Friday, November 20, 2015

"When Big Guns Go Down."

US Army Specialist McMahon was appointed to test a new M2 .50 caliber machine gun recently delivered to his unit a couple hundred yards outside Forward Operating Base Kunduz, Afghanistan, at the firing range. After McMahon fired his original weapon, his staff sergeant had him swap it out for the new one. As McMahon pressed the trigger, the turret-mounted weapon wouldn’t fire. He removed the ammunition and inspected the gun, preparing it once more for firing. He squeezed the trigger. Again, nothing. Switching from full-automatic to semi-automatic mode, McMahon fired one last time. That’s when the weapon exploded. Shell casing tore through his right leg.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Great Conspiracy to Destroy the United States
A SPEECH BY THE HON. USHER L. BURDICK OF NORTH DAKOTA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wednesday, April 28, 1954

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under previous order of the House, the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. BURDICK) is recognized for 30 minutes. Mr. BURDICK.

Mr. Speaker, there can be no doubt that there now exists a widespread understanding and agreement made between the agents of this Government and the United Nations and North Atlantic Treaty Organization to build a world government, and to make the United States a part of it, regardless of our Constitution, laws, and traditions. This is to be done in the name of peace, but will result in the total destruction of our liberty. The agents representing the United States may not be deliberately trying to do this treasonable work, but the best that can be said for them is that they are dupes. Some mighty important people who are United States citizens are not only going along with this scheme, but are daily and hourly contributing all their efforts in that direction.

The Genocide Convention provides that a citizen of the United States, who has, in the opinion of the United Nations, libeled or injured the feelings of a race, a group, or any member of a group, shall be subject to trial for violating the covenant. Will the accused be tried here in the United States, where the crime was alleged to have been committed? No. He will be tried wherever the United Nations may decide. Will he be tried under the Constitution and laws of this country, with the safeguards provided by the sixth amendment? No. He will be tried under such laws as the United Nations World Court shall prescribe. Why was it considered necessary to take away from the citizens of this country the protection our Constitution gives them? Are our people engaged, or were they ever engaged in race annihilation?

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message3013024/pg1

Chiu ChunLing said...

Ah, centralized economic planning. What could ever go wrong?

Anonymous said...

Maybe someone should check on the weapons ISIS has gotten, either directly from the u.S., or indirectly from Saudi Arabia, whether they are subject to the same malfunctions as u.S. forces weapons are subject to. Who wants to bet they operate just fine.

Anonymous said...

M2A1 ??? Dang! Knew that John Moses designed a headspace adjustment for some reason ...

III

Anonymous said...

Yep, the M2A1 update to the venerable M2 apparently removes the need to headspace the weapon at barrel changes. It's like an Apple product--if it's f'd up, there's nothing you can do about it, but you're still expected to like it and pay for it.

Interesting that the guy injured got some traction with a suit against the manufacturer--normally Freres Doctrine and govt contractor defenses would throw out such a suit, but I suspect in this instance, the publicity and political pressure that would bring to bear was considered worth a pretty penny. The Feds should go after these companies under False Claims Act to collect for all damages and expenses. They can also get enforceable agreements for third party supervision of quality, since the manufacturers can't seem to do it themselves. Just do a quick search for Bollinger Shipyard false claims act and you'll see how it's been working for the Coasties (not great actually--what a CF that cutter upgrade program was!).

Unclezip said...

I had the same thing happen to me 40+ years ago. The headspace opened up after the first two rounds, and two more stacked up and exploded in my face. Hit me in the face and legs, with one piece driving a keyring into my leg, just missing the femoral.I'm still pissed at the armorer who passed the piece off to me.

Otto Didact said...

I cannot help but wonder if there are not some civil servants and senior military contracting officers who are driving MUCH fancier cars or living in MUCH larger/nicer homes than one might otherwise expect from their nominal pay scales. Anybody else have that suspicion?