, I'm in it for the promotion points, not actually expecting to ever fire my weapon in anger or have an enemy in my sights.

 

[FALshootist]

As for someone to try to work with the unit to get some actual shooting tips, we are all medical, most of the guys don't care how they shoot and don't expect to ever use their weapon in defense. I don't think my command would care enough to get someone to do a class with us when we are medical, that is time that could be spent learning medical things that apply to our mission. I'll be honest, I'm in it for the promotion points, not actually expecting to ever fire my weapon in anger or have an enemy in my sights.

If thats the case all the modifications in the world will not improve your shooting. I truely hope you and your unit never see combat, because that outlook gets people killed. Nobody ever really thinks "that **** will happen to me" until it does.