FNH Lands Army M4 Contract, Underbids Colt, Remington
” After a lengthy back-and-forth bidding war between Colt and Remington, one that would eventually involve the Government Accountability Office and the threat of a Congressional hearing, F.N. Herstal has won the contract to update and replace the Army’s aging rifles.
In April of 2012, Remington finally broke the chain of Colt contracts with the U.S. Army, placing an $84 million bid for a run of 120,000 M4A1s, with 24,000 carbines to be delivered starting September of this year.
The cost per Remington M4A1 was just $673 per. Their bid severely undercut Colt’s previous contract, which priced the rifles at over $1,200 a piece.
FN’s contract with the Army is $77 million for the first 120,000 rifles, which works out to a bottom line of just under $642 per M4A1. These will be manufactured at FNH USA in South Carolina along side the M16A4s and M249s FNH USA currently produces for the U.S. armed forces.”
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- FNH Lands Army M4 Contract, Underbids Colt, Remington (guns.com)
Personally, I think it’s a waste. For the large quantity it means a rifle for use by regular troops. I believe the money would have been better spent on Springfield M14 rifles.
I happen to be an M14 fan also Brittius , but you know the government … better to spend tens of thousands on ammo for “spray and pray” than to spend mere thousands teaching true marksmanship .
Yeah, “Spray & Pray” has use only as a suppressing fire in anticipation of hitting anything but it also means that the quality of the rifleman is now in question as, “It is only the hits that matter”.
The .308 is a good load. The .30-06 M2 Ball can go through telephone poles up to a range of 200 yards or go through 12″ tree and hit an opponent behind it. I would have thought that so many years later, the quality of a riflemen would have improved with technology but I guess not. Maybe today’s soldiers have an infinite supply of ammunition? Maybe it’s why a government would also seek to disarm a populous that has many people that can make each round fired, count, when the government’s troops, cannot? I wonder why troops have no actual input on the subject or the weapons the use? I vaguely recall the M60, M16, M79, all I had to be proficient with. The 1911 is ingrained into me. I love the M1, flipped over a B.A.R. I had fired, and never had an opportunity to try a Thompson. In my opinion, the older stuff is better, and I would have preferred carrying any of the old gear rather than the plastic toy store stuff. But what do I know?
It’s not that technology can produce better marksmen . It requires training(money) that the idiots in government think can be made up for with quantity .
Remember that in our day guns weren’t demonized and nearly every boy growing up learned how to shoot . That made training marksmen very easy when they already had the basics down .
Now the average kid doesn’t know a damn thing about guns except for erroneous information picked up from watching too many lame movies .
I have to agree with you.
Well… Let me get started on my 10th mug of extra strong coffee today…
Oh, that too is taboo. They frown on coffee. Especially the way I brew it, in a porcelain coffee boiler with no innards.
Don’t worry, I put the Camels down a few years ago. Don’t want to give today’s military administrators any nightmares.
Coffee and Camels are a staple of my diet .
You dirty dog!
It’s all I’ve got . Gave up booze 3 decades ago .
Memory Lane.