Whats this yellow thing on the rifle??

Question

Ive seen this many times before on all the training pics i have!. It is attached on the front of the barrel.Some kind of metal thing.

Answer 1

It's to show that the weapon is unloaded and safe.

Answer 2

It's a Blank Firing Attachment. It's got nothing to do with safety - you're not allowed to fire (or even point) a weapon at anyone anyway, it's a chargeable offence.

When a weapon is firing blanks, the gas doesn't build up enough pressure (because there's no ball in front of it - just a piece of wax) in the barrel to push the piston down the cylinder to c*ck the weapon and load the next round.

So you fit one of these to the muzzle - it restricts the escape of the gas (just like live "ball" ammunition would). Otherwise you'd have to re-c*ck it manually every time you fired.

Answer 3

its called the blank-firing attachment. During normal use, spent cases are ejected from the rifle by gas pressure on the bullet. When blanks are used there is no pressure on a bullet to eject the spent cases, so the blank-firing attachment is fitted to give the gas something to push against to make sure there arent any misfeeds and that all the spent cases eject as planned

Answer 4

It actually has a couple of reasons. It helps to prevent metal frags when firing blanks, it also helps to force the expanded gases when the blank is fired to eject the expanded round and reload the next as the weapon is gas feed for reloading and blanks don't expand the same amt of gas as a typical round does. At least this is true with the Canadian C7 and as it is based off the M16 I would assume the same with that weapon

Answer 5

It is known as a BFA
Blank Firing Attachment.
It serves several purposes>
1. Allows gas pressure to re-**** the weapon when firing blanks.
2. Stops wadding and charge from the blank round flying forward to cause injury. Blast from the round is sent side ways.
3. Nice bright yellow indicates the weapon is firing blank rounds and that it can easily be seem that it is fitted for blank firing exercises.
Hope this helps.

Answer 6

The M23 is painted yellow and is used on the M4-series weapons. For identification, the M23 is stamped "M4 Carbine Only."

Figure A-4. Blank firing attachment.
www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/3-22-9/image1709.jpg

Answer 7

Its a blank firing attachment. Its primary job is to allow gas pressure to build up to force back the gas piston to enable Auto/semi auto fire. Normally the bullet travelling down the barrel serves that purpose. Of course with blanks, theres no bullet so no way gas pressure can build up.
They're normally red/ yellow to designate "safe" weapons but I have seen olive drab ones, and of course on movie props the BFA is inside the barrel

Answer 8

Knowing how cheap the military can be I did not see a reason to change the color of the blank adapter. 5 min. of research produced photo's of 2 different blank adapters. A red one for the M16 and yellow one for the M4.

Maybe they are sized different for fit??

Answer 9

first no weapon is unloaded and the item you will also see in red it is called a blank adaptor and is used to hold part of the gases under compression so the weapon functions correctly during the use of blanks. All weapons either with live rounds or blanks admit sparks and debris the blank adaptor also helps filter some of these.

Answer 10

I haven't handled a weapon at all in a few years but my guess is that if it is a small BB like thing on top of the barrel at the end then it is the front bead for the sight and is made of luminescent material. If it is a large 'thing' (larger than a BIC lighter) that encircles the barrel completely and extends about 2.5-3.5" in front of the barrel , it is probably a flash suppressor. If it is a flash suppressor and is yellow it is probably one that is used only in raining and for firing blanks. I cannot imagine having a yellow anything as large as flash suppressor on the end of a barrel of a combat weapon. It makes too good a target of you.

Edit: Jeez. I guess things change too fast for me. I do admit to giving up guns and hunting after killing more than a few men in Nam, and being hunted there. Bye.

Answer 11

Blank Firing Adaptor

Used when firing blanks and is a safety feature for the user and any other person in near vicinity.