Oct. 5, 2012

“Keep the people ignorant and afraid and control and power becomes a detail – a self-generating byproduct of the people’s hysteria.”

…

“The universal methodology of the tyrant is always incrementalism.”

Derek Audette

First came the ammunition requests, and now it’s time for the weapons. The incremental creep of arming government thugs continues one step at a time, one breath at a time, until it becomes one American death at a time.

Department of Homeland Security has placed an initial order of up to 7,000 5.56x45mm North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) personal defense weapons (PDW), with a contract life of 5 years, to numerous Department of Homeland Security components, which includes Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).

The winner of the contract would receive the assured minimum is $30,000 but not to exceed the maximum ceiling of $9,800,000.

What is the 5.56x45mm?

From Wikipedia:

The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO) is a rifle cartridge developed in the United States and originally chambered in the M16 rifle. Under STANAG 4172, it is a standard cartridge for NATO forces as well as many non-NATO countries.^[2] It is derived from, but not identical to, the .223 Remington cartridge. When the bullet impacts at high velocity and yaws^[3] in tissue, fragmentation creates a rapid transfer of energy which can result in dramatic wounding effects.^[4][5][6]

However, the DHS (except the Secret Service) has not purchased ANY 5.56×45 ammunition in the past year. Which means hundreds of millions of 5.56×45 ammunition will need to be purchased. The closest round that they have purchased is the .223 Remington, when they purchased 375 million rounds earlier this year.

But it’s not a perfect match and that could cause problems:

Using commercial .223 Remington cartridges in a 5.56 mm NATO chambered rifle should work reliably, but generally will not be as accurate as when fired from a .223 Remington chambered gun due to the longer lead.^[29] Using 5.56 mm NATO mil-spec cartridges (such as the M855) in a .223 Remington chambered rifle can lead to excessive wear and stress on the rifle and even be unsafe, and SAAMI recommends against the practice.^[30][31] Some commercial rifles marked as “.223 Remington” are in fact suited for 5.56 mm NATO, such as many commercial AR-15 variants and the Ruger Mini-14 (marked “.223 cal”), but the manufacturer should always be consulted to verify that this is acceptable before attempting it, and signs of excessive pressure (such as flattening or gas staining of the primers) should be looked for in the initial testing with 5.56 mm NATO ammunition.^[32]

 

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What fires the 5.56 ammunition?

Wikipedia holds that answer as well:

Many nations (both NATO and non-NATO members) use the 5.56 mm NATO cartridge in their rifles. Examples include:

• Argentina FARA 83
• Australian F88 Austeyr assault rifle and F89 Minimi machine gun. (ADI Thales also supplies ammunition)
• Austrian Steyr AUG and the Steyr ACR (Flechette) assault rifle
• Belgium: CAL, Minimi, FNC, SCAR, F2000.
• Bulgaria: Arsenal AD AR series
• Brazil: IMBEL MD2, LAPA FA-03
• Chinese QBZ-97, QBZ-03, CQ 5.56, QBB-97, KBU-97A
• Canadian Colt Canada C7 rifle, C8 rifle and the C9
• Croatia: HS Produkt VHS Assault rifle (VHS-K (short version) and VHS-D (long version))
• Czech Republic: CZ-805 BREN
• French: FAMAS
• Georgian: G5 carbine
• Germany: HK33, HK53, HK13E, HK23E, G41, G36, MG4, HK416, RH-70
• Indian INSAS assault rifle
• Indonesian PINDAD SS1 and SS2 assault rifles
• Iranian Khaybar KH2002
• Israeli IMI Negev, IMI Galil assault rifle and Tavor TAR-21 bullpup assault rifle
• Italian AR70/90, Franchi mod. 641, SOCIMI AR-831
• Japanese Howa Type 89
• Malaysian VB Berapi LP06 assault rifle
• Mexican FX-05 Xiuhcoatl assault rifle
• Peruvian FAD assault rifle, Diseños Casanave SC-2005
• Philippine MSSR sniper rifle and Special Operations Assault Rifle (SOAR).
• Polish Kbk wz. 1996 Mini-Beryl and Beryl wz.96 assault rifles
• Russian AK-101, AK-102, AK-108, AK-12 and KBP A-91
• Serbian M85/M90 and M21
• Singaporean SR-88 and SAR-21 assault rifles and Ultimax 100 machine gun
• South African Vektor R4 series of rifles and carbines, Truvelo Raptor, Vektor CR-21 assault rifle and Mini-SS machine gun
• South Korean K1, K2 assault rifles, and K3 machine gun
• Swedish Ak 5 system, derived from the Belgian FN FNC assault rifle
• Swiss SIG 530/540/550 series, with lesser performances than the round for which it was initially designed, the Gw Pat.90 cartridge
• Taiwan: T65 Assault Rifle, T86 assault rifle and T91 Assault Rifle.
• Thailand: Rung Paisarn RPS-001
• Turkish Safir T-15 and Safir T-17
• United Kingdom: Sterling SAR-87, SA80 series rifles.
• US M16 rifle series, M4 Carbine, US/German HK-416, US/Belgian M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, and US/Belgian Mk. 16 SCAR-L

Examples of rifles marketed for non-military applications that can take the 5.56 cartridge include:

• Bushmaster_ACR assault rifle
• Kel-Tec SU-16 series semi-automatic rifles
• Saiga 223 semi-automatic rifle
• Remington Model 7615 Police Patrol Rifle
• Remington Model 700 series bolt-action rifle
• Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle
• Steyr Scout series bolt-action rifle
• Winchester Model 70 series bolt-action rifle
• Volquartsen Evolution autoloading competition/varmint rifle
• Smith & Wesson M&P15 semi automatic ar-15 rifle
• Bushmaster_Firearms_International#Carbon_15 semi automatic carbon polymer based ar-15 rifle

Gee, look at all the foreign troops weaponry that could use the ammunition that we, the United States Taxpayers will have to purchase for them to try to put us into camps! Stalin’s promise to hang us, with the rope he purchased from us, is coming so eerily true.

But the most likely of these will be the Colt M-4 Carbine. FLETC has ordered forty for testing purposes recently; however, the M-4 has its problems with performance.

Sgt. Charles Perales of Fort Bragg, NC had this to say in a letter reprinted by Defense News:

My unit – B Company, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment – was deployed to Afghanistan from April 2005 to March 2006. While there, we were attached to Special Forces at Camp Tillman on the Afghan border…. I saw first-hand what happens when your weapon jams up because of the harsh environments we have to call home there. An 18B weapons sergeant was shot in the face due directly to his weapon jamming. I just can’t believe that after things like this happen, the Army is still buying more M4s.”

In essence: More weapons, more ammunition.

But what of more freedoms?