TacOpDEALWRCI

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SITREP: DEAS DRUG WAR

LWRC arms thegood guys.

BY ERIC R. POOLE

PHOTOGRAPHY BYMIKE ANSCHUETZ

N inety percent o the cocainethat has come into the U.S.rom Columbia travels throughMexico. Along the way, more

than 11,000 people (in Mexico alone) havesu ered death since 2006 to deliver Americandrug addicts their source o pleasure.

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Inset photos courtesy of LWRCSouth America photo courtesy of NASA


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TREP: DEAS DRUG WAR

REPORTING SAVAGERYAlmost 50 years ago, the revolution-ary armed orces o Columbia (FARC)was born as the military branch o aColumbian communist party, and theyvebeen doing business ever since. Recentattention to the current situation wasbrought to public awareness by a Fox Newsexclusive on the extradition o FARCterrorist Gerardo Ramirez and the rescueo three A merican de ense contractorswho crashed and were taken hostage onFebruary 13, 2003.

Te pilot, om Janis, and theColumbian intelligence specialist weremurdered, anchor Oliver North reported.Te three others were orced at gunpointto march into the jungle or the next 24days straight.

om Howe, one o the ormer hostages,described the torturous journey throughthe jungle: It was not long be ore theblisters rubbed o and you were down tothe bare basically raw meat on our eet.Every step was pain ul.

For more than ve years, om Howe,

Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansellsurvived inside the jungle. Chained up onthe neck like dogs, they were constantlymoved on orced marches that Howedescribed as death marches or hungermarches. FARC still holds dozens o hostages to this day.

FRONTLINETe in amous Cali and Medellin cartelsbegan alling apart in the 1990s a ter theColumbian government managed to huntdown and kill Pablo Escobar. Since then,rising o cers within the remaining drugempires are adapting. Teyve expandedbusiness to include export to Europe andAsia and learned that large organizationsare more vulnerable to attack by U.S. andColombian authorities. Un ortunately,now these leaders are controlling smallergroups that compartmentalize tasks. Onegroup handles production in the eldswhile another manages the Marxistsguerillas that protect the elds. O ncethe cocaine is ready to ship, one group

becomes responsible or transportationinto Mexico and another manages smug-gling routes to every other industrializednation. Te DEA believes that more than300 active drug smuggling organizationscurrently operate out o Columbia.

THE AGENCY wenty-three individuals, including

eight employees o American Airlines,were arrested today in Puerto Rico andMiami as part o DEAs Operation HeavyCargo, which uncovered a drug tra ck-ing organization that used commercialaircra t to transport cocaine to the UnitedStates.

Tis press release made headlines onSeptember 15, 2009, as drug tra ckerWil redo Rodriguez Rosado and 22 otherswere indicted on our counts o conspiracyto possess with intent to distribute. Since1999, the DEA estimates thathe has been responsible

or smuggling over $19million worth o cocaine todi erent cities on the EastCoast.

Teire ortshave

certainly impacted the drug trade whenyou consider that the amount o cocathats been destroyed in the last decadehas kept up with the terrorists increasedproduction. Nearly 250,000 hectares o coca have been eradicated each year on theground and rom the air since 2006.

MULTIPLE ARENASForeign-deployed Advisory and Support

eams (FAS ) were created by the DEAin support o the Bush AdministrationsFive Pillar Plan. asked with targeting,dismantling and disrupting transnationaldrug tra cking operations, the rst twoFAS teams were sent to A ghanistanin April 2005. Tese teams providedguidance to their A ghan counterpartsand helped destroy opium storage sitesand heroin labs. Deployed or 120 days ata time, they rotated in and out o the DEA

raining Academy in Quantico, VA, twogroups at a time.

When the helicoptertouches down south o Mexico, the worlds o narco-terrorists andAmerican DEA agentsbecome violentlyentwined. ArmedDEA agents and

The source o the drug trade o tenbegins in very remote locations likeColumbias jungles. Inserting andextracting agents has proven to beextremely dangerous.

DEA agents have battled the drug trade inthe worst environments Earth has to o er.Their ri es are never overloaded with un-necessary kit but typically include a Sure-fre light, Magpul mags, vertical oregrip,BUIS and an EOTech red-dot optic.

The EOTech 552 is not only standardized bythe DEA, it is also the chosen optic or theATF, FBI, SWAT and numerous military unitslike the Stryker Brigade, 10th Mountainand the 3rd In antry Division.

Fox News anchor and retired Col. OliverNorth has made extraordinary e orts togive the American public a true under-tanding o what DEA agents are up against.


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TREP: DEAS DRUG WAR

merican de ense contractors join mem-rs o the Columbian army and nationallice as they instinctively duck below the

weeping rotors and bring their rifes toe ready. Teyre in the highlands to ghte FARC and prevent drugs rom creatingbloody trail that ends on U.S. streets.

WRC M6any o the DEA agents have championedmerous narcotic operations with the6 rom LWRC International. LWRC hasncentrated its e orts in eliminating theherent shortcomings o the common16 and M4 direct impingement (DI)

es. Te M6 is a amily o short-stroke,s piston-operated rifes that is quitessibly the best variation o Eugeneoners modular concept.

With LWRCs basic model ounded onthe classic M4 carbine, operators bene t

rom immediate amiliarity and thereliability that comes with their uniquepiston operating system, a NiCorr-treatedhammer- orged barrel and coated boltgroups. Shouldering the carbine comeswith the lightweight com ort o a MagpulMOE collapsible stock and MOE pistolgrip. Also standard is a Magpul 30-roundPMAG or the 5.56 NA O variant or a Bar-rett 30-round magazine or rifes chewingthrough 6.8 SPC. It proves to be a littlemore than just basic.

Choose the M6A1 and you get the

SOPMOD M4-equivalent eaturing aree-foating quad rail, nickel-coated boltcarrier and Magpul C R stock. An-other step up the option ladder is LWRCs

ultimate carbine,the M6A2. Itsoptimized or opticswith a low-pro legas block instead o atraditional A- rame

ront sight assembly/gas block that couldobscure the eld o view when usingoptics. Without the

A- rame, the M6A2 also uses a longer,mid-length ree-foat rail system with amonolithic pro le or mounting acces-sories that work in tandem like a red dotoptic and a magni er.

M6A2 rifes also eature a match grade,target crowned, cold rotary hammer-

orged barrel cut rom 41V45 steel alloy.It, too, is treated with the NiCorr sur aceconversion that purportedly enhances therifes accuracy and e ective range to 600meters using a 16.1-inch barrel.

Break apart the upper and lowerreceivers o the M6A2 and youll ndthat the bolt carrier and entire trigger as-

sembly are coated in LWRCs proprietarynickel that serves as a hard, permanentlubrication to moving parts. Filth doesntbuild up and detract rom the M6A2sper ormance. Remove the parts and youcan wipe them clean. Tis rife comes witha standard trigger, but when you draw itback, it eels like an a termarket. Duringtesting, it ooled so many that I checked itwith a trigger pull gauge. It measured justless than 6 pounds. Te hard lubricantimproves the relationship o the tr igger,disconnector and hammers engagementsur aces, providing or a smoother anddeceivingly lighter pull. Te best part is

that geometry is unchanged, so the opera-tor bene ts rom the reliability o thestandard trigger that most a termarketmatch triggers sacri ce. Rounding outthe M6A2 package is a Vltor EMod stock,Magpul MIAD g rip and roy backup ironsights (BUIS).

PERFORMANCETe M6 has had two opportunities toprove itsel to me. Te rst came amonga group o industry pro essionals. A tera thorough brie ng in a classroom, wemoved out to a 200-yard range wherewe comparatively red a collection o M4-style rifes and an assortment o ammunition. I witnessed my counterpartsput round a ter round through eachsample as I observed unctioning andlistened to their comments. But I cameback to one when a battle buddy pul led me

over to his lane. Dude, you have to checkthis one out. Its dead on. Im serious. Youcant miss. Its just dead on. Tis riendhas a lot o weight in orming my opinionsbecause he still goes to ar-o distantlands as an armed operator.

Standing up, I loaded a PMAG o Federal ammunition into the M6A2 witha 16.1-inch barrel and fipped the selectoro Sa e. I placed the dot o the EO echon a white steel target at 100 yards anddrew the trigger to t he rear. Hit. Again.Hit, move to another. With 12x12-inchtargets spread along the hillside at incre-mental distances, I continued to hammer

EdUARdO ARELLANO-FELIx ARRESTEd,OCTObER 27, 2008

Gun attle in Tijuana, Me ico,en s with the capture o rugra fcking kingpin.$5 million rewardLast original member of a family

cartel not in custody or deceased

S P E C I F I C A T I O N S

M6A2 DS-DEA CALIBER: 5.56x45mm NATOBARREL: 16.1 in s.WEIGHT: 7.3 lbs. (empty)OA LENGTH: 33.3 to 36.5 ins.RATE OF FIRE: 850 rpmRIFLING: 1:7 inch RH twistSTOCK: Vltor EModPISTOL GRIP: Magpul MIADSIGHTS: Troy Folding BUISMAGAZINE: Magpul 30-rd. PMAG

Many agents replace the standard M4 col-lapsible stock with one rom Vltor. The EMODshown here has a toe that is r olled under therubber buttplate that improves eel whenthe ri e is positioned out o the pocket.

When charged, the ejectionport cover ips open to re-veal LWRCs revolutionarybolt carrier group, speciallycoated to resist ouling, dirtand debris. During testing,the M6A2 never needed anytype o lubricant.

Photo courtesy of the DEA


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the steel silhouettes while standing allthe way out to 200. He was right. You cantmiss.

I went over to LWRCs rife rack andgrabbed another tted with a suppressor.LWRCs innovative gas piston system isso quiet, the nagging slam o a bolt goinginto the chamber a ter ring a suppressedround all but disappears. Tis goes down

in my personal journal as the quietest sup-pressed auto-rife plat orm Ive ever red.

Now that it had my attention, I oundit necessary to per orm an accuracytest in a controlled environment. So Ibrought one home. Inspired by the DEA, Iequipped the M6A2 D-DEA just as theseagents doEO ech 552 holosight on top,Sure re tactical light on the side and

a vertical orgrip under the orarm. Terife came with a very e ective YankeeHill Machine Phantom fash hider and alower with a laser-engraved rendition o the Stars and Stripes. Marked DEA just be-neath the uppers monolithic fattop rail,this rife still weighs less than 10 poundsin a battle-ready condition.

Accuracy teststhat mean somethingare o ten done on abench and on sometype o rest with anoptic at 100 yards.Te test usuallyinvolves at least threetypes o com-mercially availableammunition red

PERFORMANCE

Velocity Energy Best GroupLOAD (fps) (ft-lbs) (ins.)

Winchester USA FMJ (USA223R3) 3,100 1,323 1.24Lake City M855 FMJ 3,222 1,398 1.39Hornady TAP FPD 3,240 1,282 1.24

OPERATIONxCELLERATOR,FEbRUARY 25, 2009:

dEA targets Sinaloa Cartel, amajor Me ican rug tra fckingorganization. 23 tons of narcotics 21-month investigation 52 arrests in California, Minnesotaand Maryland $59 million seized in drug money

A lull in action gives this DEA agent abreather. A ter this particular opera-tion, the agent placed his M6 setup onan electronic scale used to measuredrugs. It weighed 4.635 kilograms.

Photos courtesy of LWRC


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with a high-powered optic under idealconditions. But this isnt how DEA agentsare using the M6.

Pulling rom a can o M855 green tip,I loaded a variety o magazines romBrownells, Magpul, apco and MicrotechMSAR. Operation is the same or the M6as any other AR-style rife but the chosen

urniture makes the M6 handle better.I can get on target and stay on throughrapid re. Distance doesnt matter withthe EO ech i I can hold the one-MOA dotin the right place. Its a 6 -pound trigger.In my head, I know that. But my ngerskeep telling me that its closer to 4.

I run through a series o drills andexpend 300 rounds o 5.56 ammo whileindiscriminately shredding silhouettes.Not a round mis red. Not a single jam.

I set mysel in a prone position 100yards away and begin to wonder i Imgoing to get a alse impression o what thisrife is capable o . I mean, who tests a rifeat 100 yards with a red dot and expectsgood numbers? I proceed anyway by plot-ting ve ve-shot groups with Hornadys55-grain AP, Winchesters white box andmilitary-issued Lake City M855 ball.

Winchesters USA 62-grain ull metaljacket grouped an impressive 1.24 inches.

Tats right, Im using white box with thisone. Te military ball, something I usuallyhave mixed results with, prints its bestgroup at 1.39 inches. Fluke? I nished myaccuracy test with Hornadys AP andshot a best 1.24 inches. Now, i you lookat other reports Ive written, Ive neverexperienced a test where I managed to rea best group that was identical to anotherload. Maybe its just the circumstances,but I assume that these resultsare an accurate representationo what an operator is capableo when hes switched on. Tebrand o ammunition doesntappear to aze the EO ech-equipped M6 i its rom a qualityammunition manu acturer.

JUSTICEBesides the act that theDEA is the lead agency ordomestic en orcemento U.S. drug policies,specialized teamscontinue topursuenarcoticinves-tiga-

tions abroad. Its a war that may neverend. Tese agents nd their battles inall types o climates and cant a ord toquestion their primary weapons depend-ability. As seen on the range, across thedesert and in the jungle, anM6-equipped operatornever chances li e on

speculation.

OPERATIONALbATROSS,JUNE 9, 2008:

dEA makes recor - reakingseizures in A ghanistan. 262 tons of hashish 5 narcotic superlabs

12 suspects arrested

Every steel component o the trigger groupgets LWRCs electroless hard nickel coat-ing. The coatings natural lubricity makesthe trigger pull eel lighter than it actuallyis without changing the parts geometry.

Unlike many piston-driven ARs, the M6sbolt carrier isnt an adapted part rom anM4 or M16. It is specifcally engineeredto minimize carrier tilt and prevent any de-bris rom interrupting proper unctioning.

Troy industries providesthe heavy-duty HK-styleBUIS. The sight quickly

ips up without buttonsor levers.

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