Too funny! NYT writers haven’t clue one about firearms. The AR-15 fires bursts???? Bursts can only come from a selective fire weapon, or a fully automatic machine gun.
Moreover, the M-16 was based on the AR-15, not the other way around.
” . . . the M-16 was based on the AR-15, not the other way around.”
ought-six has some of the nomenclature right, but got the sequence wrong.
Fairchild developed the first AR15 from the AR-10, a 7.62mm rifle designed by Eugene Stoner, who then worked for Fairchild. Both were select-fire arms. Military contracts were not forthcoming - this was just at the time when the M14 was selected. License to manufacture was awarded to Colt’s; USAF placed an order but the US Army (by law and precedent, DoD executive agent for small arms) intervened and canceled all such actions.
Field testing renewed military interest in small-caliber high-velocity rifles - they were more controllable on full auto. The Colt-made 5.56mm rifle was approved as the M16 in 1964. Amid widespread controversy, then-SecDef Robert Strange McNamara halted M14 production and shut down Springfield Armory permanently.
(further details concerning these events appeared in the most recent _American Rifleman_ magazine, print edition)
After several years of M16 production, Colt’s designed a semi-only variant to be marketed to civilian shooters. They did not even call it the AR-15: early rifles were labeled “Colt Sporter, Model SP-1.” Only after various controversies did they conclude the name recognition was worth a redesignation.