Whoever he is, I thank him
Chris has a good piece on Who’s at fault for the M16? Snippet:
There are a hell of a lot of people who REALLY hate the AR family of weapons, the 5.56 nato round, and the M16 in particular.
I’ve addressed this hatred before; and there are some valid issues, some not so valid issues, and some issues that were once valid, but aren’t anymore.
February 8th, 2007 at 11:36 am
I carried the M-16 A1 for four years. In those 4 years I was issued a dozen different rifles. One and only one could make it through three consecutive magazines without a jam, when freshly cleaned and lubed.
Nuff said.
Given that however, I don’t hate it. I just wanted something else, damn near anything else if my hide was at stake. Not for the rifle, but the round also. The vaunted expansion of the basic ammo load is now null and void with the double tap guidance soldiers recieve from higher these days.
And the cited artical is all wet; The M-16 was field tested in small numbers, and despite negative reports was adopted anyway. The current version IS substantially different, but not in any way that counts for much. The forward assist is a particularly goofball afterthought, as if saking that little plunger with the palm of your hand is somehow equal to push an M-14’s bolt completely into battery with one motion.
Regardless of caliber, it’s simply not acceptable to me that our troops carry an individual weapon that scrapes the bottom of the barrel in it’s class.
Is it better than the AK-74? No.
The FAMAS? No
The H+K? No
The SCAR or FNC?
One has to get to the Brit L85 to find anything worse, and it’s truly aweful.