I’m with you on the M14,although I might opt for a G3A2.
You’re probably wondering how I kept my M14 in Vietnam when everybody else in my grunt battalion had the M16. I had the incredible luck to have been home on a 30-day extension leave when the M16s were issued. When I got back, I heard all the horror stories about the M16s and since I was an artillery observer, my M14 was being held for me at my parent artillery battery so I went a got it.
When I got back to the company, the Skipper asked me why I didn’t have an M16. I told him that “I’m in artillery, Sir - we don’t have them yet”. Whenever I’d go back to my battery, they’d tell me that they had an M16 in the armory for me but I’d tell them “the grunts want me to keep my M14”.
I worked that scam all the rest of the time I was there.
Great rifle!
Got my eye on a FAL.
L