Interesting sight in A-stan
 

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2...in-afganistan/

Wonder how he managed that. I thought there was some kind of ban on personal weapons in the field.

I think the way it is technically defined by the US Army is that the "weapon" is just the lower, and there is not all encompassing rule about not being able to swap the upper. I think he is actually breaking more rules by wearing those gloves rather than the issue ones than by using that gun. A few years ago I met a US Marine who told me that they were unofficially approved to take a personal pistol to Afghanistan. Where this gets tricky, is that I don't believe there would be a legal way to get the gun back into the US, so if you take it you are likely to end up loosing it unless you smuggle it out (which is not really that difficult but is highly illegal) which is what this guy ended up doing. Not sure if this problem would exist in this case as it would just be an upper, but I know I wouldn't want to risk loosing my own personnel weapon.

The rules are for all the armed forces is that yes there is a limit on personalization for issued weapons. Recently, they've been doing a lot of aftermarket parts on issued weapons like Magpul stocks, sights and mags. Eotechs and ACOGs are also widely used

Buttstocks, magazines, and optics are one thing. I'd think an entire upper receiver--especially the BEAR which uses a very non-standard bolt carrier--would be a bit of a different story.

If this is true and using your own upper is allowed, it makes me think that the so-called deficiencies of the M4 are being far more exaggerated than I initially thought since we aren't seeing a whole lot--if any--aftermarket piston uppers in use by regular troops (or NG, in this case). Or maybe soldiers simply don't think their lives are worth it, an idea which I find quite a difficult pill to swallow.

Maybe this is a recent trend in the military. Like it is unofficially allowed in combat situations. I heard stories of Marines sneaking in hollow points and non standard ammunition when going down range and switching them back on base.

They aren't even allowed to use personal magazines anymore.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...ifle-mags.html

That's old news. I heard the Army has now reversed that order.

They haven't actually reversed it, as it was never a rule in the first place. The original "ban" was from a Maintenance Information Message issued by TACOM. These are permissive, not an order or directive, so in other words they are optional. I think the only purpose of the message was to try and get people to use the new metal enhanced M4 mag with a new follower which they have just spent over $10 million on.

The new metal enhanced magazines are actually really good. They actually run through the M249 flawlessly unlike the old magazines with the green followers where they would jam up after a couple rounds and you would have to apply pressure to the magazine. The new metal magazines we could run them endlessly without any stoppages at all.