Quote:
Originally Posted by PIMP DADDY SMURF View Post
Would that still be an M16 though?Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought M16's were only burst and single shot...
It depends on the M16. If I remember right, the original had full auto A2 has burst and a different handgrip.
I'm prolly remembering wrong. but thanks for making me feel old
The update is a welcome addition to the game. In regards to the weapon questions:
-The M16-A1 had a full auto and single shot setting on it, and a 5:1 ratio on the rifling, it was debuted in Vietnam. In Insurgency however, the weapon used is the M16-A4, which only comes with burst and single shot and has a 7:1 rifling, which increased the accuracy.
Close on all counts, but no cigar totally.
First, Eugene Stoner designed the AR-15 for the ArmaLite division of Fairchild, to what at the time were some impossible specifications: 7 lb rifle, capable of controllable full auto fire, higher capacity, without sacrificing accuracy or distance hitting.
There are those who say he succeeded, and those who say he did not. But whatever, the ultra-lightweight, aluminum and plastic, in-line bore, gas-impingment operated AR-15 was born and was tested along with other designs by the US military. It was adopted and the military version was named the M16. In its native configuration, the M16 was an assault rifle, a selective fire rifle in what was technically considered an intermediate cartridge (the .223 Remington, also known as the 5.56 NATO -- while the cartridges are technically different according to the NATO standard, the differences for this discussion are moot since we are discussing modes of fire and not cartridge casing configuration and/or performance).
The original M16's settings were Safe, Semi, Auto. It had no forward assist, no reinforcement where the lower receiver housed the end of the buffer, and no raised "fence" around the magazine release button. These modifications were all improvements that came later.
The original M16's barrel twist was 1:12, which barely stabilized the 55-grain projectiles, and gave the rifle a reputation for tumbling the bullets on impact -- an impressive feat, as the terminal ballistics on those rifles were rather frightening. It was during this time that the M16 gained the reputation of "killing like chain lightning."
Field trials didn't go so well, however. Both because Colt, who had purchased the rights to the M16 from Armalite, had oversold the weapon as "self cleaning" and thus, proper cleaning gear was not readily available to the troops, and because the US government in its infinite wisdom, chose to save 1.65 per rifle and NOT chrome line the barrel.
Now, I've been told that at the time (the early 1960's) there was no reliable way of chrome lining a barrel of that diameter (.22, basically), but that's hearsay as I have not yet verified this data. The rest is published elsewhere.
Field trials for the M16 were dismal, with the shortcomings of having no cleaning gear, stuck casings in the chamber, and other malfunctions were quickly turning the "wonder weapon" into a deathtrap. Modifications were made.
Interim modification rifles were called the XM-16E2, still with the Safe-Semi-Auto fire control group, but with a forward assist to theoretically prevent mischambering. To this day, I have never seen the forward assist have much utility, even in the rifles I build.
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