[genefromjersey]

I was in the Old ? Older ? Corps. Put it this way: we used the Garand M1 : 8 shots,super reliable, kicked a mite, but was dangerous at 1000 yards.

The BAR ( really a WWI weapon !) was good at the same range,and an excellent "light" machine gun : heavy and awkward to carry, but a LOT lighter than the air-cooled .30 machine gun.

One person in each 4 man fire team carried a BAR ( for some reason, it was generally the smallest member of the team. )

During the Korean war, a lot of the shooting was at longer ranges. People who were there said the 7.62 Russian rounds would "fall short" at those ranges, but the Garand and the BAR - in capable hands - would make life interesting for the Koreans and Chinese.

[Redleg Duke]

Great points. I still maintain that high bolo rates in the Army in the mid-60s led to the adoption of the M-16. I initially trained on the M-1 and love it...I have a DCM one in fact. Used the M-14 in Basic, AIT and OCS and think it was a fine replacement for the M-1. I have never liked the M-16.