Popular Mechanics - Face Time With the HK416—The Gun That Killed Bin Laden

You werent kidding when you said the author knew very little about guns, this quote from the article made me lol a little

The M16 and M4 both use gas tubes to launch their projectiles, and keep these gases (along with burned carbon particles) inside the gun, fouling the receiver.

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@wacki
"Maybe one day these will be available to us."

Well the answer to that is they already are, just not the select fire models...

Select Fire: HK416 (5.56 NATO)
Civilian Semi: MR556 (5.56 NATO)

Select Fire: HK417 (7.62 NATO)
Civilian Semi: MR762 (7.62 NATO)

What a useless article. The article consists half of incorrect technical details, and the other half is about how cool it was to wave it around a little and take some pictures.

The HK416 is, as of May 2011, the world's newest celebrity weapon. Enough off-the-record sources have told reporters that it is the gun that killed Osama bin Laden that this detail has become accepted history, even though the Pentagon and HK won't admit it.

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Yep, definitely authoritative. That finally settles it.

Hah, if it really was HK would LOVE to admit it. I'm not sure if we'll ever really know though.

The gun didn't kill him, the man pulling the trigger did!

To say otherwise is accepting one of the anti's premises.

However, I sure can't think of a better example of "he needed killing".

I can't stand the fascination with "what gun killed Osama." I'm eagerly awaiting "what brand of bullet killed Osama" and perhaps inevitably "what sunglasses were the SEALs who killed Osama wearing?"

Also, once upon a time Popular Mechanics had decent articles. This one is almost incredibly bad.

It is disappointing that a magazine titled "Popular Mechanics" would display such ignorance on the basic mechanics of the topic they are covering.

Are those "Homeboy" sights i see on the side of that rifle?

The might let you get a couple inches lower when prone, maybe? Still, does look silly.

if it really was HK would LOVE to admit it.

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+10,000.

Do SEAL's even really carry HK's? Or were they just given a bunch at one point and now HK claims that's all they use.

The might let you get a couple inches lower when prone, maybe? Still, does look silly.

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Or just give a weapons wrangler a chance to make a reporter look like an utter tool to anyone in the know.

Do SEAL's even really carry HK's? Or were they just given a bunch at one point and now HK claims that's all they use.

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CAG (aka the artist formerly know as Delta Force) adopted them. It wouldn't surprise me if SEAL Team 6, who occupy the same highest end niche in Naval Special Warfare, did so as well. I don't think they're standard issue for the normal SEAL teams, but a) was never involved in the naval side of SOCOM at all and b) have been out of the army side of that community for three years or so, so don't claim to be an expert.

Dang it, the MR556 is getting more and more tempting.

What a poorly written article.

^ not at $2,400+..... dang

Yeah, $2,400 is overpriced but definitely no more so than some others out there. Good question is why spec ops choose the HK over all the other high end piston AR platforms out there. I would say because while others are very well made HK is the highest quality.

Why is it that the HK416 firing 5.56 ammo is considered to be such an amazingly deadly terrorist killing gun when the same ammo fired from a comparable length barrel of the M4 is reported to be so ineffective against terrorists and the M4 platform so pitiful because it just fires the 5.56?

Is bullet transmogrification typical of HK products?

Maybe because your reading the opinions of many different people and combining them? The HK was designed to improve reliability, not lethality.

H&K
The worst customer service that you'll never need.

Z-Michigan said:

I can't stand the fascination with "what gun killed Osama." I'm eagerly awaiting "what brand of bullet killed Osama" and perhaps inevitably "what sunglasses were the SEALs who killed Osama wearing?

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You think that's bad? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...at-gun-oil-bought-U-S-military-personnel.html

You're right, that article is worse than anything I had feared. Ugh. And ridiculous.

Yeah, but what cool line did he utter before doing it? Lordy lordy

Assume a Shooter's Stance

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In the photo it looks like he's failed to extend the stock, and is just ramming the end of the scope into his eye. Am I not seeing that correctly?

Pfft, that's how the real operators do it.

Maybe because your reading the opinions of many different people and combining them? The HK was designed to improve reliability, not lethality.

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Well, they are the opinions expressed and yet a lot of people think the gun is more lethal with the same ammo and that is pretty silly.