[Chainmail]

Agree that your average Marine/soldier will do better with well-aimed semi but there are times when full auto is absolutely critical. You have to remember that there was a capability gap between the BAR (a really outstanding automatic weapon) and the M249 and that gap was filled for a while by select fire M-14s.

Agree too that the M-14 was a handful and required quite a bit of experience to control - very high rate of fire (700-800 RPM) - but with plenty of practice, it was very, very effective.

[Big Red Badger]

Dang!

Change Your name to Rambo!

[PJBankard]

I can understand during the era there was a need to use the M14 in full auto. However, in the current times the use of burst or auto on a rifle is just stupid.

I was in the Infantry (0311) in the Marines. At no time is there a reason to use a rifle (M16A4/M4A1) in anything but semi-auto. To do so is a complete waste of ammunition, you only carry so much with you on a patrol. That is what your Automatic Rifleman is for. If that was your role (which it was for me) in the fire team, you carried a M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) and provided the automatic fire for your fire team.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

Yes, different tools for different jobs.
I just keep hearing the same conclusions from Marine’s about semi vs. auto fire. Plus, it’s in their training too.