New M16 Modification in Iraq?

As I watch the footage from the battle of Fallujah, I'm noticing a modification to the M16 that I haven't seen before. I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed.

It's not an M4, because it has the solid (not collapsible) buttstock. It has a forward verticle handgrip (which seems useless) extending from the bottom of where the heat sheild usually goes. And the heat shield seems to have been replaced by a half-barrel lenght picadilly rail system.

Is this a Marine mod that I wouldn't know about, or some new standard for the M16. Also, I was under the impression that the M16 had been completely phased out and replaced with the M4 for all active component.

[edit on 9-11-2004 by DeltaChaos]

Can you hook us up with some photos of these new mods?

Can you tell the barrel length? If it is an M16 it should be 20", as opposed to the M4's 14.5. Also, was it a Marine or Army unit? Some special operations units use a Knight's RAS/RIS or some variation thereof for mounting lights and the aforementioned vertical foregrips (which I believe make the rifle easier to control in CQB situations). If the Rangers went in with the Marines it could have been their rifles that you were seeing.

Don't take me at my word for any of this though, it's all just as I have come to understand it.

M4 SOPMOD - I know the ones you saw had A2 stocks, but this is a pretty standard special operations M4 with a RIS.

Knight's RAS

After 2 days of fighting in Fallujah 10 U.S. soilders and 2 Iraqi soilders have been killed. www.msnbc.msn.com...

Originally posted by para
Can you tell the barrel length? If it is an M16 it should be 20", as opposed to the M4's 14.5. Also, was it a Marine or Army unit? Some special operations units use a Knight's RAS/RIS or some variation thereof for mounting lights and the aforementioned vertical foregrips (which I believe make the rifle easier to control in CQB situations). If the Rangers went in with the Marines it could have been their rifles that you were seeing.

Don't take me at my word for any of this though, it's all just as I have come to understand it.

M4 SOPMOD - I know the ones you saw had A2 stocks, but this is a pretty standard special operations M4 with a RIS.

Knight's RAS

Oh, I want one even more now...

250 members of the First Marines Expeditionary Force went into war last year with the new M16A4s these where equipped to the squad advanced marksmen.
The Marines Corps decieded in the spring of 02 to replace the M16A2s with the M16A4s but went to war before the change over could be accomplished.




Looks abit to big for him

Could be what you saw? might be something else?

[edit on 9-11-2004 by Die Trying]

the M16 family of weapons has its faults,but one of its strengths is that it is very adaptable to the mission requirements.It only takes a few minutes to replace the handguards with a rail system,then you can bolt on enough highspeed/lowdrag accesories for just about anything.for info on the M16/AR15 go to www.ar15.com

I guess this is what I'm talking about. I found this picture on Globalsecurity.org. I just haven't seen a rail system that went along the entire barrel. The forward handgrip makes sense now, since there's no heat sheild to hold on to.

I guess there's just so many mods now that you would need 15 inches of over and under rail along the barrel in addition to the sight rail.

Originally posted by DeltaChaos
The forward handgrip makes sense now, since there's no heat sheild to hold on to.

I believe that the rail system attaches the same way as the normal plastic handguards (via delta ring) and is not in direct contact with the barrel. I doubt it dissapates heat as well as the plastic, but I don't think that heat dissipation is the reason for the inclusion of the verticla grip. The three plastic things to the left of what looks like the flip-up sight for the 203 are meant to be attached to the rail to eliminate any discomfort from shooting with the rail.

Why it would be used on a rifle that long is beyond me. I am used to seeing the grips on 10.5 and 11.5 inch uppers for CQB. Anyone know if it extends beyond the bottom of a 30rd magazine when inserted? You could possibly use it for a monopod, but you think they would just use a real bipod instead.