(Britain) Rifle is found in MoD Motor

[Drizzt]

Rifle is found in MoD Motor

By ANDY RUSSELL
May 04, 2007


A MINISTRY of Defence car was to be sold at auction — with a semi-automatic rifle in it.

A workman valeting the 4x4 found the M16 weapon under a back seat.

He said: “I lifted the seat up and there was this rifle lying there.

“It had a ball bearing pressed into the barrel but the barrel could have been sawn off. It had a firing pin in it and the firing mechanism seemed to be working.

“It is amazing that the Ministry of Defence could let a car go with a weapon still inside.

“The car could have been sold on to anyone and, as far as I could tell, that gun could easily be made active again.”

Last night MoD chiefs ordered an urgent review of their sell-on procedures as the weapon was examined by experts.

Auction boss Bernie Grimshaw, of Belle Vue, Manchester, said: “We sell lots of cars from the MoD but we have never found anything like this.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007200625,00.html

 

[rkh]

The "I am incompetent and untrustworthy" attitude that is parroted almost universally by Britons is far more disturbing to me than the MoD's loss of a single deactivated rifle.

Does anyone remember the story from a few months back of the British shopkeeper who found a single round of .22 short near his door? Why did that make world news?

 

[The Canuck]

Sounds like the boys in Special Forces Group misplaced a rifle one day. Probably from 5 Airmobile Brigade...

 

[Onmilo]

Why in the good queens name would somebody put a ball bearing in the barrel and where in the world did the British get a semi automatic M16??????

 

[DMK]

Why in the good queens name would somebody put a ball bearing in the barrel

Yea, that's just weird. It's not like that made it legal. What would be the point? Maybe it was for shooting blanks during training?

 

[The Viking]

Yea, that's just weird. It's not like that made it legal. What would be the point? Maybe it was for shooting blanks during training?

Wouldn't a blank cartridge dislodge the ball bearing? Could be nasty if so...Brandon Lee took a bullet in the stomach. The bullet had been in a cartridge without gunpowder in it. The explosion from the primer was enough to push the bullet into the barrel. Next time the gun was fired, it was fired with a blank round, that struck him in the guts.

 

[GRIZ22]

where in the world did the British get a semi automatic M16??????

The SAS used M16s by choice.

 

[strat81]

Aren't M16s select fire and not semi-automatic?

 

[Shear_stress]

Why in the good queens name would somebody put a ball bearing in the barrel

A good question. The article doesn't say where the BB was pressed--whether it was down the bore or on the outside of the barrel. If it was down the bore, maybe it was a way to keep dust or moisture out, or to protect the muzzle crown from damage. If they mean a ball-bearing detent, it could have been for quick-mounting some accessory or other. Just guessing.

 

[The Canuck]

Why in the good queens name would somebody put a ball bearing in the barrel and where in the world did the British get a semi automatic M16??????

Special Forces Group (SAS, SBS, 2 PARA, Royal Marine Commando etc.) and most of 5 Air Mobile Brigade have M-16s and G-36s available to them.

 

[The Canuck]

Aren't M16s select fire and not semi-automatic?

Yep.