You're ex-military right? Did you have much to do with the 5.56 in your role?
Yeah, that's what we qualified with. It was still the M16 back when I first joined. That and the Baretta M9. I recently finished building an AR15 pistol from the lower up, there's a whole lot of interesting laws surrounding those in the US. I was thinking about writing a post about it eventually.
Hey that's pretty cool, the AR15 pistol...You should post it although for some reason around here people don't seem too keen on posting gun stuff. I'll keep an eye out for it though.
The ADF (Australian Defence Force) use the 5.56 for individual weapons; The F88 Austeyer by Steyr Mannlicher AG, made under license here in Aus. Lightweight (3.6kg unloaded), accurate and durable. Looks bloody weird. Decent weapon though.
I've always thought those look cool, but what's it like having the magazine up against your forearm? More stability?
They're a pretty cool gun to fire, you sort of get all snugged up over it and it becomes a part of you, having the magazine there seems to offer a little more to hang onto I think. Sort of. I'm probably doing a really bad job of describing it. They had some at my range a while back (it's a military range) and a few people got to fire them...There were no complaints and a lot of smiles. They sort of look like a space gun or something. Star Wars.