I’m in Europe (Paris, to be specific), and have some internet access courtesy of the hotel where I’m staying.
Whilst in London, I observed the Changing of the Guard ceremony in Buckingham Palace and noticed something quite interesting: Singapore had a contingent of guards at the palace (they were relieved by what appeared to be members of the British Royal Air Force). The Singaporean troops were carrying chrome- or nickel-plated M16A1s, which struck me as a bit weird.
Does anyone know if these rifles could be functional if so plated, or if they’re only suitable for parades and whatnot?
Europe Update
Comments
6 responses to “Europe Update”
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The insides of M16A1s are chrome plated and work just fine (for killing poodles), so why should external plating cause them a problem? The moving parts are on the inside.
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Tim, the barrel of the M16A1 certainly is chromed…but not the bolt, bolt carrier, chamber, etc. I wasn’t able to see if the actual guts of these ones were chromed (as the dust covers were closed), but I’d imagine that tolerances are quite tight, and the addition of chrome plating would be a Bad Thing.
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I was in fact referring to the chrome plated chambers as well as the barrel. Your assertion that the chamber is not chromed is incorrect.
http://www.thegunzone.com/556dw-5.html
http://firearmwiki.com/mw/index.php?title=M16 -
Ah, I stand (or, to be precise, sit) corrected. Thank you.
That said, I’m still curious how the rest of the internal parts would fare if chromed. -
Apparently quite well :
http://www.lesbaer.com/ar223b.html
http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=8667979 -
Ah, very cool. That was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
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