I spent 22 years in the military and carried an M-16 for nine years, so I'm not exactly a novice.
I've seen people under stress forget to pull the charging handle, fire all the rounds without realizing they pulled the trigger, eject the magazine without realizing it, etc.
Although a weapon can misfeed when the charging handle is initially released, it is rare. I never experienced it and have fired tens of thousands of rounds through the M-16. When this happens it should be relatively easy to clear if the person has the minimum training.
I think that people are falsly blaming the M-16 when the problem was either very poor maintenance or lack of training.
You must not have seen post #114.
I spent 22 years in the military and carried an M-16 for nine years, so I'm not exactly a novice. I've seen people under stress forget to pull the charging handle, fire all the rounds without realizing they pulled the trigger, eject the magazine without realizing it, etc. Although a weapon can misfeed when the charging handle is initially released, it is rare. I never experienced it and have fired tens of thousands of rounds through the M-16. When this happens it should be relatively easy to clear if the person has the minimum training. I think that people are falsly blaming the M-16 when the problem was either very poor maintenance or lack of training.
I didn't say they were blaming the gun, I said there are some people that have a lot of experience with it that said they can indeed jam before firing in dusty conditions. Saying it can happen and saying it did happen are two different things.
Exactly right. I think, in her panic, she either forgot to take off the safety or never had a round chambered in the first place.