mil. spec. explanation

[Mark K. C.]

First of all I am sorry if this is the fourty-elleventh time this has been asked but can you explain just what it means to have a firearm that is built to military specifications. I was told that "they" pluck a pistol at random and it must fire 17,500 rounds without a glitch.

 

[chbrow10]

they have certain requirements above and beyond the normal "commercial off the shelf" (COTS) capabilities. Say they want 99.9999% reliability, and they define how to measure that reliability. They define a bunch of other requirements (maybe bullet weight, shape, powder type and charge). They might have a preference about the type of action and minimum round capacity, the preferred materials the weapon is allowed in certians parts, the ability to fire the weapon with heavy winter gloves on, etc.

Manufactuers either offer a weapon they already have, or design or modify a new gun to meet the military specifications that they have defined.

 

[marineman]

Milspec is overrated. Just because something is "milspec" does not necessarily make it any better than a weapon that is commercial. I think manufacturers like to advertise their products as milspec because consumers immediately assume that it can withstand the rigors that the military faces and therefore, is better than commercial equivalents.

 

[DWARREN123]

Military Specification, what the military specifies it wants in reliablity, round count, mean rounds between failures, mean rounds between parts replacement, weight, length, height and any other thing they want to stick in. Different for different things.

 

[jwr_747]

to start with,only the military is sold mil-spec weapons.mil-spec is a two part process.a verbal agreement on what is required and the paper work on what is required,prints,spec,ect.Colt AR-15's even though built by the same folks who built the Colt M-16 are not identical.some parts or tolerances are different. mil-spec may just mean a given thread count or degree of temper.over the counter mil-spec parts may look and feel like true mil-spec,but there is no guarentee that they meet all the requirements of what the military wanted.and we all know that the $600.00 mil-spec hammer is probably not much better than the $18.95 hammer from your friendly Ace Hardware. jwr

 

[rcmodel]

Very few if any firearm advertised as Mil-Spec truly is.

A Colt AR15 is close, but it is not Mil-Spec because there are no military specs for a semi-auto AR-15.
It lacks select-fire capability and is marked wrong for an M-16.

A civilian Beretta M-92 might be the exact same gun as a GI M-9, but it is not Mil-Spec because it lacks the proper markings for a mil-spec gun.

Etc. Etc. Etc!

And as has already been noted, parts & pieces are not mil-spec unless you steal them out of a government arsenal or parts depot.

You can't buy GI surplus mil-spec parts anymore.

Another catch is, a gun may truly be mil-spec as advertised.
But it may be the mil-spec's of the lower Slovakian, or Bolivian army or something.

It doesn't have to be U.S. GI Mil-Spec to be mil-spec somewhere else!

rcmodel

 

[The Bushmaster]

Mil-spec goes to the lowest bidder no matter what anyone says...It's as cheap as they can make them under those specifications...

 

[C96]

If it really is mil-spec there are drawings and inspectors to make sure the drawings are followed.

All done by the low bidder.