Bugfatty300
Buddha Squirrel
The M-16 assault rifle
Several years after World War II, a revolution infantry fighting rifles was taking place. The German MP43 had sat new standards for the oncoming assault rifle era. In the mid-1950s, NATO standardized the .308 (7.62x51mm) cartridge the involved nations began developing selective fire weapons that could hold 20 or more rounds such as Spains venerable M58, Belgiums famed FN FAL, Germany's revered G3 and Americas infamous M-14. The Soviet Union, who also retained a 7.62 cartridge, had for some time earlier obtained their own deadly assault rifle, the AK-47.
Early on, it became clear to the U.S. Army that the 7.62x51 was too powerful to be effective in the automatic rifle role and most M-14s were converted to semi-automatic rifles. Painful lessons learned in Korea pressed U.S. Army officials to introduce a new light, accurate rifle capable of a high rate of fire that fired a small high-velocity bullet. The Armys intentions was not to increase the firepower of individual soldiers but to increase the chances of hitting a target.
In 1957, Eugene Stoner, a skilled engineer who worked for the Armalite aircraft company was hired by the U.S. Army to design and build a light weight .22 caliber rifle to replace the M-14 assault rifle. Stoner had already designed and built the AR-10 rifle to compete with the new series of 7.62 NATO rifles but it his design had come to late and the only country to adopt the AR-10 was Sudan.
Stoner simply converted the existing AR-10 into incorporate the newly developed .223 (5.56x45mm) cartridge and was renamed the AR-15. Prototypes were sent to the Army for testing. After moths of testing the Continental Army Command Board recommended that the AR-15 replace the M-14. How ever the AR-15 was rejected by the Army.
The SAS on the other hand saw the AR-15 as the ideal jungle weapon and adopted it in the early 1960s for use in the Borneo campaign as well as the Oman and Aden operations.
This might have been the end of the M-16 but the sudden increase of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict raised the issue once more. In 1962 several thousand AR-15s were sent to Vietnam to be tested by U.S. Special forces and Air Force guards. They became instantly popular among Americans and Vietnamese who were able to get their hands on one. Field-test results were so impressive that the Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara ordered 20,000 AR-15s to arm portions of U.S. soldiers and their Vietnamese allies.
Around this time the Armalite sold the manufacturing license to the Colt company which began producing the M-16 for the Armed Services.
From its first introduction into Vietnam in 1962 until 1966 the rifle, now termed the M-16, enjoyed a reputation of an extremely lethal and dependable weapon among the soldiers using it in combat. But in 1966 when 100,000 M-16s were shipped to Vietnam to replace the M-14s being used by the Army and Marines. Reports of jamming and failure began to flood the U.S. Army ordinance department. Most of the rifles were never issued with cleaning kits and at the same the U.S. army changed its cartridge powder to a less clean powder that caused excess fouling and carbon build up. The jamming rifles were blamed on irresponsible soldiers who did not maintain the rifles properly. As simple as these problems and their solutions were, the effects were devastating.
To add to this the chamber of the M-16 had went from chromed to plain steel which caused the most basic jam for M-16. Cartridge casings would become wedged tightly in the chamber of the barrel. This then required the soldier to take a cleaning rod and insert it into the muzzle end of the barrel and force the fired cartridge from the chamber. Then the rifle would fire 2 or 3 more times before the bewildered soldier had to repeat the process. (Fighting a modern war with a muzzle loader! Oh joy!)
Reports of dead soldiers still clutching their jammed M-16 with the cleaning rod shoved down the barrel began reach congress which forced the armed services to take action. The Colt company then began chroming the chambers of the M-16 and a cleaner burning ball powder used in artillery shells replaced the new powder. These modifications apparently did the trick since jam reports all but evaporated. By 1967 and 68 the M-16 the rifle again began to live up to its old reputation of reliability and the malfunctions ceased. New improvements were added and the M-16A1 was created which improved the original M-16.
The M-16 and its cartridge quickly developed a reputation for lethality. This is generally caused by the hypervelocity .223 bullet that exits the muzzle at 3,200 feet per second (fps) or 988 meter per second (mps). The wounds caused to the abdomen and chest create what is known aq hydrostatic shock or hydro shock.
Several versions of the M-16 were produced and tested in Vietnam. The CAR-15 (Later adopted as the M4) was the carbine version of the AR-15. Some M-16s were modified with a 40mm M-203 grenade launcher under the barrel to increase the fire power of the individual soldier. Also issued in the 1970s were the banana 30 round magazines to replace the square 20 round magazines. The 30 round magazines had previously been restricted to use by special forces.
The success of M-16 and its new cartridge had a huge effect on the international community. In 1974 the Soviet Union even developed their own version of the 5.56mm. The 5.45x39mm was incorporated it into their new AK-74 rifle which saw extensive use in Afghanistan. In the late 70s NATO replaced the 7.62x51mm with the 5.56x45mm SS109 cartridge.
In 1981 the U.S. army developed the M-16A1E1 (the modern M-16). This was apparently the most successful version. Copies and versions of the M-16A1E1 are in use by the Canadian, Dutch, Kuwaiti, Columbian, Filipino, Danish and Israeli armed forces. Many under the name of the Diemico C7A1 (Canadian M-16A1E1 version). They are also the weapons of choice for the Special Air Services operating in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Further improvements led to the adoption of the M-16A2 in 1985 by the U.S. armed forces and is still the standard American infantry rifle. Further versions include the M-16A3 and M-16EZ.
Like the Soviets with the AK-47, the M-16 can be found in abundance where ever U.S. was politically or militarily involved. This is especially true in South East Asia where the U.S. left behind hundreds of thousands of M-16s to the South Vietnamese government. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the rifles were scattered across the region. Many have turned up in South and Central America in the hands of leftist guerrillas. Some U.S./Vietnam vintage rifles have even wound up in the hands of both Israeli settlers and Palestinians terrorist in the 1980s. The M-16 has seen action in almost all armed conflicts since 1967. From Angola to the Falklands war, to the Yom Kippur war.
The Cons
The M-16 has several major disadvantages. The .223 bullet is too light for accurate shooting beyond 300 meters. Even the modern M-16s are sometimes susceptible to sand. In 1962 the M-16 was seen as too small by most soldiers especially compared to the massive M-14. Yet compared todays generation of assault rifles the M-16 is too big. Almost 40 long. This defect has really made itself felt in Iraq. The M-16 is too big to be used effectively in vehicles and APCs. The M4 Carbine is generally the favored because of its compact size. like-wise the M-16 design is 50 years old and is slowly being fazed out by most developed militaries for more modern assault rifles, such as the Israeli IMI Tavor.
Several years after World War II, a revolution infantry fighting rifles was taking place. The German MP43 had sat new standards for the oncoming assault rifle era. In the mid-1950s, NATO standardized the .308 (7.62x51mm) cartridge the involved nations began developing selective fire weapons that could hold 20 or more rounds such as Spains venerable M58, Belgiums famed FN FAL, Germany's revered G3 and Americas infamous M-14. The Soviet Union, who also retained a 7.62 cartridge, had for some time earlier obtained their own deadly assault rifle, the AK-47.
Early on, it became clear to the U.S. Army that the 7.62x51 was too powerful to be effective in the automatic rifle role and most M-14s were converted to semi-automatic rifles. Painful lessons learned in Korea pressed U.S. Army officials to introduce a new light, accurate rifle capable of a high rate of fire that fired a small high-velocity bullet. The Armys intentions was not to increase the firepower of individual soldiers but to increase the chances of hitting a target.
In 1957, Eugene Stoner, a skilled engineer who worked for the Armalite aircraft company was hired by the U.S. Army to design and build a light weight .22 caliber rifle to replace the M-14 assault rifle. Stoner had already designed and built the AR-10 rifle to compete with the new series of 7.62 NATO rifles but it his design had come to late and the only country to adopt the AR-10 was Sudan.
Stoner simply converted the existing AR-10 into incorporate the newly developed .223 (5.56x45mm) cartridge and was renamed the AR-15. Prototypes were sent to the Army for testing. After moths of testing the Continental Army Command Board recommended that the AR-15 replace the M-14. How ever the AR-15 was rejected by the Army.
The SAS on the other hand saw the AR-15 as the ideal jungle weapon and adopted it in the early 1960s for use in the Borneo campaign as well as the Oman and Aden operations.
This might have been the end of the M-16 but the sudden increase of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict raised the issue once more. In 1962 several thousand AR-15s were sent to Vietnam to be tested by U.S. Special forces and Air Force guards. They became instantly popular among Americans and Vietnamese who were able to get their hands on one. Field-test results were so impressive that the Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara ordered 20,000 AR-15s to arm portions of U.S. soldiers and their Vietnamese allies.
Around this time the Armalite sold the manufacturing license to the Colt company which began producing the M-16 for the Armed Services.
From its first introduction into Vietnam in 1962 until 1966 the rifle, now termed the M-16, enjoyed a reputation of an extremely lethal and dependable weapon among the soldiers using it in combat. But in 1966 when 100,000 M-16s were shipped to Vietnam to replace the M-14s being used by the Army and Marines. Reports of jamming and failure began to flood the U.S. Army ordinance department. Most of the rifles were never issued with cleaning kits and at the same the U.S. army changed its cartridge powder to a less clean powder that caused excess fouling and carbon build up. The jamming rifles were blamed on irresponsible soldiers who did not maintain the rifles properly. As simple as these problems and their solutions were, the effects were devastating.
To add to this the chamber of the M-16 had went from chromed to plain steel which caused the most basic jam for M-16. Cartridge casings would become wedged tightly in the chamber of the barrel. This then required the soldier to take a cleaning rod and insert it into the muzzle end of the barrel and force the fired cartridge from the chamber. Then the rifle would fire 2 or 3 more times before the bewildered soldier had to repeat the process. (Fighting a modern war with a muzzle loader! Oh joy!)
Reports of dead soldiers still clutching their jammed M-16 with the cleaning rod shoved down the barrel began reach congress which forced the armed services to take action. The Colt company then began chroming the chambers of the M-16 and a cleaner burning ball powder used in artillery shells replaced the new powder. These modifications apparently did the trick since jam reports all but evaporated. By 1967 and 68 the M-16 the rifle again began to live up to its old reputation of reliability and the malfunctions ceased. New improvements were added and the M-16A1 was created which improved the original M-16.
The M-16 and its cartridge quickly developed a reputation for lethality. This is generally caused by the hypervelocity .223 bullet that exits the muzzle at 3,200 feet per second (fps) or 988 meter per second (mps). The wounds caused to the abdomen and chest create what is known aq hydrostatic shock or hydro shock.
Several versions of the M-16 were produced and tested in Vietnam. The CAR-15 (Later adopted as the M4) was the carbine version of the AR-15. Some M-16s were modified with a 40mm M-203 grenade launcher under the barrel to increase the fire power of the individual soldier. Also issued in the 1970s were the banana 30 round magazines to replace the square 20 round magazines. The 30 round magazines had previously been restricted to use by special forces.
The success of M-16 and its new cartridge had a huge effect on the international community. In 1974 the Soviet Union even developed their own version of the 5.56mm. The 5.45x39mm was incorporated it into their new AK-74 rifle which saw extensive use in Afghanistan. In the late 70s NATO replaced the 7.62x51mm with the 5.56x45mm SS109 cartridge.
In 1981 the U.S. army developed the M-16A1E1 (the modern M-16). This was apparently the most successful version. Copies and versions of the M-16A1E1 are in use by the Canadian, Dutch, Kuwaiti, Columbian, Filipino, Danish and Israeli armed forces. Many under the name of the Diemico C7A1 (Canadian M-16A1E1 version). They are also the weapons of choice for the Special Air Services operating in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Further improvements led to the adoption of the M-16A2 in 1985 by the U.S. armed forces and is still the standard American infantry rifle. Further versions include the M-16A3 and M-16EZ.
Like the Soviets with the AK-47, the M-16 can be found in abundance where ever U.S. was politically or militarily involved. This is especially true in South East Asia where the U.S. left behind hundreds of thousands of M-16s to the South Vietnamese government. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the rifles were scattered across the region. Many have turned up in South and Central America in the hands of leftist guerrillas. Some U.S./Vietnam vintage rifles have even wound up in the hands of both Israeli settlers and Palestinians terrorist in the 1980s. The M-16 has seen action in almost all armed conflicts since 1967. From Angola to the Falklands war, to the Yom Kippur war.
The Cons
The M-16 has several major disadvantages. The .223 bullet is too light for accurate shooting beyond 300 meters. Even the modern M-16s are sometimes susceptible to sand. In 1962 the M-16 was seen as too small by most soldiers especially compared to the massive M-14. Yet compared todays generation of assault rifles the M-16 is too big. Almost 40 long. This defect has really made itself felt in Iraq. The M-16 is too big to be used effectively in vehicles and APCs. The M4 Carbine is generally the favored because of its compact size. like-wise the M-16 design is 50 years old and is slowly being fazed out by most developed militaries for more modern assault rifles, such as the Israeli IMI Tavor.
![avtoma5[1].jpg](https://civfanatics-data.community.forum/attachments/27/27595-6a96d3d190ec4fdf410e0bb20b21acfa.jpg?hash=apbT0ZDsT9)
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