Can someone do me a small favour please?

[Awoke]

Could someone here please post the text from this link?

http://www.gunsandammomag.com/ga_handguns/trialsoss_042607/index.html

The link is blocked at my workplace and I want to read the review on this pistol.

I would appreciate it very much.
Thanks!

:-*

[kregener]

Recycling the Myth
It’s long past time to stop harping on the enduring fiction of AR unreliability.
By Dick Metcalf Posted: 2010-03 Categories:
http://www.gunsandammo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/article_portrait/GA_recyclingthemyth_201004-A.jpg

High among the barriers to acceptance of the AR by many of today’s shooters and hunters is the enduring myth that it’s unreliable. This originates from early bad press the M16 received during its initial deployment in Vietnam. It continues to be fed by proponents of alternative rifle designs and by many who have no personal experience using the AR-15/M16 under extreme conditions.

Early M16 failures in Vietnam were due to ammunition propellant problems and U.S. Defense Department bungling, not gun design. The AR is the longest-employed service rifle in our nation’s history, combat-proven from swamps and jungles to the deserts of the Mideast to urban close-quarters tactical operations. The vast majority of servicemen who have depended on the M16 and given it standard normal care and maintenance have experienced no more malfunctions than with any other rifle design.

THE ORIGINS OF IT ALL
So where did the myth of unreliability come from in the first place? Here’s the background The AR-15’s direct-impingement gas system vents propellant gases from a barrel port into a gas tube above the barrel that vents directly into a chamber in the bolt carrier behind the bolt itself, pushing the carrier backward to operate the autoloading mechanism. This reduces the number of moving parts by eliminating the need for a separate piston and cylinder, provides improved rapid-fire performance and reduces subjective recoil and muzzle rise by putting the reciprocating parts on the same axis as the bore.

The downside of a direct-impingement system is that ignition fouling is blown directly into the breech. As the gas travels down the tube, it expands and cools, depositing more residue into the operating components of the action than do gas-piston designs. This increased fouling can cause malfunctions if the rifle is not properly maintained. The quantity and composition of these deposits will vary with powder specification, caliber and gas-port design.

In November 1963, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara approved an Army order of 85,000 5.56mm-caliber second-generation XM16E1s for jungle warfare operations, and soon after, the Army’s Small Arms Weapons Systems project recommended the adoption of the XM16E1 by all infantry units service-wide to replace the previous standard 7.62mm M14. However, the new rifle was initially delivered without cleaning supplies or maintenance instructions, due primarily to Colt having promoted the M16 to the Army as “low maintenance.” Therefore, no cleaning supplies were procured by the Department of Defense, and no specific M16 weapon-care training was conducted for the troops. Soldiers went afield without cleaning kits and without basic knowledge of how to maintain the rifles.

When the M16 first reached Vietnam with U.S. troops in March 1965, reports of jamming and malfunctions in combat were immediately reported. Although the M14 had featured a chrome-lined barrel and chamber to resist corrosion in combat conditions, neither the bore nor the chamber of the XM16E1 was chrome-lined. Verified accounts of troops killed by enemy fire with jammed rifles broken down for cleaning eventually brought a congressional investigation. As one Marine after-action report put it, “We left with 72 men in our platoon and came back with 19. Believe it or not, you know what killed most of us? Our own rifle. Practically every one of our dead was found with his M16 torn down next to him where he had been trying to fix it.”

Apart from the failure of training and equipment, the root cause of the problem was soon traced to the ammo propellant. In 1964 the Army had been informed that DuPont could not mass-produce the IMR nitrocellulose-based powder required by M16 specifications, so procurement officials contracted with Olin Corporation to replace it with the nitrocellulose-nitroglycerin WC846 ball propellant then used as standard for 7.62 ammunition. This produced much more fouling, which would jam the action of an M16 unless the gun was frequently--and thoroughly--cleaned.

http://www.gunsandammo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/article_slideshow/GA_recyclingthemyth_201004-B_0.jpg
Even in Vietnam, the Stoner-designed M16 and Garand-derived M14 each had their adherents.

From the jungles of Vietnam to the sands of the Middle East, the M16/M4 has served with reliability and distinction. But diligent maintenance, as demonstrated by this Marine, is still vital. USMC photo by Pfc. M. Daniel Sanchez.

Even though Olin’s powder delivered the specified 3,300 fps velocity for a 5.56mm round from an M16, it had a different pressure curve. It produced higher pressure at the gas port and advanced the full-auto cyclic rate from 850 to 1,000 rpm, which decreased accuracy, increased wear and deposited even more fouling residue. It was a classic example of bean-counters making procurement judgments involving components about which they had zero technical expertise.

SOLVING THE PROBLEM
Under the glare of negative national publicity, and with the gun about to be adopted service-wide, major revisions to the M16’s ammunition specifications and operating design quickly followed. Different powders were used that produced much less residue. The rifle’s recoil mechanism was redesigned to accommodate the Army-issued ammunition, with a different buffer system to slow down the rate of fire back to 650 to 850 rpm. The barrel, chamber and bolt (and eventually the entire bore) of the rifles were chrome-lined to improve corrosion resistance and eliminate stuck cartridges. Cleaning tools and powder solvents and lubricants were issued. Intensive programs in weapons cleaning were made part of standard training, with a comic book-style maintenance manual issued to all troops.

On February 28, 1967, the reengineered XM16E1 was standardized as the M16A1. By February 1968 a Department of Defense report showed that troops in Vietnam had been entirely won over. Only 38 of 2,100 ground-combat soldiers surveyed then wanted to replace the M16A1 with another weapon. Of those 38, 35 wanted a CAR-15 collapsible-stock short-barreled version of the M16 instead.

I entered the Army in the fall of 1968, while we were in the process of switching from the M14 to the M16A1, and I qualified with both while I transitioned from Basic Training to Infantry AIT. I preferred the M16 to the M14 for its lighter weight and milder recoil, easier operation, greater firepower and greater resistance to the elements. As a Midwestern farm boy, I had grown up with a rifle in my hands and been taught by my grandfather how to take care of them. I never thought that the M16 required anything unusual by way of maintenance.

Toward the end of my hitch, I served as a platoon sergeant/weapons instructor for an Infantry AIT training battalion at Ft. McClellan, Alabama. We would rotate units to the ranges for qualification once a week and always ended each day’s training with an abundance of ammo left over. Since returning unused live rounds to supply was a paperwork nightmare, the training cadre would shoot up all the excess, blazing away full auto. We would rip off a full 20-round magazine, squirt a bit of LSA (Lubricant, Small Arms) into the chamber/bolt area and rip off another. When the gun got too hot to touch, we’d pour water on it and continue. Can’t say we did very much to help the accuracy of the training rifles, but they never, ever failed mechanically.

Most of the AR-bashing Internet-forum talk you see these days comes from people who have “heard about” how unreliable they are or from people who obviously don’t know much about basic gun care. I’ve staked my life on the reliability of the AR platform with confidence and would do so again.

[Korbin Dallas]

I tried, but the link takes me to the homepage. Which article were you trying to post?

EDIT: Never mind, Kreg got it.

[Awoke]

Shit, that's not what I thought it was. It was supposed to be a review of the Taurus PT24/7 OSS Semiauto pistol, from Guns and Ammo Magazine.

Thanks anyways.

[Korbin Dallas]

Is this it?

The new PT 24/7 OSS version was originally designed and built as a .45 ACP to exceed all requirements originally set forth in 2005 by the U.S. Special Operations Command for an intended procurement of a new military .45 ACP service pistol. It was subsequently adapted for .40 S&W and 9mm as well, following an announcement of an expanded all-service Joint Combat Pistol system trial. When those trials were postponed in 2006, Taurus decided to sell this next-generation service design to the civilian and law enforcement markets.

The 24/7 OSS combines more features than is offered by any other semiauto pistol on the market, and it has an entirely new trigger mechanism that completely eliminates two of the longest-standing problems with double-action and double-action-only pistol design. When you take up the slack in the new Taurus PT 24/7 OSS pistol trigger, you've got a first-shot pull that's as short and quick as a standard single-action Government Model 1911. And for every following shot, the trigger returns to the same fast, short-pull position. No more long, mushy trigger pulls on the first shot then transitioning to a short pull on the second shot, as is the case with conventional double-action autoloaders.

Moreover, if the gun fails to fire, the 24/7 OSS mechanism automatically and instantly resets to a conventional double-action long-pull position and allows you to pull the trigger again--just like a double-action revolver--without needing to manually manipulate the slide. Essentially, it's a single-action pistol that becomes a double action in an emergency.

Most failures to fire with today's quality guns and ammo are caused by residue buildup that can impede full chambering or slow the firing pin. In more than 80 percent of such situations, the first firing-pin strike resolves the situation by fully seating the round or clearing the firing-pin channel, and the second hit fires the gun--without the need to jack in a new cartridge. If it's a bad cartridge and you do have to work the 24/7 OSS slide by hand to chamber a fresh round, the action automatically resets to the original short-pull single-action trigger mode.

The 24/7 design originated with the Taurus line of striker-fired, compact, polymer-frame double-action 9mm Millennium pistols, which debuted in 1998. When I first got my hands on one, I was immediately struck by its shootable feel, its short-stroke repeat-strike trigger (which few other double-action-only pistols offered) and by the fact that the gun had a cocked-and-locked-type manual safety (which no other double-action-only pistol had).

A couple of years later, while visiting the Taurus manufacturing plant in Brazil, I got to handle prototypes of a full-size version of the Millennium design that would soon be introduced as the original 24/7. They impressed me equally.

On the vast majority of double-action-only pistols there are no manual safety mechanisms. The 24/7 has one, which you can choose to use or not use. Ditto with the Taurus Safety System on the right side of the slide that can key-lock the slide and action and make the gun unable to fire.

Other features common to the 24/7 pistols also found on the OSS are a loaded-chamber indicator, internal trigger safety, Heinie combat sights, molded-in equipment rail, reversible magazine release and ergonomic grip design.

The ambidextrous thumb safety on the 24/7 also locks both the trigger and the slide, and there is also an internal striker block. Plus, on the OSS model, if you push the thumb safety upward above the "safe" position (requiring a positive click), it decocks the striker, returning the trigger mechanism to a long-pull conventional double-action mode.

http://www.gunsandammo.com/content/the-taurus-trials

[Awoke]

That's it.

Thank you kindly!

:)