CAR-15 FAMILY ②

 　CAR-15 FAMILY ②

Caliber:　5.56 × 45mm M193

CAR-15 Carbine

The CAR-15 carbine was designed to provide mechanized troops with a short rifle that could be easily mounted on vehicles. The barrel is 15 inches (381mm) long, and it uses the standard AR-15 triangular handguard and stock and the 02-style three-pronged flash suppressor. It is just a shortened barrel, and its appearance is very different from the various M16 carbines we are familiar with now. Obviously, it is impossible to install a bayonet, so the CAR-15 carbine has no bayonet protrusion. The CAR-15 carbine with an auxiliary push handle is the Colt number 605 (Model 605 ), but some carbines do not have an auxiliary push handle and have three firing modes, which can control semi-automatic, 3-round burst and fully automatic shooting. These models are designated as 605B. The Navy SEALs were found using such CAR-15 carbines in early 1962.

Colt engineers demonstrate the use of the XM148, mounted under the Model 605 CAR-15 carbine, July 1965

CAR-15 submachine gun

The CAR-15 submachine gun is modeled as Model 607 in Colt , and is designed to replace the M1A1, M3 and other submachine guns left over from the US Army during World War II. The barrel of the gun is shortened by half, 10 inches (254mm) long, and uses a shortened M16 triangular handguard and a retractable buttstock. The empty gun weighs 5.25 pounds. The CAR-15 submachine gun is the first AR-15 to use a retractable buttstock. It looks like a shortened fixed buttstock, but has two adjustable length positions. There is a lock bolt in the recess of the buttstock bottom plate. When pulled out, the length increases by 2.7 inches, making it easier to carry. The designers even equipped the early CAR-15 submachine gun with a shortened small grip (as shown in the picture above), but the short grip is really uncomfortable to use, so it was quickly replaced with a standard small grip. The original 607 model did not have an auxiliary push handle, but it was later added to some of these experimental gun models. This model with an auxiliary push handle is called the 607A model. Both the 607 and 607A models have semi-auto and full-auto capabilities, but there is also a 607B model which is not capable of full-auto, but instead has a 3-round burst feature.

At that time , the US special forces in the jungles of Vietnam needed a shorter weapon for covert operations such as infiltration, reconnaissance and patrol. So Colt received a contract to produce 2,050 CAR-15 submachine guns (all 607 models) in January 1966. In February , an additional order of 765 was added , and in June , an additional order of 2,815 was added . Most of them were distributed to the Navy SEALs and Army Special Forces, and some were given to the army's K-9 units, which were said to have been used in the raid on the Son Tay POW camp in northern Vietnam. Because Colt put the word "Commando" on the receivers of some of the CAR-15 submachine guns, they were sometimes called " CAR-15 Commando Model". This was Colt's first short-barreled AR called "Commando".

When the Aberdeen Ground Weapons Proving Ground tested the CAR-15 submachine gun, it was found that the muzzle flame and muzzle noise were too loud due to the short barrel. Colt tested many muzzle devices. Initially, FH's duckbill or trident flash suppressor, but the results proved to be ineffective. Then Colt switched to a 1.3-inch long flash suppressor, but the noise and muzzle flame problems were still serious. Then Colt developed another 3.5-inch ( 89mm) long cylindrical muzzle device . Unlike the simple trident or birdcage shape, its structure is like a simplified small silencer. When the gunpowder gas passes through the several-stage expansion chamber, it will slow down the expansion speed and reduce the muzzle shock wave. Since this muzzle device is a mixture of silencer and flame suppressor functions, but different from a real silencer, it has a special name called "Moderator" . The late model CAR-15 submachine gun equipped with a 3.5-inch Moderator became the typical feature of the gun. Since the CAR-15 produced by Japanese electric toy gun manufacturers was based on the shape of the CAR-15 submachine gun equipped with a 3.5-inch Moderator, many people thought that this was what the CAR-15 looked like (although I think the dwarf stock of the CAR-15 with a short cylindrical muzzle device is ugly, and it is better to have the three-pronged flash hider of the XM16E1, since toy guns don't have muzzle flash anyway) .

However, the flame suppression effect of the 3.5-inch Moderator was still not ideal, so Colt developed a longer 4.25- inch Moderator based on this . In September 1966 , Colt launched the CAR-15 submachine gun with this flash suppressor and named it the 607A. Later, the new telescopic stock, round handguard and other details were improved on the basis of the 607A. These improved CAR-15 submachine gun production models were delivered to the troops for testing in November 1966, and were officially tested and finalized by the US Army and Air Force in January 1967 , which is the XM177 / XM177E1 series submachine gun .

　　　

The "duckbill" flash suppressor of the 601 type (left) and the "trident" flash suppressor of the XM16E1 (right) were both used in the early 607 type. Although they both look like tridents, their inner cavity structure is actually a small trumpet shape. 3.5-inch Moderator silencer/ flame suppressor, the internal structure is a simplified version of the silencer Model 607A of the 01-style flash hider XM16E1 three-pronged flash hider Model 607 The 3.5-inch Moderator Type 607 is the most numerous Type 607. I have seen some information calling this later type the Tanker, but it actually has nothing to do with tank crews. Model 607 with birdcage flash hider installed. This picture also uses Colt's early trial 30-round curved magazine (different from the later straight-curved-straight structure) The Type 607 prototype was tested, using a 30-round magazine and equipped with the Type 608's trumpet-shaped flash suppressor. Model 607A with 4.25-inch Moderator (with auxiliary push handle) Three 607 models with different flash hiders in the private museum of Reed Knight, the owner of KAC The 607 model with a 4.25-inch Moderator and a new telescopic stock was later replaced with a round handguard to become the XM177 3 types of CAR-15 submachine guns, from top to bottom: Model 607, Model 609 (XM177E1) and Model 629 (XM177E2) Weapons used by the Navy SEALs during the Vietnam War, with a 607 CAR-15 submachine gun in the middle The 607 CAR-15 submachine gun used by the SEALs in Vietnam (the other long gun may be the T223, an American imitation of the HK33) CAR-15 submachine gun in Vietnam War photos CAR-15 submachine gun and XM177E1 AK-47 and CAR-15 submachine gun I don't know if this is an XM177E1 with a CAR-15 submachine gun stock, or a CAR-15 submachine gun with an XM177E1 flash suppressor. DIY wooden handguard and CAR-15 with a replaced flash hider. The original handguard must have been in tatters. The CAR-15 submachine guns in these two pictures have ribs on the receiver to prevent accidental operation of the magazine button ("full fence" receiver), but in fact, all the receivers of the CAR-15 gun family at that time were "half fence" receivers of the 603 type. So these two are not original CAR-15 submachine guns, but clones modified from a later-produced M16. Civilian players installed different muzzle devices on various cloned 607 models CAR-15 submachine gun (Type 607) and its development XM177E1. However, the two CAR-15 submachine guns on the left are "full fence" receivers, while the XM177E1 on the far right is a flat receiver. So these three guns are probably clone guns assembled by civilian users themselves. Install the CAR-15 submachine gun clone of the Armson OEG version after 1981 (note the "full fence" lower receiver), install the 01-style "duckbill" flash suppressor