Colt MARS

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Personal defense weapon

Colt MARS

Type	Personal defense weapon
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Designer	Colt
Designed	1997
Manufacturer	Colt
No. built	3
Specifications
Barrel length	10.5 in (270 mm)

Cartridge	5.56×30mm MARS^[1] 9x30mm MARS
Action	Gas-actuated, rotating bolt
Muzzle velocity	790 m/s (2,592 ft/s)
Effective firing range	300 meters
Feed system	30-round box magazine
Sights	1.5x optical sight

The Colt MARS (mini-assault rifle system) was an experimental, scaled-down variant of the M16 rifle tested by Colt as a personal defense weapon (PDW) around 1997.^[2] It was chambered for the experimental 5.56×30mm MARS cartridge which is a shortened 5.56×45mm NATO round.^[3]^[2] The 5.56×30mm cartridge fired a 55-grain (3.6 g) projectile at 790 m/s (2,591.9 ft/s). The rifle was patented in 1998.^[4]

References

^ Modern Personal Defense Weapon Calibers 005: The 5.56x30mm MARS By Nathaniel F - The Firearm Blog Archived June 3, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b Christopher R. Bartocci (January 2009). "Colt's 5.56X30MM MARS (mini assault rifle system) program". Small Arms Review. 12 (4). Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
^ "(022) .22″ Colt MARS – Military Cartridges". web.archive.org. 2023-06-12. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
^ US patent 5827992, Michael R Harris & James F Taylor, "Gas operated firearm", issued 1998-10-27, assigned to Colt's Manufacturing Company

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