Blood Diamond Rifle: Construct Breakdown Acquire US

Blood Diamond is a 2006 movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, and Jennifer Connelly. The film follows DiCaprio as Archer and Hounsou as Vandy as they wrestle to flee the brutal civil warfare in Sierra Leone. They intention to flee with a large diamond to fund Archer leaving the continent and Vandy to reunite his household and escape Sierra Leone. The movie mixes motion and thriller, and we get some stellar performances all through. What captured me in regards to the movie is DiCaprio’s talent with a gun. 

He performs a former Rhodesian and mercenary, so his expertise with a gun ought to be on par. All through the movie, he will get them out and in of hassle, typically with a gun. One famed scene reveals that DiCaprio will need to have skilled laborious to change into a plausible soldier, as he attracts a USP Compact and quickly dispatches a number of unhealthy guys in seconds. Nonetheless, right now we aren’t speaking in regards to the USP. 

No, sir, we’re speaking rifles. Particularly, the rifle DiCaprio wields on the movie’s finish. This rifle falls into the AR or CAR 15 household and stands out from the remainder of the film. Not solely is it a Stoner platform in a world of AK rifles, nevertheless it’s a extremely customized rifle with a definite camo sample that makes it excessive velocity….for 1999. 

Period Particular 

Whereas they made the film in 2006, it takes place in 1999, which is essential to recollect. In 2006 RIS rails and flat op uppers had been in every single place, however in 1999 the M4A1 collection hadn’t precisely made it to African shores with flat high uppers and Picatinny rails. The Blood Diamond rifle is high-speed for the situation and time-frame. Whereas the gun looks like an vintage in 2023, don’t be fooled. It could nonetheless be a reasonably competent, light-weight, and useful rifle. 

Let’s dive in and dissect the Blood Diamond rifle. 

Blood Diamond Rifle Elements Record

Blood Diamond Rifle Construct Breakdown

The Core Rifle 

We begin off with an oddity. It’s often fairly simple to hint a Nineties AR variant again to some particular Colt mannequin. Nonetheless, the Blood Diamond rifle appears to be an odd amalgamation of higher and decrease receiver, with some odd components tacked on to make what seems to be a CAR-15 household rifle. 

The decrease receiver is an M16A2 decrease receiver. Colt did use these decrease receivers to make just a few totally different fashions, together with the Colt Mannequin 725, the 723, the 727, and the 733 collection of rifles. These would characteristic particular higher receivers with very particular barrel lengths and carry deal with sight programs. 

We don’t have any of these higher receivers right here. As an alternative, we’ve got what seems to be the traditional XM1777 higher receivers. Some have instructed GAU-5 uppers, however the presence of a ahead help rebukes this. These are distinctive uppers primarily because of the moderator gadget on the finish of the barrel. 

These weapons have 10-inch barrels and 4.25-inch lengthy moderators. Our Blood Diamond rifle has that very same type of moderator, and it’s clearly an early carbine-type weapon higher. The moderator’s job was to assist reasonable the extreme flash {that a} ten and even 11.5-inch barrel generated with 5.56 ammo. The 5.56 spherical was initially designed for a 20-inch barrel, so shorter barrels have a tendency to supply extra noise. A moderator quieted issues down and tamed the flash. 

I do know what you’re considering. A ten-inch barrel plus a 4.25-inch moderator makes the barrel basically the identical size because the M4 we’ve got now. Why not simply prolong the barrel to 14.5 inches? Right now interval, we hadn’t found out to make carbines work reliably. A part of the impact of the moderator was growing again stress to make sure dependable biking for the reason that dwell time modified a lot. 

If you would like your personal XM177 or GAU-5 higher, you may discover it difficult. Retro Rifles makes a duplicate higher for the XM177, and so does TNTE. Lowers fluctuate, however PSA appears to be coming into the retro sport, which can most likely make issues a bit of simpler to supply lowers. 

The Furnishings 

The excellent news is the furnishings is fairly plain. It’s easy Colt furnishings. Now we have the famed plastic handguards up entrance and the CAR four-position inventory on the rear. It’s not fancy or modular, however it is rather mild. Individuals actually don’t recognize light-weight weapons till they’re humping over the fields of Afghanistan for miles and miles. 

The Optic 

Oh boy, the gun comes with a traditional carry deal with sight system that also rocks. Atop that carry deal with sits an hooked up rail, and on that rail, we’ve got an Aimpoint Comp M2. Aimpoint didn’t create the primary crimson dot, however they positive as heck perfected them. The fashionable crimson dot comes from Aimpoint, and the M2 remains to be a really competent optic. 

It’s a bit of massive and a bit of heavy, nevertheless it nonetheless shines vibrant, has a protracted battery life, and is near bombproof. The Aimpoint Comp M2 can be tremendous fashionable in 1999. The truth is, it’s so fashionable it got here again from the longer term! Aimpoint didn’t launch the Comp M2 till 2000, so the mercenaries will need to have a portal to the longer term. 

To be truthful, it’s not that far off, however nonetheless fairly far. Possibly a Colt 4X or an Armson OEG can be extra acceptable for the period. The mixture of a carry deal with, a Picatinny rail, and the Aimpoint Comp M2’s personal ring push it up fairly excessive. Archer can barely get a chin weld to make use of the gun. With that stated, the cool children as of late are rocking and rolling with 1.93-inch mounts that aren’t a lot decrease than the carry deal with sights. 

Whereas the optic got here out of the brand new millennium, it will be a superb match for this rifle. The quick barrel of the XM177 type higher wouldn’t warrant a high-power optic as a result of it’s not a rifle you’d use at lengthy ranges. It’s a 300-yard rifle, and it excels at CQB. The crimson dot makes it an ideal choice for close-range fight. The mercenaries descend from the skies on helicopters and are a raid drive, so the optic is smart for raid functions. 

The Mild 

Optics from the longer term apart, the weapon has a really fashionable characteristic for 1999, a weapon mild. Particularly, a Surefire 660 Common Weaponlight with a stress pad taped to the handguard. Take into accout the RIS rails weren’t precisely frequent in 1999, particularly in Africa. The Surefire 660 Common Weaponlight didn’t want a rail, which is the way it obtained its title. 

As an alternative, the Surefire 660 makes use of a clamp mount designed to connect to the barrel of the gun. It’s a wise location to mount Archer’s mild beneath the entrance sight block (FSB). The body of the FSB prevents the sunshine from slipping ahead or rearward. 

The Surefire 660 is a product of its time. This factor tossed out a blinding 120 lumens! Nowadays that’s a pen’s mild value of energy, and flashlights routinely pump out greater than ten instances that quantity of energy! The little Surefire tries laborious, however time and expertise have superior, and the 660 isn’t as much as snuff as of late. 

The Paint Job 

One of the vital putting options of the rifle is its camo paint job. It took till just a few years in the past for army forces to permit the infantry to color their rifles, and it’s nonetheless resisted by massive Military and the Marine Corps. Portray your rifle was one thing for spec ops and clearly mercenaries. Strolling via the jungle decked out in camo and carrying an nearly shiny, all-black rifle doesn’t make a lot sense. 

Nonetheless, a camo paint job definitely helps disguise your weapon and higher camouflage your strike drive. The camo sample has some streaks of Rhodesia inspiration, nevertheless it’s not a complete Rhodie paint job. It’s definitely an efficient paint job for the atmosphere, and that’s spectacular to me. It takes benefit of the atmosphere and reveals that the filmmakers and armorers paid consideration and made positive it made sense. 

Maintain It Down

Archer’s rifle is one in all many utilized by the mercenary drive within the movie. The configurations and designs seem like commonplace amongst the drive, which is smart. Archer will get his arms on one and finally ends up utilizing it to supply cowl towards the stated mercenary drive and does so successfully. He gives correct, susceptible fireplace and lays down sufficient cowl to make sure Vandy can escape and survive to get his household to security. It’s the masculine feeling of laying down cowl at the price of your life personified. 

The Blood Diamond rifle has change into a favourite of film cloners. It exemplifies an period that feels between the old-fashioned, iron sights, and stuck shares and the fashionable carbines we noticed come to be through the GWOT. Its putting camo sample, old-school cool enchantment, and fashionable equipment make the Blood Diamond rifle an superior choice. 

Bonus Video

Try Administrative Outcomes, pre face reveal, LARPing along with his blood diamond clone and breaking down how he obtained the look of this film rifle. Should you like studying extra about weapons out of your favourite motion pictures, take a look at this Beretta 1301 construct breakdown from The Terminal Record.