Original Items: Only One Available. Advantage Mold began their journey in 1999, primarily providing tooling for the auto industry. Due to outsourcing and a variety of changes in the industry, they had to expand their capabilities and seek out new industries to remain viable. In 2004 they fulfilled their first contract with the government. The company worked hand-in-hand with the soldiers at Fort Knox and K-MAR industries to modernize their training aid production facility. They converted all of their silicone tools to solid aluminum and installed machinery to increase their production capabilities, and improved the quality of their training aids. The relationship continues today, and the input provided by the soldiers and civilians of Fort Knox plays a critical role in the development of the 3D-TTM.

These training weapons are often referred to as “Rubber Ducks” even though they aren’t necessarily made of rubber. These trainers came in a variety of colors and construction types. Generally the US Navy uses all blue examples, the US Army trains with red ones and the Marine Corps uses whatever they can get their hands on, yut.

In the United States military, a rubber duck, or "rubber ducky", or "Blue Gun", or "Red Gun" is a non-functional training weapon that is fully or partially made of rubber or plastic. They are usually M16 rifles, and are commonly used in basic training. Trainees are issued rubber ducks to add realism to training without the dangers and maintenance inherent to real firearms. Some JROTC units also use rubber ducks for PT.

For example, rubber ducks are sometimes issued to troops before they have been properly trained to use actual rifles in order to become familiar with basic care, and responsible handling. Other times rubber ducks are issued as a time saver, where proper long-term care of a real firearm would distract from the main training focus, such as tactical combat casualty care training, or land navigation. Rubber ducks are also used where there is a disconnect between safety in the field versus in garrison. During bayonet drills, discharging a weapon against an opponent is to be avoided, whereas in the field discharging the weapon during a bayonet fight is often the goal. And in various ceremonial practices using a rifle capable of firing would serve no purpose.

Some rubber ducks are made by filling and coating an actual decommissioned M16 rifle with rubber or plastic. Some are also made using decommissioned rifle parts, with rubber or plastic used for the other parts. Still others are made entirely of rubber or plastic that has been molded to resemble both the exact shape and weight of a rifle.

Rubber duck use is being phased out in some areas of the Armed Forces, namely in Air Force Basic Training. They were replaced with M16 replica Drill purpose rifle: metal models that resemble M16 rifles, including most internal parts, but that lack the ability to fire. The replicas allow soldiers to learn disassembly and reassembly of their rifles much earlier in their training.

This is a very lovely example that comes more than ready for use or display!