Chindo18Z: Yeah, I'm familiar with the good Major
(MAJ Chaz Bowser) and his all-over-the-internet "buy" HK quote. He is a fine American whose words were scooped up and misappropriated by HK fan-boys everywhere. It was further shamelessly spread everywhere by the "Oh No...The Sky is Falling...We Need to Buy HK" Capital Hill/Gannett Publishing/HK mafia.
Oft repeated HK shill sales article from one of the trade rags (quotes Bowser):
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/...roversy-03289/
The original quote from a 2007 editorial article he wrote into Army Times:
http://www.armytimes.com/community/o..._bowser070319/
What you seem to miss is context. Bowser was only indirectly referencing the 416 in a discussion of the need for even acquiring a new long gun for the force. The fact that he had access to grab a 416 when going out the door on downrange TDY business trips was a function of where he worked...not whether the gun worked. It was available. He was exercising simple personal preference. We all do that from time to time. I routinely carry an issue 1911A1 on downrange deployments because I can. I do so in preference to other available pistols and calibers.
For purposes of that article, Bowser was actually advocating the SCAR (a better weapon than the 416 BTW). I have 416s in my unit and can carry one if I so choose. I don't. I won't give up the distance fight and I don't feel like carrying the extra weapon weight when I'm already running a quad-rail, vertical grip, offset Surefire, ATPIAL-15, and an Elcan Specter DR. I'm also not one of those who chugs the piston Kool-aid. I've had years of practical experience to figure it out...and I have...long before DI vs. Gas Piston was a discussion point on internet forums.
Those who have worked military procurement & programs of record under a Service or Unified Combatant Command Headquarters can appreciate where a transient O-4 falls in the food chain. With all due respect to MAJ Bowser...who is a competent guy...that place is not very high. As I recall, he came to us as an ARDEC guy from Picatinney. I also recall that he worked at USASOC, not SOCOM. And I seem to recall that he is a Logistician...not a long tab guy. Not an Operator. Not a Gunfighter. And yes...I knew his (then) boss...as well as the (then) Small Arms Program Director at NSWC Crane. If you understand how USSOCOM procures weaponry, you will realize that Crane is our belly button for weapons not already provided to the entire conventional Army. SOF unique items come out of Crane.
Not to knock MAJ Bowser (who I believe is a competent cat), but if you met some of the other folks assigned weapon program managerial duties, you'd be shocked at their lack of subject matter expertise. The last time the Ft Benning Infantry Center was playing the "Let's Evaluate a New Rifle Game", I spent an interesting couple of hours on the phone with their rifle program manager, amplifying some e-mail feedback I had previously sent them. The breadth of his ignorance concerning 5.56 ballistics and combat rifles was breathtaking. It was like talking to a novice shooter on this board. And that guy was charged with putting together a proposed rifle equip program for the entire conventional Army! He was a great Soldier and a fine young officer, but didn't know poop about rifles.
That is typical of staffing for large military organizations. We assign branch qualified personnel to brand new staff jobs despite their having no hands-on experience. It is simply expected that they are teachable and will pick up expertise (via OJT) about a given topic, produce Staff Studies & Decision Briefs, and then brief those deliverables to the decision making bosses.
MAJ Bowser's quote was nothing more than a personal opinion from someone who was working a staff directorate position for a year or so until his next logistics assignment or eventual promotion to O-5. I don't regard his opinion as to what constitutes a proper combat weapon as authoritative in the least.
The 416 achieved a certain cachet due to SFOD-D bringing it on board well over a decade ago. White SOF also adopted it in limited numbers and we continue to use them today. What we got was an overweight and not-so-accurate CQB weapon with crappy overweight (and over sized) magazines. AWG wanted to be cool kids too, and while they were casting about for an actual reason to exist, they used their shekels to buy 416s (look...me too! Just like CAG!). They later cried crocodile tears when the funding stream & support mechanism for future maintenance didn't carry over to their eventual Big Army charter... and they had to give the rifles up.
In any event, today there are BETTER piston guns than HK's offering and we buy those instead.
Quote:
HKs are extremely popular for operators who actually get to choose their weapons instead of bureaucrats as in standard weapon selection.
Actually...not so much. And in actuality, not that many organizations get to choose their weapons in the way you are thinking. It's not Neo and the virtual arms room of the Matrix in the real world of Special Operations. Not even for Delta, SAS, GROM, KSK, FBI HRT, etc. Money & politics always influence weapon choices for government funded organizations.
Just not that many credible 1st World forces carry HKs. I don't count local and regional LEOs as "Operators". National SOF/CT Forces only. The Germans use them (for obvious financial reasons) and they equip most of the military and police in that country. UK SOF is another exception and that primarily because BAE owns HK; if you don't think bureaucracy was at play in their choice of pistols, you are dreaming. In any event, the SAS uses an M4 variant for primaries. In fact, among Tier One Units across the planet, AR platforms & Glock pistols generally rule. Everyone loves a winner.
On the other hand, lots of 2nd & 3rd world units (Arab forces in particular) continue to have a love affair with the 9mm MP-5 (and its Turkish clones) 'cause they've seen them in the movies (they look cool) and the MP-5 doesn't require actual rifle marksmanship skills to employ effectively. They are mostly used as a short range PSD status item, delivering negligible recoil. No one has to lose face demonstrating misses with a rifle round at distance...it's a crowd pleasing recipe among certain cultures.
Nevertheless, the MP-5 is still just about the best choice out there for an accurate, proven , and suppressed SMG. Of course, this is partially due to its having better than average rifle-type sights for an SMG, but primarily because it fires from a closed bolt. However, most pros have discarded the SMG concept like yesteryear's bell-bottoms.
Anyway, that concludes my hate-on for the HK 416 Uber-Myth. Lest you think that I detest HK products, I've owned several over the years and consider the USP series to be superb weapons. That is why I own a USP/C today. The 416 IS a very good weapon within the limitations of its envelope. And I'd love to own an MP-5SD 'cause it's so amazingly quiet on full auto and gives good hits at distance. That's probably never in the cards, so I'll just use the issue ones at my unit.
