Hello all. First off, I've been lurking around here for a while and I must say that this is one of the best site and with the best support from the community I have seen in many years.

I'm building a M2A2 (Pre-OIF) from Tamiya and I have added a few mods to it to make it a little bit better. My question is simple. What M242 barrel does it uses? I have seen flutted barrel but I have no references (I lost my book on the M2 in one of my many moves) to check if this apply to the model I want to represent. I intend to model it either during Desert Storm or on maneuvers in Germany.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Chris

The fluted barrel was installed post-ODS, in the mid-'90s. If you are doing it as an ODS vehicle, do not use the fluted barrel.

Christian,
Either the smooth barrel or the fluted barrel will work. The fluted barrel was a one for one replacement for the original smooth one when it was damaged or worn out. Gino is correct that they started appearing in the mid to late 90s. When my old unit, 1st BCT, 3ID, got reconditioned Brads in 2006, the majority of the vehicles had the older style M242 barrels... Go figure.
HTH
John

Thanks for the help, that really answers my question!

Cheers,
Chris