Senate's Hearings on the M4 Carbine

The military is preparing to possibly spend millions of dollars on rifles for the troops.  But Colt says the M4 carbine is perfectly okay.  And that soldiers' reports on it jamming frequently and getting filled with the fine desert sand are minor problems.  You can read the article here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080420/ap_on_re_us/the_gun_wars 

I've personally read the thoughts on a few serving military personell.  And most have said the M4 jams way too often and puts too many lives at stake.  These men are over there putting their lives on the line for us and we can't so much as come up with a rifle that doesn't jam?  There are similar problems with other weapons.  The M16 models A1, A2, A3, and A4 all have the same problems but have a longer effective range due to longer barrel length.  And the M249 squad automatic weapon (or SAW) is regarded as fragile and tempermental.

Quite frankly: our troops deserve better.  There are many that disapprove of the war, but I'm sure we can all agree that as long as the troops are in that sandy hellhole they should at least have a well-built, durable, effective rifle.  The Fabrique Nationale FN SCAR (pictured here: http://www.ultimate-gear.be/shop/images/vfcscarposter2.jpg ) and Heckler and Koch HK416 (pictured here: http://world.guns.ru/assault/hk416-1.jpg ) are possible replacements.  Both have proven to be excellent weapons as well.

The people at Colt, obviously, say there's nothing wrong with their rifles.  Which is expected because they're receiving millions to produce them for the army and don't want that to stop.  In my opinion, they need to realize that their product is not as perfect as they think and either fix it or get out of the way and allow someone who really cares about the men they're arming to come forward.

~S