As the Author of the article, I understand arguing for using a shorty rifle like the MK18 is almost the same as bringing up the Weaver vs Isosceles or Glock vs M1911. I am putting myself in a almost no win situation. 2-3 years ago if you had asked me the best M4 set up for combat I would have said hands down 14.5 barrel at least for length. I too would have looked at running a shorty in Afghanistan as silly.
The 1st half of the article is my attempt at explaining why the shorty is so popular based on how I see it being employed over here. I truly understand why some will not agree and ballistic wise there are many good valid reasons why the MK18 may not be the best choice, but bottom line it is a very popular set up here. Go to any thread about SOF or troops in combat on here, AR15.com and other sites and you might notice at least more than half the pics of guys that are SOF are running shorties.
Now to address some of your points here,
By one shot stop I meant the 5.56 in general, article wise I know it looks like meant at 700 meters. The point I was trying to make was that unless you got a head shot, 5.56 is overall not the best man stopper at any range to begin with (as many of you might know from your own 1st hand experience).
The photos of the rifles are all in use (even the one with the Elcan that is mounted really far back to the rear) Yes I know its way too far back, personally I would not run it that far but I have used many Elcans and many have some proper eye relief issues. So maybe this guy has issues or he just like it that way.
The rails it was pointed out some may not be drop safe tested and deemed flimsy for combat use its what some guys are running.
For this article every time I saw a interesting rifle set up I asked the owner if I could get a picture of it. Are all MK18's and M4's being modified by the guys here no, but at least half have some sort of non issued accessory, the intent was to capture what items are popular with the guys here. And maybe a little of why they like it.
With any piece I write I expect disagreement and for some to be critical, that's perfectly acceptable. Within the shooting community many (myself included) justifiably base their rifle and gear selection on their job, training and combat experiences. What might work for one or many may not work for you that's fine, you need to run what does work for you.
My intent was to hopefully show off some popular shooting accessories, and try answer the why behind the popularity of the MK18 from my perspective.
Thanks everyone for taking the time checking it out and the feed back-------- JG.


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