when firing an m16 or m4 anyway of telling if ur out

[Airborneranger4israel]

when firing an m16 or m4 is there anyway of telling how many rounds you have left in the magizine?

[JTAR7242]

Generally when the bolt locks to the rear, you're out. ;)

Otherwise no, other than the supercomputer in your skull.

[Flagg]

Easy.......don't go Hollywood on Auto.....and count your rounds

[wiking]

You know when your out, but it aint AA, so you don't have a HUD. :)
I haven't fired an M16 or an M4, but do shoot and nomather what weapon you shoot, you know when it's empty.
(Maybe in 20 or 30 years. HUD in the helmet or a counter on the gun like in HALO)

But i guess it's possible to have a general idea, lets say in tens, give or take 2-3 rounds, how much you've fired.

There's a whole section in the US army field manual on when to reload and stuff, i read it a while back.

[American Patriot]

when firing an m16 or m4 is there anyway of telling how many rounds you have left in the magizine?

No?

[rob]

count the holes in your enemies chest and subtract that number from 30.

[MEGR]

Count your rounds. The port door will be open when you run out. Like Flagg said.. Don't go rambo. Take well aimed shots.

[Hoplite_V]

Counting rounds is pretty hard when theres a million other things going on in your head i find. Then again maybe people are just smarter then me :oops:

Take a tracer round and arrange it in your magazine so the 2nd or 3rd last round fired is the tracer. When you see the tracer go you know you have 2 rounds left in your mag.

[Uncle Sam]

Count your rounds. The port door will be open when you run out. Like Flagg said.. Don't go rambo. Take well aimed shots.

What does that mean, "the port door will be open when you run out" ??

The "port door" aka dust cover opens as soon as you fire the first round and the expended shell comes out, and stays open until you physically close it.

In combat, you gonna count every round fired...Nope!?

When the bolt goes back and stays there...Reload...

*EDIT*

[MEGR]

Count your rounds. The port door will be open when you run out. Like Flagg said.. Don't go rambo. Take well aimed shots.

Well even then you can't be accurate. In combat, you gonna count every round fired...Nope!?

When the bolt goes back and stays there...You need to reload, period.

So true. I just shoot as a civvie so its easier for me.

[DnA]

For a Airborne Ranger you don't know a lot about the M16/M4 weapon system :P


Unless your counting your rounds, theres no way to know how many bullets you have in your magazine like everyone said.

[American Patriot]

Any time you get a break it's a good idea to reload if you have just fired an unknown number of rounds.

[MEGR]

Can the clear G36 mags go in Ar-15s?

[fred_engles]

I was wondering: there's a number of weapons that utilize translucent magazines, so that you can visually see how many rounds you have (Sig 55x, H&K G-36).

Is there any reason why no one seems to make a translucent magazine for the M16?

[AVZ]

Bcause they#re switching to M8!!! p-) :cantbeli: ;) Hope so!! woot

[FallenAngel]

Can the clear G36 mags go in Ar-15s?

no

[Airborneranger4israel]

thanx , by the way i am not old enough to serve just an interested in the military.

[rob]

there are translusent mags for the ar15. they just ahvent gained popularity for whatever reasons.

[BlitZ933]

In qualification I don't have trouble counting rounds, you can keep pretty easy track just by keeping a tally in your head.

In live fires, or actual combat/convoy ops, I load my mags with a tracer every 3rd round, and the last 3-5 rounds of every mag are tracers (the only place in the mag where you'll see two tracers in a row), so I know I'm out w/o having to keep close track of how many rounds I've fired. It's also a good idea to carry a mag with tracers about every other round, so if it's either A- dark, and you can't see though the sight (assuming you don't have NVG's and/or a high speed Aimpoint or Holosight), or B- your zero on said sight gets disturbed and your not connecting anymore, you can 'walk' fire in the right direction. Combat seems more about laying down fire, you don't have a chance to aim carefully very often when someone else is doing his best to kill you too =p.

[Zentrum Jagdkampf]

I served in a special unit of the Austrian Army.We have the Steyr Aug (transparent mag.)!But we learnded to shoot 2 rounds everytime (Doublette) and so it´s easy to count how many rounds you have left in your magazine.

[sniper762nl]

SOme of you were right on the spot here.

Whenever you have the time and feel like you're down on rounds in the current mag, take it out, dump it in your smock and put a fresh one in.

The tracer thing works, but only on the longer distances and when the sun isn't blazing. Otherwise, in the heat of battle, you're bound to miss the tracer all together.

Life is to short to be counting rounds or firing to bolt-lock when the metal start's flying! Reload often, top-up your mags when things calm down.

Stefan out

[One_A]

Is there any reason why no one seems to make a translucent magazine for the M16?

Soon.

[nickless]

Even with the G36 and its translucent magazines, you can't see the last ~15 rounds in the mag because the mag well is so long.
So you still have to remove the magazine from the gun to see if you have 15 or just 1 round left - not very practical in a firefight.

[Michael RVR]

Counting rounds is pretty hard when theres a million other things going on in your head i find. Then again maybe people are just smarter then me :oops:

Take a tracer round and arrange it in your magazine so the 2nd or 3rd last round fired is the tracer. When you see the tracer go you know you have 2 rounds left in your mag.

Most intelligent answer in the whole thread.

Cept maybe for sniper762 WRT to the comment about it not working in the day.

I could usually tell when i was getting low-ish, though it wasn't uncommon for me to change mags with 2-3 rounds left.

These days theres always more than 1000 rounds on the gun so its not an issue :lol:

[ShakesFIST]

I notice with my M16A4 (No more M4 for now :( ) that you can actually kind of "feel" that you are out if you aren't totally ignoring your weapon. I just noticed this this week after firing about 1,000 rounds over 3 days. You get a feel for your weapon real quick after that....

You can also tell you are out when you pull the trigger and nothing happens...

[TacoDelRio]

When I run out, a nice woman's voice says "Hey dumb****, you are running low on ammunition", and when she is low on batteries, "Altitude too low, Pull up".

Sorry lame joke.

The tracer idea is one thing. Another is if you shoot left handed, you can see into your reciever. If the action is open, hey, reload.

[sniper762nl]

Fist,

True, on the range, I am able to tell that my mag is empty. It worked with the FAL and works with the C7/C8. But I seriously doubt it'll work in a combat situation, during those heart pounding, ears ringing, sweat pouring moments, when you're breathing so hard it hurts and the world turns into a hostile blur that sends all sorts of **** whizzing by you at an incredible rate.... At those moments, I feel it's better to change mags when you can. There's 6 in my OPS-vest and 2 on the rifle. Popping in a fresh one can't be a bad thing...

I've experimented with a carbiner on the vest and elastic tied to it and to the mags in my vest. You can then simply drop the mag free and pop in a new one, but when your run, you rattle as hell with the mags flopping all over the place and the mags service life is considerably shorter...

And I hope your meant the "You can also tell you are out when you pull the trigger and nothing happens..." as a joke...

Stefan out

[Sabre]

Take a tracer round and arrange it in your magazine so the 2nd or 3rd last round fired is the tracer. When you see the tracer go you know you have 2 rounds left in your mag.

Correction, you have one round in the magazine and one in the chamber. ;)

Good idea, but has the limitations stated above. Another idea is to keep a bunch of tracer in your top pocket for target ID, or get hold of the old 20 round mags and fill it with tracer.

[sniper762nl]

Right on Sabre!

1 of my mags is always loaded with tracer. This is mainly intended for target ID and is the last mag I'd use in combat. Works nicely too to tell your buddies you're busy emptying your last mag. Recently I saw some guys using the C7's with a stock pouch containing a mag with tracer, but I feel it ruins the balance of the rifle to much.

For reasons stated above, tracers are still a poor target indicator. In daytime you need a ****load of it for people to register what you're shooting at. A 40mm smoke grenade or even one of those neat German hand-launched smoke signals is far better. The latter are terribly difficult to aim, though...

Stefan out

[akmarine]

I was always taught the group of two or three tracers towards the bottom of the mag too.

Be carefull with the tracers though cause they work both ways.

[ShakesFIST]

I occasionally hear "RELOAD, RELOAD" with a little blinking "aim offscreen" in the corner of my vision. :lol:

[eggroll]

every 5th round, and 3-4 at the bottom of your 'stack'

dont count on counting rounds, you wont, and what happens when your boomstick goes click instead of bang? The harkens back to the reload when in lull, to top off with a 'full' magazine, keep in mind too, 27-28 rnds in a 30 round magazine.... then of course, you'll never know if a magazine would fail.

Going Click when you pull the trigger, most of the time the bolt will lock back in an M16 platform, but some of the time the bolt will not lock back, and the remainder will be some combination of a stoppage, brass stuck in the receiver or some other instance of a type II/III malfunction.

G36 magazines will not work in an AR15/M16 platform.

[Johnnyringo]

I did tend to notice a change in the weight of the weapon... or maybe it was just a subconscious count, either way I (and most of the guys I served with) just changed mags when they were free too. During a rush or after clearing a room. Regardless of how many rounds you have left in the mag, better to stuff it in your pocket or pouch and regroup later than to be hearing the "dead man click".

[usa320]

On the XM-8 they should put like a digital counter on it that tells how many rounds are in it...

It could be quite do-able, and im sure it would be a welcome addition.

[gilgoul]

If you just take out your mag from the mag well, and thru the hole of the mag catch don`t see the brass, you are at less than 8 rounds in the mag, that is already an indication to change your mag before moving out of cover for instance, put it in you pants, smock, magholder or wherever you see fit for a later top up.

[kraut783]

There are plastic M4 mags available...same company that is making the 100rd drum for the M4. I'll see if I can find the site and post it.

[Sabre]

At the end of the day, there's a reason why your stoppage drills include the instruction "No rounds in the magazine, chamber is clear..." ;)

[SGMGSG9]

I've met very few people, that under the stress of a "hot" environment round counting was even possible. A more important factor is the reload & situational awareness, the latter first of course. As for the reload, it helps if your load out (mag cash, ammo, etc.) is in the same place on your person so that it becomes second nature to find same goes for the mag dump too. And always.....ALWAYS (when possible ;)) use cover or concealment when reloading, leave nothing out to be picked off.

[Hoplite_V]

One problem you run into changing mags like crazy at 3/4ths full, 1/2, 1/3rd full is confusion.

If you start swaping around your mags every couple of bursts or shots and lose track all of a sudden you might have to go into a building (or whatever) so you throw on a "fresh" mag only to find out it has 6 rounds left.

You can usually feel when the bolt stays to the rear of a C7 after firing your last round. Changing a mag takes 2 seconds? Unless it's a life or death situation i'd probably prefer emptying a magazine and reloading it instead of playing hot potato trying to figure out which mag is fuller than the next. If your down to a few rounds it's too easy to just take the mag off and look in the top or checking the weight.
Since optical sights are becomming more and more popular, having a little LED inside your sight indicating how many rounds you have left (like someone mentioned) would be pretty handy if you ask me.

[TacoDelRio]

I have the answer:

Buy one of those magazines they use in movies. They NEVER run out of ammunition!!!!!

[MEGR]

I have the answer:

Buy one of those magazines they use in movies. They NEVER run out of ammunition!!!!!

Those mags are so 1337

[Geezah]

I was at the range yesterday zeroing in my M4gery and Dissy, and made a point of trying to see if I could tell when the mag was empty.

I could tell when the bolt locked n place after the last rnd but on my Dissy(first time out) I thought I had fired the last rnd and took the mag out to find one left in mag and one in chamber so it isn't fool proof and if I was under fire I'm not so sure I would be able to tell.
But I guess where the training would kick in if in the military, and if you're able to control the adrenaline rush then you may be able to?

[molsen]

thanx , by the way i am not old enough to serve just an interested in the military.

THEN CHANGE YOUR DAMN NAME!!!! You're not Airborne and you're not a Ranger, so don't make believe you are.

[MonkeySquasher]

Does Israel even have Airborne Rangers...?

[FlightSergeantRose]

I notice with my M16A4 (No more M4 for now :( ) that you can actually kind of "feel" that you are out if you aren't totally ignoring your weapon. I just noticed this this week after firing about 1,000 rounds over 3 days. You get a feel for your weapon real quick after that....

You can also tell you are out when you pull the trigger and nothing happens...

I've only fired a few hundred rounds on the c7/m16, but it's the same way with me. You can feel it and if I recall, you can also tell from listening to the spring.

[Hydro]

No dead mans click on the M16 series as the bolt locks to the rear. You know you're out because you look at the ejection port when it stops firing, it's called Immediate Action or stoppage drills. When the weapon stops firing, you whack into the stoppage drills, note the bolt is to the rear with no rounds in chamber, ditto mag, and are straight into the mag change. Sounds a lot but with training it's all done before you know it.

SA80 is fairly easy as when the mags empty and the bolt locks you can hear the fact theres no annoying sproing of some anonymous spring pinging as the bolt travels forward, one advantage of a bullpup, you can "hear" the working parts at work.

[Firefly26]

I notice with my M16A4 (No more M4 for now :( ) that you can actually kind of "feel" that you are out if you aren't totally ignoring your weapon. I just noticed this this week after firing about 1,000 rounds over 3 days. You get a feel for your weapon real quick after that....

You can also tell you are out when you pull the trigger and nothing happens...

I've only fired a few hundred rounds on the c7/m16, but it's the same way with me. You can feel it and if I recall, you can also tell from listening to the spring.

Yeah when the bolt locks back after the last round the buffer spring is compressed and doesn't vibrate. You definitely notice the difference.

[Uncle Sam]

So basically, all of you said the exact or similiar things everyone else said.

[Steel21]

I double stack my mags.

Put them side by side, right side up, with the right one slightly lower so the port can be opened. I use MRE main meal cardboard folded then stick it bout 1/3 length up from the bottom. Secure the whole thing with duct tape.

When I reload, I can do it fast enough so that there will be only about 1.5 seconds between releasing the mag with my right index, using the left to swtich and slap the bolt release.

Sometimes I use the Tracers, but sometimes its not wise, since we have M68 aimpoints. I reason that I cant really direct fire with the tracer when the SAW puts out so much. And its possible to draw fire with tracers.

I dont like mag pouches. I use the SAW pouch on my vest. Just stack the mags in. I've also used the MOLLE butt pack in the front as a fanny pack, it facilitates mag change pretty quick.