[RC one]

That's a strong statement durus and it's debatable. The M16s I shot were field quality rifles shooting field quality ball ammo. They were capable of shooting 4-5 MOA at best. I have shot civilian AR15s with very high quality reloads that would shoot .25 MOA. Throughout 8 years as an infantry rifleman, I never saw a service rifle, with open sights, firing standard issue ball ammo that was capable of anything near that.

Its potential for good accuracy is primarily within 100-300 yards. Accuracy degrades beyond that due to the light bullet and the low ballistic coefficient. It's ability to cause devastating wounds beyond 300 yards also degrades especially from shorter barreled rifles.

Furthermore, oh8eleven, the routing of hot gasses into the chamber remains a design flaw. Even after about 50 years, it remains a poor design.

Bottom line, it has been fifty years now and the shortcomings of the M16 have been well documented after every conflict it has seen. I think we could do better and I think the 5.56 mm NATO round has proved repeatedly that it kind of sucks in general.

If I had to rush out to meet an enemy, I would absolutely grab my FN FAL in 7.62 mm before I would grab any of the direct gas impingement 5.56 mm rifles in my collection.

[Durus]

It's not really that debatable. AR15/M16 (in 5.56/.223) have been dominating national matches against M1As for years. These are folks that know accuracy and the clear choice is the AR platform. With all due respect no way can an FN-FAL (a near 70 year old design?) be near as accurate as either, although I do have a soft spot for them. There simply isn't a piston rifle capable of of the accuracy of a gas impingement system. It's physics, not some opinion I pulled out of thin air. It has weaknesses sure, but we are talking a rifle here. We are a country of riflemen where accuracy has to be one of the most important determining factors.

Let's not confuse the round with the rifle either. The government decided to use 5.56, but the AR/M16 platform can be built using a wide variety of rounds, from .17HMR to .50 Beowulf. Only government stupidity stops them from adopting a better caliber that would further enhance the superiority of the platform.