Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1365706
sights on the top of the tube but fi- nally it appeared that they are most- ly for looks and we lost them quite easily too. After the trials, the Elcan Specter was ultimately chosen and its big- gest advantage was the dual field of view. Some love it, some hate it (like me, "Łasuch") even though I have been using it for years. I will always repeat: it is a very good but "difficult" sight. It is not universal and wasn' "tailored" to our operations in Af- ghanistan. And its price… Heck, is that thing made of pure gold? We also received new Surefire M951 weaponlights with dual white light/IR illumination heads and re- mote switches. M951 is still being used in the JWK even though it is a bit bulky according to current stan- dards. We were removing the orig- inal Picatinny mount and placing the light directly to the handguard, between the Picatinny rails for lower profile. The pictured M951 is before the modification. Winter is coming. 2011. 10th A-stan tour is coming to an end. We are getting newer stuff. On the "Matka's" gun, there is a (prob- ably) first EOTech XPS2 HWS can be spotted. Our team was first to get their dirty hands on new toys as we were the guys scouting for new stuff for the unit. "Short" HWS, espe- cially with additional dot for medium range shooting in the reticle, was "Matka's" wet dream. He fell in love with XPS and left the Specter. Final- ly, we were able to deploy magnifiers for comfortable shooting on longer distances. It is hard to compare XPS2 and Specter side by side and decide which one is better. Both have their pros and cons already described. The dimensions of XPS HWS had a big impact on use with magnifiers. It was also faster in shooting on short and medium ranges and more ca- pable at night. The magnifier in the picture is an old-gen one, privately purchased, before the times when the unit was supplying those. Winters in Ghazni Province in Af- ghanistan were really harsh. Believe me, I have never seen so much snow and I haven't been so cold as there. To conceal silhouettes on snowy backgrounds, we used camou- flage overwhites. The snowshoes become mandatory - you wouldn't move forward without them even when landing right at the target. And boom! Here they are! The "shorties" have arrived. And not just "shorties" but the latest HK416A5 shorties! These were initially meant from GROM SMU only but somehow they made their way to JWK. Couple dozens of them to be exact. When compared to the short HK416A3 used by GROM earlier, the new ver- sion came with a slightly extended 11" barrel. It also has doubled am- bidextrous magazine release lever (port side) and bolt release (on the starboard). The shape of the stock was changed, new foldable iron sights were added and a couple of other details. First impressions were positive. The shorter barrel in- creased balance and improved por- tability and maneuverability. After a short time of euphoria, we had to identify problems and find solutions. First problem was the magazine release button on the left which was often accidentally activated when the gun was facing the body armor. Well, such things should not happen during the op, so we quickly removed the levers as right handed shooters didn't need them. Then we changed new stocks with their not- so-perfect length adjustment button to proven Magpul MOE's. The ad- ditional bolt release was less com- fortable in use than BAD Lever and took longer to deploy it (verified with timer). Unfortunately, due its shape, we couldn't replace it with a Magpul lever. But this wasn't a critical problem we had faced with new rifles. The 11" HK416A5 was designed as a compact weapon built for use in CQB/DA operations. It is effective up to 300 meters. Problems arise with targets beyond. Shorter bar- rel decreased range, accuracy and stopping power. Some may say that shooting over 300 meters is just fine and shooting further is fiction. It all depends. It depends on missions and it depends on the operational environment. In Afghanistan, during daytime engagements in the open, the distances were beyond 500 me- ters. Of course, SOF units operate mostly at night but you always have to expect the unexpected. We found the solution. Additional complete upper receivers group with 14.5" barrels. This would allow us to choose the proper configuration for each mission. Assault team would FIREARMS