RECCE?

[Shihan]

Hey guys what the heck is a Reece? I know its another term for recon but us Army guys never had something we called a Reece unless its something that came up in the few months since retirement?

[Derek_Connor]

Hey guys what the heck is a Reece? I know its another term for recon but us Army guys never had something we called a Reece unless its something that came up in the few months since retirement?

Recce aka "recky", has been a popular term coined for "recon rifles" Recon rifles was an idea that *i think* first started with the navy varsity guys, having 16inch carbines with a SS match barrel with varying optics in the bag (aimpoints, magnified 1-4x, acogs, etc) Setup to do everything good and nothing bad

A squared away general purpose rifle is the way I would describe it.


Wes @ MSTN had some information about it:

THE RECCE/RECON IDEA WAS THE PRODUCT OF ONE PARTICULAR N.S.W. ARMORER OF LONG STANDING. THE DESIGN PRE-DATES THE SPR. SEVERAL BARREL CONTOURS AND PROFILES HAVE BEEN USED. FRANK WHITE OF COMPASS LAKE DID SEVERAL BACK IN THE 90'S ON KRIEGER BLANKS. FRANK STARTED MAKING THEM FOR US IN 2000 ON KRIEGER BLANKS.

CURRENTLY, N.S.W. 16" RECCE CARBINES USE LILJA 1X8" TWIST BARRELS WITH CARBINE LENGTH GAS SYSTEMS & WYLDE CHAMBERS. ONE IS PICTURED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE THREAD. WE BUILT TEN WITH NAVY CONTRACT OVERRUN BARRELS FROM LILJA AND WERE EXTREMELY PLEASED WITH THE RESULTS. THAT IS WHY WE NOW USE LILJA BARRELS AS AN OPTION IN OUR CUSTOM UPPER LINE.

N.S.W. IS CURRENTLY USING LONG KAC FF RAS FORENDS. EXPECT TO SEE LARUE FORENDS VERY SOON ON THEM, WITH A LOT OF 13.2'S GOING TO THE WEST COAST BOYZ. THEY ALL HAVE KAC M4 QD COMPS AND OF COURSE USE THE KAC CAN.

SHOOTERS GET THEIR CHOICE OF OPTICS, I.E., ACOG, MR/T, LR/T, ETC., PLUS DR OPTIKS FOR CLOSE WORK. NIGHTFORCE IS DEVGROUP'S CURRENT SCOPE CHOICE FOR PRECISION APPLICATIONS. BUIS? UP TO THE SHOOTER.

[M4Guru]

If you're talking about the actual mission, "recce" was kind of picked up from the Brits. Most of the conventional Army uses "recon", but I've heard both. The term has been around for a while.

The guns were concept driven by my flippered brethren for a small, relatively light carbine that gives more range and precision than the M4. Pretty handy for places like, I dunno, Afghanistan...

I built my own using a Larue 16" Quad S upper with a Short Dot.

[Shihan]

So I guess a S&W M&PT could be considered a PoMan's version of a Reece?

[C4IGrant]

So I guess a S&W M&PT could be considered a PoMan's version of a Reece?

Not really as it doesn't have a SS barrel with a middy gas system. The FF rail is part of the design, but the barrel really needs to be more precision oriented than a chrome lined barrel.



C4

[TWR]

According to Wes in the above quote they use a carbine gas system, anyone know for sure?

[M4Guru]

All the "official" ones I saw were carbine length out of necessity, the parts were far more readily available when deployed.

[C4IGrant]

All the "official" ones I saw were carbine length out of necessity, the parts were far more readily available when deployed.

I have heard that as well, but that newer revisions of the weapon had middy gas systems.

Kind of like the Orig. SPR's having rifle length gas systems and then they figured out that this gas system didn't do so well in cold weather.



C4

[One Shot]

In Viet Nam Colt had a version of the M-16 rifle that was cut down and called the "CAR-15" or "CAR-16." Where you were and which unit you were in dictated how you identified the carbine. If I remember correctly, the CAR-16 was just a tad shorter than the present M-4 variants. SF, CIA, recon units and special operations groups sometimes used the CAR-16s. The U.S. forces called our scouting groups "recon teams" or "force recon." The Aussies and New Zealanders called their same team "reece teams." At the peak of the fighting in Nam, you had American paratroopers of the 173D, New Zealand scouts and Australian artillerymen in a combined unit all working together. As such, a lot of American gear got moved into the Aussie groups and New (Kiwi) Zealanders and vice versa. It was not unusual to see our American paratroopers walking about with FN/FAL rifles, our Aussies lugging M-16 rifles and our Kiwis with CAR-16 rifles. Not only did gear get traded and mixed up but so did the phrases and words. As soon as you got into the 173D you learned that reece meant recon. Initially the CAR-15/16 was one of the early efforts to design a short length rifle/carbine for recon/reece troops. The reece carbine because of its size was hoped to be more maneuverable in tight places, like jungle growth areas, tunnels and inside helicopters/airplanes and a bit lighter to carry. Every pound of weight that you could lose meant that you might be able to carry a little more food, water or ammo. The only trouble with most of the early CAR-15/16s was that they were VERY sensitive to dirt and some types of ammo. There you are shooting and all of a sudden your carbine jams. Not good. So that is where the reece/recon carbine actually got started.

[KevinB]

Recce - as in reky, not reece and is Reece's Pieces.



I know a little something about it