Shrike Belt-fed M-4

I want, no I need, one of these. Behold, the Shrike 5.56 Advanced Weapons System:

Link: http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_Shrike,,00.html
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Funny, Laside Guns has the .22 upper like this.

Micro Beltfed .22 Upper

LOL, the infamous "Shrike" . . . .

IMHO, steer clear!! The intro of this thing was the biggest mess I'd ever seen, like watching a train wreck - you know it's gonna be bad, but you can't look away . . .

They had pre-sold an unproven design that (still) may or may not work at all, and said it was ready to rock. They then said they had problems with every vendor that ever sold them anything (one vendor at a time), then changed designs (again), then said they had a military committment preventing immediate civvie delivery, even tho pre-paid civilian dollars financed their efforts to salvage the (re)design, then they said . . . . .

They were really the subject of concern with people giving big deposits and then delivery delays mounting. Extension after extension . . . To make a bad situation worse, Aries Defense was located in an inaccessable area within a military base and didn't always take calls, and weren't always civil when they did . . . Some/many people bailed out. Some wanted to and had trouble getting their money back.

I honestly don't know if this thing was ever actually produced for and delivered to the guys who coughed their bucks up or whether it was just a screw-up that ended up costing a lot of people a lot of money.

There was much detailed discussion at the now-defunct "Full-Auto.Com" a couple years back, when Aries used to post and field questions (market it's scheme) about it's up and coming product.

I have heard rumors that a few were eventually delivered, and even saw one on GunBroker for $6k (sale withdrawn), but would not be at all optomistic about getting one, or getting one that works.

Even a distributor for them isn't very encouraging, and please note, that after at least three years, the units are STILL "coming". . . LOL . . .

We have a large number of these units coming in later this year. They are & will continue to be in high demand. We will be offing them for sale (price yet to be determined, but will be higher than ARES Defense Systems current advertised price) If you would like to be notified when we have these in stock ready to ship please send us an email & you will be notified along with the price we are selling them for.

Do NOT call us for info regarding this product until we have them advertised as in stock & ready to ship.
If you have questions or need more information please go to the ARES Defense Systems website.

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http://www.dndguns.com/shrike.htm

Aries isn't taking orders "to reduce the backlog", guess they don't want any new enemies . . . :

Please note that Ares Defense is not currently accepting new orders for the Shrike 5.56™ while it eliminates its production backlog. This does not impact current customers who have a deposit on file for the product, but we will not accept new orders for the Shrike 5.56™ until further notice.

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http://www.aresdefense.com/product.html

It would not surprise me at all if some of the " . . . current customers who have a deposit on file . . . " aren't from three years back. . .

Great info Ed...thanks.


Still cool as heck though, and I want one WHEN IT WORKS.

I don't know anything about the functionality of it but it sure looks sweeeeeeet!

I guess I'm in the camp of wondering what the point of this gun is? Sure the belt feed is cool as long as you've got ammo, but what about when you run out? Seems like reloads would be awfully slow.

trbon8r said:

I guess I'm in the camp of wondering what the point of this gun is? Sure the belt feed is cool as long as you've got ammo, but what about when you run out? Seems like reloads would be awfully slow.

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I imagine if it's time for a reload, you rely on your squad mates to cover you. If you do not have any squad mates left standing and you run out of ammo, well, you're probably pretty screwed even with box magazines.

Like many weapons, it's probably going to be a situational thing. You might not want the entire squad outfitted with the things, but having a few with them can give more options.

http://media.putfile.com/Shrike

http://media.putfile.com/Ares-Shrike-M16-full-auto-belt-fed-machinegun-Part1