i have stumbled across this word Mil-Spec(in gun ads etc.) alot lately.

i think it was FNH USA who is very fond of this word, then they go on babbling of a ISO9001 standard or something like that.

but what does it mean?
is it a gun who was intended for military service, is it a gun made according to some country's specifications or is it just a word they use to sell more guns?

please lecture me on this one.

Military Specifications, says it all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Standard

http://www.dscc.dla.mil/Programs/MilSpec/

in plain english it means they are going to charge you three times as much to parkerize it and make the stock out of plastic. REF: $600 mil-spec toilet seats and $400 hammers.

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

quote:

Originally posted by Steffen-9.3:
i have stumbled across this word Mil-Spec(in gun ads etc.) alot lately.

i think it was FNH USA who is very fond of this word, then they go on babbling of a ISO9001 standard or something like that.

but what does it mean?
is it a gun who was intended for military service, is it a gun made according to some country's specifications or is it just a word they use to sell more guns?

please lecture me on this one.

It implies that some process material or item complies with a quoted standard. The standard is a document that specifies the requirement for that item. As often loosely quoted it means nothing. If the item is produced by a company that really complies with the specification they should be able to provide the documentation in the form of records to prove it.

You can get commercial anodizing or you can get
anodized per MIL-A-8625.

You may not be able to prove what commercial anodize is exactly but you can prove what anodizing per MIL-A-8625 is.

Military Specifications

Go to this page
Put "5.56" into the title box

then hit Submit

After it bring up a list of documents look for

MIL-PRF-71208

That document spells out the requirements for one of the 5.56 armor piercing rounds.
It also references other documents that also apply.

The contractor has to be approved to produce the ammo in this case. Then they have to run the manufacturing process to meet the requirements including testing the ammo.
Then the government will test the ammo before taking delivery.

At one time there were about 400,000 Mil specs for everything from toilet paper to nuclear related items that you can't access.

It depends on the specification in question. Some are insignificant [just cosmetic things like bright and shiney] others can be very significant. You have to check out the spec.Then there is the BS Mil-Spec where the company makes false claims !!

I had two parkerised barrels stored in a very humid location for 6 months, one a Mil Spec according to the supplier, the other one a commercial grade. The Mil Spec was intact, the commercial grade so rusty that it could only be used as a pole in the garden..
In the same location, I had two hammer forged blanks,no finish, no grease, they were perfect after two years..

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
It depends on the specification in question. Some are insignificant [just cosmetic things like bright and shiney] others can be very significant. You have to check out the spec.Then there is the BS Mil-Spec where the company makes false claims !!

When the company says mil-spec but cannot quote which mil spec for what process, material or feature it is a good bet they know nothing about the military specifications.

I've dealt with Mil-Spec's most of my adult life !. DOD , DOE both .
Nothing magical about them , they're simply specifications which a particular part,product must either meet or exceed .Or they can be submitted for grade evaluation specs .

In the commercial side of coatings and powders , epoxies , resins , on and on almost every product exceeds Mil-Specs !.

Can you imagine purchasing a pre 64 M 70 Super grade Safari deluxe with a Parkerized finish !.

Some people are in the " Flash business " some people are in the " Dark business " !.

So certain things are produced accordingly !.

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

Dr. K's response pretty much covers the ball park correctly. Just to add a little background as to why mil-specs even exist....

Few if any military procurement agencies like to depend on just one supplier. In some instances they are even forbidden by law or regulations to depend on a a single supplier. It is vitally important (especially in time of war) that the goods supplied for a particular use come from as many suppliers as possible as quickly as possible, AND all be interchangeable, so they work properly and don't require in-the-field adjustments to do so.

The result is that specifications are set in as many areas as necessary to make the objects obtained do their job absolutely without unacceptable failures. That may include specifying such things as the material the object is made from, how it is made, the final minimum and maximum acceptable dimensions, hardness, frangibility, working life in cycles or time, shelf life, what is left over after its use, standards of accuracy, working reliability, and anything else which helps ensure it will do its job.

During military acquisition, the military often stations its OWN inspectors at the factories, with a variety of approved measuring techniques and tools, to assure those specs are being met before the goods will be accepted. If such inspections do not take place, then one has no assurance except the word of the manufacturer(s) that the items meet any of the mil specs, let alone all of them.

As to ISO 9000 standards, best you should google that term and look up exactly what that means, for yourself. It is a very lengthy bunch of bureaucratic red tape to get ISO certified. Most American firms don't bother, as they consider it a waste of time and resources which does not help a firm which already has a good product and a trained work force.

Basically, it boils down in many folks' opinions to a system for establishing quality controls. It can be very useful for firms in developing countries who are relatively new to industrialization, but that does not include most of the major arms supplying countries.

MIL-SPEC as several have noted, means "Military Specifications." When the military wants/needs a piece of equipment, it must open the contract to purchase this item (if the total exceeds a certain dollar figure) to the public. The specifications identify in great detail, what the item must do or accomplish. Then the contract is put out for bid. UNLIKE SOME MAY THINK, there is no such thing as a $600 toilet seat or coffee pot, even though you can find documentation as such. These types of figures come from a strange accounting practice. Say you want to build an aircraft to carry cargo long distances. The plane in its entirety is known as an "end item" in supply lingo and is what the contract is released on. Now, inside this aircraft, you want several items that are not produced by the aircraft manufacturer but are needed non-the-less. Radios, toilets, coffee pots, and sleeping cots are just a few examples. These items are referred as “components of end item†and listed by line item under the end item. Let’s say for our cargo plane there is ten such items. During production, however, the program runs into cost over-run and the manufacturer is awarded an addition sum of funding. Instead of breaking these dollars down to reflect the exact item(s) or reasons for the over-run, the total sum is divided by the total number of line items and that figure is added to each line. Say we have a thousand dollar over-run. Divide that by ten (number of line items) and you get $100. $100 is now added to each line item to account for the thousand dollars. The toilet seat which really cost $3.50 now shows up as a toilet seat costing $103.50. It is a way to account for overages that have been justified to the Department of Defense and tagged onto the correct project. To break it down further, while possibly providing greater fidelity, isn’t worth the man-hours it would take to do so. Because something meets MIL-SPEC, it may, or may not actually be in use in the military. It means that the item met the basic performance requirements to compete for a specific contract.