A much better weapon if you weigh more than 105 pounds.
Posted on 04/22/2017 7:47:35 AM PDT by rktman
It is public knowledge that the tropical jungles of Vietnam turned the M16 from space-age assault rifle to unreliable junk which got good men killed. The specter of dead servicemen clutching jammed rifles looms large in the cultural consciousness. It is certainly true that the rifle’s issues in Vietnam are taken to hyperbole, even to the extent that they are thought to affect the M16/M4 family almost 50 years later. Seeking to address these deficits, it is beneficial for us to address each issue which plagued the rifle in turn, and its corresponding solution. In so doing, we shall both see that each issue has been resolved in turn, and understand the underlying factors of procurement irrespective of the AR-15 itself which led to its failures.
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I meant the civilian version AR-15 is the MSR. DOH!
It’s early! More coffee.
Going to be a nice day in the hood. Just got back from a nice breakfast at the Hometown. Loading up the dog and the lovely Mrs. and headed out to do some prospecting.
Oh and no 22 at Wallyworld.
Summary: the rifle was fine, it was army procurement changing the ammo that caused jamming issues.
War is terrible. Every war had something stupid that got men killed. WWI had bolt action rifles and the stupid idea of trench warfare and charging machine guns and sitting while being barraged by artillery.
I saw an ad for Cabelas here in Reno selling it for $0.055 each. I figured stock was up as price going down. I still have a few thousand on hand.
All that I know is that when I went ‘in-Country’ in March of ‘68 the M16 I was issued had been around awhile. It would fire 3 rounds and fail to extract. It wasn’t until the newer rifles were issued that the reliability issues were fixed for me.
They had to be kept CLEAN, an almost impossibility in the swamps and jungles of SE Asia.
Yeah, I need to get out and expend a few rds. Nickel per isn’t too bad these days.
Cleared up a few misconceptions that I had concerning the AR-15/M-16. Putting the events on a timeline helped separate the real flaws from the imagined one’s.
A much better weapon if you weigh more than 105 pounds.
***Now the supposedly most popular “modern sporting rifle” out there.***
Not BEFORE late 1976. Back in 1966 I got to shoot my first one and fell in love with it. Yet no one had one in stock. I bought my first in 1970. People asked..”What good is it? A mouse gun! Will it knock down a deer?”
The idea of recreational shooting was still limited to the .22 rimfire as no one had money to buy expensive cartridges to waste on paper targets.
You could not even give one away! The gun magazines in the 1970s panned the rifle as...”inaccurate. No knock down power. Illegal in most states for deer. Looks like a Mattel toy. Costs too much for what it delivers.” When one was found it stayed on the gun store shelves for months or years.
Then Mel Tappan wrote his book on SURVIVAL GUNS and interest began.
When GUNS AND AMMO magazine began a series on survival written by Tappan the desire took off! The Mini-14 was born! Then the AR-180 became popular! AR-15s began to fly off the shelves! Junked military rifles were reassembled with old parts and new frames.
The AK-47/s was released in .223.
The Mini-14 was released in 1975 and was a hit! Bought my first then. It then disappeared from the stores and were not to be found as Ruger was filling contracts for French Police.
The rest is history. Now the AR-15 is the most popular rifle in the USA.
Sigh. I’ve still got Remington 525 round bulk packs with $9.95 price tags on them.
LOL! Yup. One of my faves.
LOL! Yeah, good luck on EVER seeing that again.
I’ve got half a dozen of the Winchester 500 round in those little wood boxes marked at $11.95.
Those were the days, my friend.
L
I thought the problems were due to the manufacturing of the chanber with inferior steel that was the problem. If I remember correctly the original maker was tied to the Kennedy’s.
My dad bought a Colt AR back in the early 70s. I couldn’t believe what a fantastic thing it was. How fast it was! It was unbelievably easy for me to shoot with such accuracy. The bullets hit the target what seemed to be the instant they were fired. I had never seen a rifle like it. Less recoil than a BB gun.
What is referred to as lock time for me can be added to the time the bullet is in flight. So when you “call your shots” I had previously been disappointed with the result. With that rifle the shot you called was where the bullet went. I was only 19 or so but it was like getting a gift from the shooting gods.
Let’s all hope for a return to those days.
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