Interesting side note: The next time you see a photo of an M1 series Abrams tank, take a look at the gun mantlet (where the main gun meets the turret). To the side of the main gun is the smokebox for the coax machine gun. Directly above the main gun there is a flat metal bracket with a couple holes drilled in it.
Although that bracket has a number of uses, one of the primary design functions was so that where tank crews had limited range facilities, an M2 HB or an M16 could be mounted there, with a trigger actuator wired into the gunner's controls inside the turret, and the smaller weapon could be traversed, elevated and depressed just like the main gun, allowing the gunner to practice engagements from inside the turret using his primary and auxiliary sights on regular rifle ranges.
Where ranges were even more limited, one could put a .22LR adapter in the M16, and for this purpose the military purchased .22LR tracer ammo.
Nowadays, Conduct Of Fire Trainers (COFTs) and other simulators make the whole practice somewhat superflous if not entirely unnecessary, but at least for some time, the US Army Armor Branch was the proponent for, and consumer of at least a little bit of pretty neat .22LR tracer ammo :-)
Thanks for the interesting trivia.
My Marlin 795 has been my primary practice long gun because of ammo cost. Until now. Now I’m having to be so tight with it since there is no way of knowing when 22LR will be plentiful again. Frustrating.
I’m thinking the hoarding (on the public’s side) is going to go on for some time. A lot of firearms owners are beginning to think this will not get better, that some heavy stuff is coming our way.