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(Your shopping cart contains 2 items for a total cost of $25.00) View My Cart   Home > G&G Airsoft Guns >   G&G M4 RIS Fixed Stock GR 16S R5   G&G M4 RIS Fixed Stock GR 16S R5   Airsoft Retail $380.00 HIT Guns $360.00 Stock Status: In Stock Availability: Usually Ships in 24 Hours Must Have Items Recommended: Starter Package w/ Fast Smart Charger, 0.2g BB 4000bag MetalTac [Add $29.99] Extra Magazines Magazines: M4 190 Rounds Hi-Cap Short Clip Magazine [Add $16.00] M4 300 Rounds Hi Capacity Metal Magazine -JG [Add $15.00] M4 300 Rounds Hi-Cap Thermold ABS Magazine -Dboy [Add $15.00] M4 3000 Rounds Drum Electric Magazine [Add $29.99] M4 450 Rounds Metal Magazine [Add $18.00] M4 5000 Rounds Box Magazine -A&K [Add $29.95] I will Buy Later    Ammo BB Bullet: 0.12g BB 2000 Rounds [Add $1.50] 0.12g BB 5000 Rounds [Add $4.00] 0.2g BB 16,000 Rounds [Add $32.00] 0.2g BB 2000 Rounds [Add $4.00] 0.2g BB 4000 Rounds [Add $8.00] 0.2g BB 8000 Rounds [Add $16.00] I will Buy later    Accessories 3 Point Tactical Sling [Add $10.00] BB 0.12g 1000 Bottle [Add $1.00] Bipod Foregrip (extendable) [Add $10.00] CQB Red Dot Electronic Sight [Add $10.00] Full Mask with goggles [Add $25.00] Mini Pistol HandGun - just for fun! 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Description Extended Information   Armalite / Colt AR-15 / M16 assault rifle (USA) original military issue AR-15 / M16 rifle (circa 1965), with no forward assist and with the original three-prong flash hider M16A1 rifle, with the forward assist, "bird cage" flash hider and the 20 rounds magazine (1967) M16A1 rifle with 30 rounds magazine and a 40mm M203 grenade launcher attached (circa mid-1970s) M16A2 rifle, with the heavy barrel, modified rear sights, spent case deflector, round handguards and modified pistol handle (circa mid-1980s) M16A3 "flat top" upper receiver with the Picatinny rail and the removable carrying handle Speak about the flexibility: just three of many dozens upper receiver options available on the market for the commercial and military AR-15 type rifles. Click here to see the M16A1 field-stripping (18 Kb jpeg, will open in the new window) Click here to see typical markings and controls on the M16A1 rifle (15 Kb jpeg, will open in the new window) Click here to see M16A3 receiver X-ray image. Aluminum parts are in blue color, steel parts are black (20 Kb jpeg, will open in the new window) Click here for exploded view of the AR15 (260Kb jpeg, will open in the new window) Click here to view a front page from famous US Army M16A1 comics book (55 Kb jpeg, will open in the new window) Buy AR-15 rifles and accessories at Impact Guns online store Buy Colt AR-15 rifles and accessories at Impact Guns online store  M16A1 M16A2 Caliber 5.56x45mm (.223 Remington), M193 5.56x45mm NATO / M855 Action  gas operated, rotating bolt Overall length 986 mm 1006 mm Barrel length 508 mm 508 mm Weight, empty / loaded w. 30 rounds 2.89 kg / 3.6 kg 3.77 kg / 4.47 kg Magazine capacity 20 or 30 rounds standard Rate of fire, cyclic 650 - 750 rounds per minute 800 rounds per minute Muzzle velocity 945 m/s 975 m/s Maximum effective range 460 meters 550 meters The history of the development, introduction and the service of the US Rifle, 5.56mm, M16, is a long and a controversial one. I'll try to cut this story as short as possible, and will highlight only some most important periods and events. So, let's start. 1948. U.S. Army's Operations Research Office (ORO) conducts a research about small arms effectiveness. This research was completed by the early 1950 with the conclusion that the most desirable infantry small arms should be of 22 caliber, select-fire and with high velocity bullets, effective up to 300 meters or so. 1953 - 1957. US DOD conducts the next research, "Project SALVO", that also lead to the desirability of .22 caliber high-velocity infantry rifle 1957. The US Army requests the Armalite Division of the Fairchild Aircraft Corp to develop a rifle of .22 caliber, lightweight, select-fire, and capable to penetrate the standard steel helmet at 500 meters. The Eugene Stoner, then a designer at the Armalite, began to develop this rifle, based on his earlier design, 7.62mm AR-10 battle rifle. At the same time, experts at the Sierra Bullets and the Remington, in conjunction with Armalite, began do develop a new .22 caliber cartridge, based on the .222 Remington and .222 Remington Magnum hunting cartridges. This development, initially called the .222 Remington Special, was finally released as .223 Remington (metric designation 5.56x45mm). 1958. Armalite delivers first new rifles, called the AR-15, to the Army for testing. Initial tests display some reliability and accuracy problems with the rifle. 1959. Late that year Fairchild Co, being disappointed with the development of the AR-15, sold all rights for this design to the Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company. 1960. Eugene Stoner leaves the Armalite and joins the Colt. The same year Colt demonstrated the AR-15 to the US Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. LeMay. Gen. LeMay wanted to procure some 8 000 AR-15 rifles for US AF Strategic Air Command security forces to replace ageing M1 and M2 carbines. 1962. US DoD Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) purchases 1000 AR-15 rifles from Colt and sends those rifles to the South Vietnam, for field trials. Same year brings glowing reports about the effectiveness of the new "black rifle", used by South Vietnamese forces. 1963. Colt receives contracts for 85 000 rifles for US Army (designated as XM16E1) and for further 19 000 rifles for US Air Forces (M16). The US AF M16 was no more than an AR-15 rifle with appropriate markings. The XM16E1 differed from AR-15/M16 by having an additional device, the so called "forward assist", which was used to manually push the bolt group in place in the case of jams. 1964. US Air Forces officially adopted new rifle as M16. Same year US Army adopted the XM16E1 as a limited standard rifle, to fill the niche between discontinued 7.62mm M14 rifle and the forthcoming SPIW system (which newer got past the prototype and trial stages). 1966. Colt was awarded with the contract for some 840 000 rifles for US Armed forces, worth almost $92 millions. 1967. US Army adopted the XM16E1 rifle as a standard "US Rifle, 5.56mm, M16A1", on 28 February 1967. 1965 - 1967. Field reports from Vietnam began to look much more pessimistic. M16 rifles, issued to US troops in the Vietnam, severely jammed in combat, resulting in numerous casualties. There were some causes for malfunction. First of all, during the introduction of the new rifle and its ammunition into the service, US Army replaced originally specified Dupont IMR powder with standard ball powder, used in 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition. The ball powder produced much more fouling, that quickly jammed the actions of the M16 unless the gun was cleared well and often. This pitifully combined with the fact that the initial M16 rifles were promoted by the Colt as "low maintenance", so, for the sake of economy, no cleaning supplies were procured for new M16 rifles, and no weapon care training was conducted fro the troops. As a result, soldiers did not knew how to clean their rifles, and had no provisions for cleaning, and thing soon turned bad. To add the trouble, the ball powders also had a different pressure curve, so they produced higher pressures at the gas port, giving the rise to the rate of fire, and, thus, decreasing accuracy and increasing parts wear. 1967 - 1970. The deficiencies discovered in previous years began do dissolve. 5.56mm ammunition was now loaded using different powders that produce much less residue in the gun action. The barrel, chamber and bolt of the rifles were chrome-lined to improve corrosion resistance. Cleaning kits were procured and issued to troops, and a special training programs were developed and conducted ever since. Earliest cleaning kits could be carried separate from rifle only, but since circa 1970 all M16A1 rifles were manufactured with the containment cavity in the buttstock, that held the cleaning kit. At the same time (circa 1970) the new 30 rounds magazines were introduced into service instead of the original 20 rounds ones, to equal Soviet and Chinese AK-47 assault rifles, which had 30-rounds magazines from the very beginning. 1977 - 1979. NATO trials lead to the adoption of the improved 5.56x45mm cartridge, developed in Belgium by FN. This cartridge, initially developed in conjunction with the FN Minimi light machine gun, featured a slightly heavier bullet with accordingly slightly lower muzzle velocity. The resulting long-range performance, however, improved due to the better ballistic coefficient of the new bullet. The SS109 required a faster rifling twist to stabilize its bullet, than the original 5.56x45mm US M193 ammunition. The M193 was used with barrels rifled with 1:12 twist (1 turn in 12 inches), and SS109 was preferred to be fired with 1:7 twist (1 turn in 7 inches). Some arms manufacturers preferred to make their guns with intermediate 1:9 rifling, which would be equally good (or bad) for both old and new loadings. 1981. Colt developed a variation of the M16A1, adapted for the SS109/5.56mm NATO cartridge, and submitted it to the military trials as the M16A1E1. This rifle differed from the M16A1 by having the heavier barrel with faster 1:7 rifling, a different type rear sights (adjustable for both range and windage), round handguards instead of triangular ones, and by replacing the full-auto fire mode with the burst (limited to 3 rounds per trigger pull), to preserve the ammunition. 1982. M16A1E1 is type-classified by US DoD as the "US Rifle, 5.56mm, M16A2". 1983. US Marine Corps adopted the M61A2 rifle. 1985. US Army officially adopted the M16A2 as the general issue infantry rifle. 1988. The FN Manufacturing Co, an US subsidiary of the FN Herstal (Belgium), becomes the key contractor to US DoD for production of the M16A2 rifles. Colt continues the development and manufacture of the AR-15 / M16 type rifles only for civilian and law enforcement markets from that point. 1994. Adoption of the latest variations of the M16 breed. Those include: M16A3and M16A4 rifles, with "flat top" receivers, that had a Picatinny accessory rails in the place of the integral carrying handle. The rail can be used to mount detachable carrying handle with iron rear sights, or various sighting devices (Night/IR, optics etc). The M16A4 otherwise is similar to M16A2, while M16A3 has a full-auto capability instead of the 3-rounds burst. Two other newest AR-15 offsprings are the M4 and M4A1 carbines, which are described in the separate article on this site. The M16 is still a general-issue rifle with the US Armed forces. It is also widely used by the US Law Enforcement agencies, either in military form (for example, the LAPD had some M16s, retired from Army), or in "civilian" semi-automatic only form. The AR-15 style rifles are made in the USA by at least dozen large companies, such as Armalite, Bushmaster, Colt, FN Manufacturing, Hesse, Les Baer, Olympic, Wilson Combat, and by number of smaller companies, many of which do assembly their rifles from components made by some other major manufacturers. M16-type rifles also manufactured outside of the USA, most notably in the Canada, by Diemaco Co. China also makes some AR-15 type rifles at NORINCO state factories. M16 rifles are used by many foreign military groups, most notably the British SAS, who preferred the M16 over the infamous L85A1 rifle, and by many others. At the present time almost all initial flaws of the M16 are bugged out, and it is considered among the best assault rifles in the world. While its reliability in the harsh conditions cannot match reliability of its main rival, the Kalashnikov AK-47 and AK-74, it is still a quite reliable rifle, especially when well maintained. It is also comfortable to fire and quite accurate. One of the key advantages of the Stoner design, that must be especially stressed, is the extreme flexibility of the construction. At the present time the interchangeable complete "uppers" are available in various barrel lengths and profiles (from 7 to 24 inches long, slim and heavy), in dozens of rifle and pistol calibers (from tiny but fast .17 Remington and up to monstrous .458 SOCOM, and from .22LR and 9mm Luger up to mighty .50AE). Special, manually single-shot uppers are commercially available in the extremely powerful .50BMG (12.7x99mm) caliber. Various "lowers" offer a broad variety of trigger units, buttstocks and other options. This advantage is viable for both military (especially Spec Ops), Law Enforcement, and civilian applications, as it allows to tailor any particular AR-15 type rifle to the current situation and tactical needs. M16 / AR-15 Technical description The original AR-15 rifle is a gas operated, selective fire, magazine fed weapon. Every rifle from the M16 family is generally the same, but most civilian AR-15 type rifles are semi-automatic only. The heart of the AR-15 is the direct gas system, developed by the Eugene Stoner in the early 1950s. This system uses no conventional gas piston and rod to propel bolt group back after the shot is fired. Instead, the hot powder gases are fed from the barrel and down to the stainless steel tube into the receiver. Inside the receiver, the rear end of the gas tube enters into the "gas key", a small attachment on the top of the bolt carrier. The hot gases, through the gas key, enter the hollow cavity inside the bolt carrier, and expands there, acting against the bolt carrier and the collar around the bolt body. The pressure of the gases causes the bolt carrier to move back against initially stationary bolt. The linear rearward movement of the carrier initially transferred into the rotation of the bolt, via the cam slot in the bolt carrier and the cam pin, attached to the bolt, that followed the slot. As soon as the bolt is rotated to unlock from the barrel, the bolt group continues its rearward travel under the inertia and the residual pressure in the barrel, extracting the spent case and compressing the buffer return spring, located in the buttstock. The forward movement of the bolt group first strips the fresh cartridge from the magazine and, on the final stage of the movement, rotates the bolt to lock into the barrel extension. The bolt has 7 radial locking lugs, eight lug is located on the extractor claw. Since the introduction of the XM16E1 rifle, the forward assist device is used on all military and most civilian AR-15 type rifles. This device consist of the spring-loaded button with internal claw, that engages the serrations on the right side of the bolt carrier to push it forward, if the pressure of the return spring is insufficient to do so (for example, due to the fouling inside the receiver or chamber). The rifle will not fire unless the bolt is locked and the bolt carrier is in its forwardmost position. The bolt carrier and the bolt itself are chrome-plated. Another feature of the AR-15 type rifles is the bolt catch device, that locks the bolt group in the open position when the last round is fired. To release the bolt group one must push the button, located at the left side of the receiver, above the magazine. The "T"-shaped cocking handle is located at the rear of the receiver, above the buttstock, and does not reciprocate when gun is fired. The trigger/hammer group is basically similar to one, found in M1 Garand rifle, and, actually, traces its roots back to the early 1900s, when the great John M. Browning developed his famous Auto-5 semiautomatic shotgun. This basically consists of a hammer, a trigger, a disconnector, a full auto sear and some springs. The fire selector / safety switch is located at the left side of the receiver, above the pistol grip, and is easily operated by the right hand thumb. This switch has 3 positions: "safe", "semi" (single shots), and "auto" (full automatic on M16A1 and A3) or "burst" (3 rounds bursts, on M16A2 and A4). In the latter case (on the M16A2 and A4 rifles), the trigger unit also includes the ratchet device to count the shots fired. The ejection port is located at the right side of the receiver, and is closed by the spring-loaded dust cover, which automatically pops open when bolt carrier is pulled back. The M16A2 also featured the spent case deflector - a triangular bulb on the receiver, just behind the ejection port, that allows the gun to be safely fired left-handed. The M16 is fed using box magazines. Earliest magazines were made from aluminum and held 20 rounds. Circa 1970 the new, 30 rounds magazines were introduced into service and these magazines are still in service now. An extremely wide variety of magazines available on the commercial marked, starting from the "US post-ban" 5 and 10 round magazines, and up to 40-rounds box, 90-rounds helical, 100-rounds dual drums (Beta-C) and 120-rounds single drums. The receiver is made from aluminum alloy, and consists of two parts - "upper receiver" and "lower receiver" (sometimes referred simply as "upper" and "lower"). Most receivers are made from aluminum forgings by machining, but some commercially available receivers are made from aluminum castings with final drilling and machining. The upper and lower receivers are linked by two cross-pins - one at the front (pivot pin), and one at the rear, above the pistol grip (takedown pin). To field strip the AR-15, one must push the rear pin to the right as far as it will go, and then hinge the upper receiver around the front pin. This will allow the bolt group and the carrying handle to be removed from the upper receiver. For further disassembly, the front pin also must be pushed out, and the upper and lover receiver can be separated. The key benefit of this design is the great flexibility - if all components available are made to the same specifications (in most cases they are), one can easily swap various upper receivers on one lower receiver and vice versa. Since the complete "upper" module consist also of the bolt group and the barrel with the gas system, one can easily have different barrel lengths, styles (light, heavy, fluted, bull), and even calibers, for one "lower" group, that consists of the lower receiver with the trigger/hammer unit, recoil buffer, pistol grip and the buttstock. The furniture on military rifles is made from the black plastic, hence the common name "the black rifle". On the early AR-15 and M16A1 rifles, the handguards were of triangular cross-section, and were made from two non-interchangeable parts. On the M16A2 and latter rifles, the handguards are of round cross-section, and have two interchangeable upper-lower sections. The buttstock on the M16A2 is similar in design to one of M16A1, but slightly longer. The one disadvantage of the Stoner system is that it can not be adapted for conventional folding buttstock. Instead, if required, a telescoped stock is used, that allows to shorten the rifle when required by about the half of the length of the standard stock. M16 is usually equipped with sling, and can accept a knife - bayonet, either an old style M7, or a newer style M9. The flash hiders on the earliest AR-15s and M16s were prong-type, with three open slots, but later were replaced with "bird-cage" flash hiders with four (M16A1) or five (M16A2) slots. Both M16A1 and M16A2 can be equipped with underbarrel 40mm M203 grenade launcher. M203 mount replaces the standard handguards on the rifle and requires a grenade launcher sight to be mounted on the carrying handle. Standard sights of the M16A1 consist of a protected front post, mounted on the gas block, and of an aperture flip-up rear, with 2 range settings. Rear sights are mounted within the carrying handle and are adjustable for windage. The A2 style rear sight also features an flip-up, dual aperture sights, with one smaller aperture for daylight usage, and another larger aperture for low light conditions. The range adjustments are made by the rotating knob, located just under the sight. The front sight is generally the same as on the M16A1. The M16A3 and A4 rifles have detachable carrying handles with A2 sights, and the Picatinny-type MilStd rail on the top of the receiver, that can accept a wide variety of sighting devices and mounts. ** sources from http://world.guns.ru/ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Rifle, 5.56mm, M16 M16A1 Type Service rifle Place of origin United States of America Service history In service 1961–present Used by United States of America, at least 73 other users Wars Vietnam War - Present Production history Designed 1957 Produced 1960-present Number built Over 8 million Variants See Variants Specifications Weight 8.5lbs (3.9kg) loaded Length 1,006 mm (39.5 in) Barrel length 508 mm (20 in) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cartridge 5.56 x 45 mm NATO, .223 Remington Caliber 5.56 mm (.223 in) Action Gas-operated, rotating bolt Rate of fire 750 to 900 round/min, cyclic Muzzle velocity 975 m/s (3,200 ft/s), 930 m/s (3,050 ft/s) (see Variants) Effective range 550 m (600 yd) Feed system Various STANAG Magazines. M16 (more formally United States Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is the U.S. military designation for a family of rifles derived from the ArmaLite AR-15 and further developed by Colt starting in the mid-20th century. The M16 Rifle family including the M16/A1/A2/A3/A4 has been the primary infantry rifle of the United States military since the 1960s, is in use by 15 NATO countries, and has been the most produced firearm in its caliber. The M16 entered Army service in 1964. Contents [hide] 1 Naming the M16 Rifle 2 Introduction 3 History 3.1 Summary of History 3.2 Project SALVO 3.3 Eugene Stoner 3.4 CONARC 3.5 M16 adoption 3.6 NATO standardization 4 Future replacement 4.1 Overview 4.2 Background 5 Design 6 Production and usage 7 Variants 7.1 AR-15 (Colt Models 601 & 602) 7.2 M16 7.3 XM16E1 and M16A1 7.4 M16A2 7.5 M16A3 7.6 M16A4 8 Specialist variants 8.1 Colt Model 655 and 656 "Sniper" variants 8.2 XM177, M4 Carbine, and Colt Model 733 8.3 Mk 4 Mod 0 9 International Variants 9.1 C7 and C8 9.2 Others 10 Summary 11 Cultural Impact and Civilian Ownership 12 See also 13 References 14 External links [edit] Naming the M16 Rifle The M16 was an initial version fielded in the early 1960s; however the U.S. Army began to field the XM16E1 en masse in 1965 with most going to Vietnam. The US Marine Corps also adopted the system during this period. The XM16E1 was standardized as the M16A1 in 1967. A transitional issue was provided to US Army units stationed in Europe. Nearly all US Army units had switched over to the system by the early 1970s. US Army Basic Training units retained the M14 rifle up through 1969. Adoption of the M16A2 by both the US Army and USMC started in the mid 1980s, and the M16A4 began to be fielded even more recently. During the early 1980s a roughly standardized load for this ammunition was adopted throughout NATO (See: 5.56 mm NATO). [edit] Introduction The M16 is a lightweight, 5.56 mm caliber, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed rifle, with a rotating bolt, actuated by direct impingement gas operation. It is constructed of steel, aluminum and composite plastics. A U.S. soldier on exercises with an M16A1 and M40 Field Protective Mask: note the forward assist on the receiver and flash suppressorThe US Air Force M16 and the US Army's XM16E1 were the first versions fielded. The XM16E1 was soon standardized as the M16A1. The M16A1 was simply the M16 with a forward assist feature requested by the Army. All early versions fired the M193/M196 cartridge in semi- or full-automatic modes. This took place in the early 1960s, with major fielding by the Army in the late 1964.[1] The M16A2 entered service in the 1980s and fired the NATO standard, the Belgian-designed M855/M856 cartridge.[1] The M16A2 is a select fire rifle capable of semi-automatic or three-round bursts and incorporating design elements desired by the Marine Corps.[1] These features included an adjustable rear-sight for windage and elevation, a 5/8 inch longer buttstock, heavier barrel, case deflector for left-handed shooters, and rounded handguards.[1] Mode of fire is determined by using a selector switch on the side of the weapon. The M16A3 was essentially an M16A2 with an M16A1 fire control group; this had only limited procurement by the USN. The M16A4 became standard issue for the United States Marine Corps during Operation Iraqi Freedom, increasingly replacing the earlier M16A2. In the United States Army, a combination of the M16A4 and M4 Carbine continues to replace existing M16A2 Rifles. The A4 incorporates a flattop receiver unit developed for the M4 Carbine, a handguard with four Picatinny rails for mounting optical sights, laser pointers, night vision devices, forward handgrips, removable carry handle and flashlights. The M16 is primarily manufactured by Colt and Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, with variants produced by numerous countries around the world. Semi-automatic versions, generally referred to as "AR-15s" (because of Colt's purchase of the nomenclature from Armalite), are popular recreational firearms in the United States, with versions manufactured by a handful of larger manufacturers and over a dozen smaller concerns. [edit] History [edit] Summary of History The M16 was first adopted in 1964 by the United States Air Force (USAF) as the M16. Various modified versions of the M16 design were subsequently fielded under experimental designations, culminating in the M16A1. The M16A1 was simply the M16 with a forward assist as requested by the Army. This weapon remained the primary infantry rifle of the United States military from 1967 until the 1980s, when it was supplemented by the M16A2. The M16A3 is a fully-automatic variant of the M16A2, issued primarily within the United States Naval Special Warfare. The M16A2, in turn, is currently being supplemented by the M16A4, which incorporates the flattop receiver unit developed for the M4 Carbine, and Picatinny rail System. Previous versions of the weapon are still in stock and used primarily by reserve and National Guard units in the United States as well as by the U.S. Air Force. [edit] Project SALVO In 1948, the Army organized the civilian Operations Research Office (ORO), mirroring similar operations research organizations in the United Kingdom. One of their first efforts, Project ALCLAD, studied body armor and the conclusion was that they would need to know more about battlefield injuries in order to make reasonable suggestions.[2] Over 3 million battlefield reports from WWI and WWII were analyzed and over the next few years they released a series of reports on their findings.[2] The conclusion was that most combat takes place at short range. In a highly mobile war, combat teams ran into each other largely by surprise; and the team with the higher firepower tended to win. They also found that the chance of being hit in combat was essentially random — that is, accurate "aiming" made little difference because the targets no longer sat still. The number one predictor of casualties was the total number of bullets fired.[2] These conclusions suggested that infantry should be equipped with a fully-automatic rifle of some sort in order to increase the rate of fire. It was also clear, however, that such weapons dramatically increased ammunition use and in order for a rifleman to be able to carry enough ammunition for a firefight they would have to carry something much lighter. Existing rifles were poorly suited to real-world combat for both of these reasons. Although it appeared the new 7.62 mm T44 (precursor to the M14) would increase the rate of fire, its heavy 7.62 mm NATO cartridge made carrying significant quantities of ammunition difficult. Moreover, the length and weight of the weapon made it unsuitable for short range combat situations often found in jungle and urban combat or mechanized warfare, where a smaller and lighter weapon could be brought to bear faster. These efforts were noticed by Col. René Studler, U.S. Army Ordnance's Chief of Small Arms Research and Development. Col. Studler asked the Aberdeen Proving Ground to submit a report on the smaller caliber weapons. A team led by Donald Hall, director of program development at Aberdeen, reported that a .22 inch (5.59 mm) round would have performance equal to larger rounds in most combat. With the higher rate of fire possible due to lower recoil it was likely such a weapon would inflict more casualties on the enemy. His team members, notably William C. Davis, Jr. and G.A. Gustafson, started development of a series of experimental .224 inch (5.69 mm) rounds. In 1955, their request for further funding was denied. A new study, Project SALVO, was set up to try to find a weapon design suited to real-world combat. Running between 1953 and 1957 in two phases, SALVO eventually suggested that a weapon firing four rounds into a 20 inch (0.5 m) area would double the hit probability of existing semi-automatic weapons. In the second phase, SALVO II, several experimental weapons concepts were tested. Irwin Barr of AAI Corporation introduced a series of flechette weapons, starting with a shotgun shell containing 32 darts and ending with single-round flechette "rifles". Winchester and Springfield offered multi-barrel weapons, while ORO's own design used two .22, .25 or .27 caliber bullets loaded into a single .308 Winchester or .30-06 cartridge. [edit] Eugene Stoner A U.S. soldier with M16A2 at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. The U.S. Army did not place a large order for the A2 model until 1986.Meanwhile testing of the 7.62 mm T44 continued, and Fabrique Nationale also submitted their new FN FAL via the American firm of Harrington & Richardson as the T48. However, the results of the testing were apparently already a forgone conclusion; the T44 was selected as the new battle rifle for the U.S. Army (rechristened the M14) despite a strong showing by the T48. Acceptance of the M14 did not occur before a newcomer entered the contest. In 1954, Eugene Stoner of the newly-formed ArmaLite helped develop the 7.62 mm AR-10. Springfield's T44 and similar entries were conventional rifles using wood for the "furniture" and otherwise built entirely of steel using mostly forged and machined parts. ArmaLite was founded specifically to bring the latest in designs and alloys to firearms design, and Stoner felt he could easily beat the other offerings. Stoner's AR-10 was radical for its day. The receiver was made of forged and milled aluminum instead of steel. The barrel was mated to the receiver by a separate hardened steel adapter to which the bolt locked. This allowed a lightweight aluminum receiver to be used while still maintaining a steel-on-steel lockup. The bolt was operated by gases vented from the front of the barrel directly into a cylinder created in the bolt carrier with the bolt itself acting as a piston. Traditional rifles located this cylinder and piston close to the gas vent. The stock and grips were made of a fiberglass-reinforced plastic shell over a rigid foam plastic core. The flash suppressor was fabricated from titanium. Over Stoner's vehement objections, various experimental composite and 'Sullaloy' aluminum barrels were fitted to some AR-10 prototypes by ArmaLite's president, George Sullivan. The Sullaloy barrel was made entirely of heat-treated aluminum, while the composite barrels used aluminum extruded over a thin stainless steel liner. Meanwhile the layout of the gun itself was also somewhat different. Previous designs generally placed the sights directly on the barrel, using a bend in the stock to align the sights at eye level while transferring the recoil down to the shoulder. This meant that the gun tended to rise when fired making it very difficult to control during fully-automatic fire. The ArmaLite team used a solution previously used on weapons such as the German FG42 and Johnson light machine gun; they located the barrel in line with the stock, well below eye level, and raised the sights to eye level. The rear sight was built into a carrying handle over the receiver. The AR-10 was a very advanced design for its time. Despite being over two pounds (900 g) lighter than the competition, it offered significantly greater accuracy and recoil control. Two prototype rifles were delivered to the U.S. Army's Springfield Armory for testing late in 1956. At this time, the U.S. armed forces were already two years into a service rifle evaluation program, and the AR-10 was a newcomer with respect to older, more fully-developed designs. Over Stoner's continued objections, George Sullivan had insisted that both prototypes be fitted with composite aluminum/steel barrels. Shortly after a composite barrel burst on one prototype in 1957, the AR-10 was rejected. The AR-10 was later produced by a Dutch firm, Artillerie Inrichtingen, and saw limited but successful military service with several foreign nations. [edit] CONARC In 1957, a copy of Gustafson's funding request from 1955 found its way into the hands of General Willard Wyman, commander of the U.S. Continental Army Command (CONARC). He immediately put together a team to develop a .22 caliber (5.56 mm) weapon for testing. Their finalized request called for a select-fire weapon of 6 pounds (2.7 kg) when loaded with 20 rounds of ammunition. The bullet had to penetrate a standard U.S. steel helmet, body armor, or a 0.135 inch (3.4 mm) steel plate and retain a velocity in excess of the speed of sound at 500 yards (460 m), while equaling or exceeding the "wounding" ability of the .30 Carbine.[3][2] Having seen the AR-10 in an earlier demonstration, and impressed by its performance, Wyman personally suggested that ArmaLite enter a weapon for testing using a 5.56 mm cartridge designed by Winchester.[2] Their first design, using conventional layout and wooden furniture, proved to be too light. When combined with a conventional stock, recoil was excessive in fully automatic fire. Their second design was simply a scaled-down AR-10, and immediately proved much more controllable. Winchester entered a design based loosely on their M1 Carbine, and Earle Harvey of Springfield attempted to enter a design, but was overruled by his superiors at Springfield, who refused to divert resources from the T44. In the end, ArmaLite's AR-15 had no competition. The lighter round allowed the rifle to be scaled down, and was smaller and lighter than the previous AR-10. The AR-15 weighed only around 5.5 pounds (2.27 kg) empty, and 6 pounds (2.73 kg) loaded (with a 20 round magazine). During testing in March 1958, rainwater caused the barrels of both the ArmaLite and Winchester rifles to burst, causing the Army to once again press for a larger round, this time at .258 inch (6.55 mm). Nevertheless, they suggested continued testing for cold-weather suitability in Alaska. Stoner was later asked to fly in to replace several parts, and when he arrived he found the rifles had been improperly reassembled. When he returned he was surprised to learn that they too had rejected the design even before he had arrived, their report also endorsed the .258 inch (6.55 mm) round. After reading these reports, General Maxwell Taylor became dead-set against the design, and pressed for continued production of the M14. Not all the reports were negative. In a series of mock-combat situations testing the AR-15, M14 and AK-47, the Army found that the AR-15's small size and light weight allowed it to be brought to bear much more quickly, just as CONARC had suggested. Their final conclusion was that an 8-man team equipped with the AR-15 would have the same firepower as a current 11-man team armed with the M14. They also found that the AR-15, as tested, was more reliable than the M14, suffering fewer stoppages and jams in tests where thousands of rounds were fired. At this point, Fairchild had spent $1.45 million in development expenses, and wished to divest itself of its small-arms business. Fairchild sold production rights for the AR-15 to Colt Firearms in December 1959, for only $75,000 cash and a 4.5% royalty on subsequent sales. In 1960, ArmaLite was reorganized, and Stoner left the company. [edit] M16 adoption Curtis LeMay viewed a demonstration of the AR-15 in July 1960. He immediately ordered 8,500 for defense at Strategic Air Command airbases, later rescinded by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. Colt Industries also approached the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), who bought 1,000 rifles for use by South Vietnamese troops in the early summer of 1962. American special operations units and advisers working with the South Vietnamese troops filed battlefield reports lavishly praising the AR-15 and the stopping effectiveness of the 5.56 mm cartridge, and pressed for its adoption. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara now had two conflicting views: the ARPA report favoring the AR-15 and the Pentagon's position on the M14. Even President John F. Kennedy expressed concern, so McNamara ordered Secretary of the Army Cyrus Vance to test the M14, the AR-15 and the AK-47. The Army's test report stated only the M14 was suitable for Army use, but Vance wondered about the impartiality of those conducting the tests. He ordered the Army Inspector General to investigate the testing methods used, who reported that the testers showed favor to the M14. Marines practice with M16A2 rifles in 2003Secretary Robert McNamara ordered a halt to M14 production in January 1964, after receiving reports that M14 production was insufficient to meet the needs of the armed forces. Secretary McNamara had long been a proponent of weapons program consolidation among the armed services. At the time, the AR-15 was the only rifle that could remotely fulfill a requirement of a 'universal' infantry weapon for issue to all services. McNamara ordered the weapon be adopted unmodified, in its current configuration, for immediate issue to all services, despite receiving reports noting several deficiencies with the M16 as a service rifle, including the lack of a chrome-lined bore and chamber, the 5.56 mm projectile's instability under Arctic conditions, and the fact that large quantities of 5.56 mm ammunition required for immediate service were not available. In addition, the Army insisted on the inclusion of a forward assist plunger to help push the bolt into battery in the event that a cartridge failed to seat in the chamber through fouling or corrosion. Such a device had been incorporated into later versions of the AR-10, which also had a chrome-lined chamber to prevent corrosion (Pikula). Colt on the other hand, had argued the rifle was a 'self-cleaning' design, requiring little or no maintenance. Colt, Eugene Stoner, and the U.S. Air Force believed that a forward assist needlessly complicated the rifle and added about $4.50 to its procurement cost, with no real benefit. As a result, the design was split into two variants: the Air Force's M16 without the forward assist, and for the other service branches, the XM16E1 with the forward assist. In November 1964, the Army ordered 85,000 XM16E1s for experimental use, and the Air Force ordered another 19,000.[2] Meanwhile, the Army carried out another project, the Small Arms Weapons Systems (SAWS), on general infantry firearm needs in the immediate future. They highly recommended the immediate adoption of the weapon, so much so that they started referring to it as the M16. Later that year the Air Force officially accepted their first batch as the United States Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16. The Army began to immediately issue the XM16E1 (re-named M16 on its adoption) to infantry units, and the rifle was initially delivered without adequate cleaning supplies or kit. Moreover, the Army's inability to deliver 5.56 mm ammunition meeting quantity and velocity specifications led to a change in powder specification for the 5.56 mm cartridge. Unfortunately, the change was made without testing the modified ammunition in the rifle under service conditions. The newly-specified 5.56 ammunition increased the cyclic rate of fire, increasing wear on parts, and the new gunpowder's burning characteristics increased fouling in the M16 rifle. When the XM16E1 reached Vietnam with U.S. troops in 1966, reports of jamming and malfunctions in combat immediately began to surface. Although the M14 had a chrome-lined barrel and chamber to resist corrosion in combat conditions (a danger learned from WWII Pacific theatre combat experience), the M16/XM16E1 had no chrome-lined bore or chamber. Several documented accounts of troops killed by enemy fire with jammed rifles broken-down for cleaning eventually brought a Congressional investigation. Later investigations also cast doubt on the veracity of the original 1962 reports of the alleged stopping effectiveness of the 5.56 mm bullet, as well as criticism of inadequate penetration (in comparison to the Soviet 7.62 x 39 mm round) when firing at enemy personnel through light cover. The XM16E1 was soon modified to the M16A1 specification. The revised rifle was finally given a chrome-lined bore and chamber to eliminate corrosion and stuck cartridges, and the rifle's bore and recoil mechanism was re-designed to accommodate Army-issued 5.56 mm ammunition. Rifle cleaning tools and powder solvents/lubricants were issued. The Army ordered 840,000 of this version on February 28, 1967. Intensive training programs in weapons cleaning were instituted, and a comic book style manual was circulated among the troops to demonstrate proper maintenance.[2] The reliability problems of the M16 diminished quickly, although the rifle's reputation continued to suffer.[2] Moreover, complaints about the inadequate penetration and stopping power of the 5.56 mm cartridge persisted throughout the Vietnam conflict. [edit] NATO standardization German soldiers of the 13th Panzer Division qualify with the M16 at Würzburg, as part of partnership range with the U.S. 1st Infantry DivisionIn March 1970, the Pentagon shocked other NATO nations by stating all U.S. forces assigned to NATO would be equipped with the M16A1. The British military was highly vocal in voicing its anger after adopting the 7.62 mm NATO round over their .280 caliber (7.1 mm) round nearly 20 years earlier. Now they were being told the U.S. recognized the need for such a caliber of firearm after all, and was willing to start the NATO standardization of a lighter round. But by the middle of the 1970s, other armies were also looking at an M16-style weapon. A NATO standardization effort soon started, and tests of various rounds were carried out starting in 1977. The U.S. offered their original design, the M193, with no modifications, but there were serious concerns about its penetration in the face of the wider introduction of body armor. The British offered a modified 5.56 mm round, using a longer and thinner bullet of 4.85 mm. The round had somewhat better ballistics, and considerably better penetration, able to reach 600 m and meet their requirements for a squad automatic weapon (light machine gun). The Germans proposed a new 4.7 mm caseless round, which was considerably lighter while offering similar ballistics to the original U.S. design. However, there was distrust in the caseless system due to the possibility of cook off. A final design was offered by the Belgians. Their SS109 round was based on the U.S. cartridge but included a new bullet design with the same 5.56 mm caliber with a small steel tip to improve penetration. Testing soon showed that the British and Belgian designs were roughly equal, both outperforming the original U.S. design. In order to get full performance from tracer versions of the SS109, however, barrels would have to use different rifling. Existing 1-in-12 twist barrels reduced the effective range of the SS109 to 90 meters due to lack of stability. While the ideal twist rate for the SS109 projectile is 1-in-9, a 1-in-7 twist rate was chosen to stabilize the much longer L110 tracer. This tracer was designed to complement the SS109's ballistic performance. The M196 tracer (complement to the M193 ball round) had a burn-out range of 450 meters where the L110 tracer was bright to 800 meters. In the end the Belgian round was chosen. The U.S. Marine Corps was first to adopt the round with the M16A2, introduced in 1982. This was to become the standard U.S. military rifle. The NATO standard ammunition produced for U.S. forces is designated M855 for the ball round using a SS109 type projectile and M856 for the tracer using the L110 type projectile. Total worldwide production of M16-style weapons since the design's inception has been approximately 8 million. [edit] Future replacement [edit] Overview From top to bottom, the final four ACR test rifles from AAI, Heckler & Koch, Steyr and Colt. The program ended in the early 1990s, with none of the contestants scoring high enough to replace the M16In the 1980s, the new Squad Automatic Weapon M249 was issued to infantry units, replacing all M60s and some M16A1s at the squad level. In the 1990s, the adoption of the M4 Carbine meant many more M16A2s would be replaced by it. The Air Force currently plans to replace all of its M16s with M4s, according to a 2004 presentation. The M16A2 remains the main U.S. service rifle in the Army, while the Marine Corps has equipped most of its forward-deployed troops with M16A4s and M4s. Also, the M16 never entirely replaced the M14 in all roles, which continues to be used in a number of niche applications throughout the Armed Forces. Replacement of the M16 family has been proposed at various points, and its longevity is in part due to a series of delays and failures in projects meant to replace it. It was going to be replaced by the winner of the Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) program, but none scored high enough to be worth the cost of changing over. It was also potentially going to be replaced by the SABR, from the OICW project. The weapon system originally planned by the OICW project was put on hold around the turn of century, in favor of a simpler new 5.56 mm rifle project that offered less far-reaching improvements. The resulting XM8 rifle was also intended as a potential replacement for the M16 family. However, this program too ran into problems around 2004-5, and was put on hold in favor of a competition for what became known as the OICW Increment 1. This competition was subsequently put on hold in the summer of 2005 to take into account input from other services, and several months later was cancelled outright. Another potential replacement for the M16 rifle is the Special Forces Combat Assault Rifle (SCAR) called the Mark 16 (MK 16). The 5.56x45 MK 16 emerged as the winner of a U.S. SOCOM competition to find a new rifle for Special Forces in 2003. It is manufactured by FN Herstal and scheduled to be deployed with Special Forces Troops in early 2007. The 5.56x45 FN SCAR will be manufactured with different length barrels for close quarters combat and for longer-range engagements. If future success with this weapon in the field is demonstrated, it could be adopted by other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. As a trait of the design, perhaps a selling point to the design, most of the SCAR's basic controls (pistol grip, magazine release, selector lever, and bolt release) share the same location and function as on the M16 and M4 they are supplementing. [edit] Background Throughout the 1970s, the Army experimented with various materials to replace brass in cartridge casings. Brass has a number of features that make it almost ideal for a cartridge, including low friction against steel, making it easier to extract, and the ease of which casings can be manufactured. However, brass is also dense and expensive, so replacing it could lower both the cost and weight of the ammunition. Aluminum and steel were popular materials for complete rounds, and AAI successfully developed a plastic blank. However, none of these materials ever entered production for a variety of reasons. Completely caseless ammunition was also studied on several occasions, notably the German 4.7 mm designs, but issues with reliability and "cook off" were never completely solved. Colt ACR/M16A2E2 fitted with ELCAN scope (second from top to bottom)Later in the 1980s, the Advanced Combat Rifle program was run to find a replacement for the M16. The Army was pressing for a 100% increase in the ability for infantry to hit their targets, in the same way that SALVO had aimed to increase effectiveness by 100% through increased rate of fire. Colt entered a modified M16A2 known as the Colt ACR, which used duplex rounds, a system that lowered recoil by 40% to improve repeating shots, and added a 3.5x scope. This weapon, designated M16A2E2, also featured a "guide" of sorts as part of a special handguard developed by the U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory (HEL) designed to assist in snap-shooting, and a carbine style stock very similar to the recent stock developed by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division. The Steyr ACR used new flechette ammunition that was nominally called 5.56 mm, with a very high 4750 ft/s (1450 m/s) muzzle velocity. Other variants experimented with caseless ammunition technologies as well. Although they all offered some improvement, none came close to the benchmark set for the testing. More recently, the Army started the XM8 system project for a radically improved weapon. However, the program was shelved in favor of an open competition for what became known as OICW Increment 1. (Increment 2 is the stand-alone airbursting grenade launcher known as the XM25, and Increment 3 will be the XM29, a weapon which combines the earlier two increments.) The OICW-1 competition was cancelled on October 31, 2005. [edit] Design Top drawing is of an A2-style rifle; bottom drawing is of an A2-style rifle with A1 rear sights (as with the Diemaco C7)The M16's receivers are made of aluminum alloy, its barrel, bolt, and bolt carrier of steel, and its handguards, pistol grip, and buttstock of plastics. Early models were especially lightweight at 2.9 kg (6.4 lb). This was significantly less than older 7.62 mm "battle rifles" of the 1950s and 1960s. It also compares with the 5 kg (loaded) AK-47. M16A2 and later variants weigh more (8.5 lb or 3.9 kg loaded) because of the adoption of a thicker barrel profile. The thicker barrel is more resistant to damage when handled roughly and is also slower to overheat during sustained fire. Unlike a traditional "bull" barrel that is thick its entire length, the M16A2's barrel is only thick forward of the handguards. The barrel profile under the handguards remained the same as the M16A1 for compatibility with the M203 grenade launcher. The rifle is approximately 40 inches (1006.6 mm) long[4] with standard 20-inch (508 mm) barrel. One distinctive ergonomic feature is a plastic or metal stock directly behind the action, which contains a recoil spring.[5] This serves the dual function of operating spring and recoil buffer.[5] The stock being in line with the bore reduces muzzle rise, especially during automatic fire. Because recoil does not significantly shift the point of aim, user fatigue is reduced. Another distinctive ergonomic feature is a carrying handle on top of the receiver where the rear sight is located. This design is a by-product of the original design where the carry handle served to protect the charging handle and mount a scope.[5] In practice, the handle is rarely used to carry the weapon; holding the weapon by the pistol grip provides quicker response time while a shoulder sling provides a more convenient option when response time is not a concern. More importantly, with the sight plane 2.5 inches over the bore, the M16 has an inherent parallax problem that can be confounding to shooters. At closer ranges (typically inside 15–20 yards), the shooter must aim high in order to place shots where desired. Newer models have a "flattop" upper receiver with a Picatinny mounting rail, to which the user can attach either a conventional sighting system or numerous optical devices such as night vision scopes. The M16 utilizes direct impingement gas operation; energy from high-pressure gas tapped from a non-adjustable port built into the front sight assembly actuates the moving parts in the weapon. Combustion gases travel via a gas tube above the barrel directly into a chamber in the bolt carrier behind the bolt itself, pushing the carrier away from the bolt. This reduces the number of moving parts by eliminating the need for a separate piston and cylinder and it provides better performance in rapid fire by keeping reciprocating masses on the same axis as the bore. The primary criticism of direct impingement is that fouling and debris from expended gunpowder is blown directly into the breech. As the superheated combustion gas travels down the tube, it expands and cools, not unlike an aerosol can cools when depressurized. This cooling causes vaporized matter to condense as it cools depositing a much greater volume of solids into the operating components of the action. The increased fouling can cause malfunctions if the rifle is not cleaned as frequently as should be. The amount of sooting deposits tends to vary with powder specification, caliber, and gas port design. Conversely, gas-piston operation has the gases acting on a separate piston, which actuates a linkage that in turn cycles the weapon; this minimizes the amount of debris that accumulates in the breech. This sooting characteristic had not been found to be a significant hindrance to reliability with ArmaLite's earlier AR-10 in 7.62 mm caliber, which had a different gas port and adjustable gas regulator (Pikula). Because of this sooting, the M16 rifle requires more frequent cleaning and lubrication for reliable operation compared to most gas piston rifle designs. A U.S. Marine carrying an M16A4 in Gharmah, Iraq, 2006. Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight fittedThe magazine release is on the right side of the rifle, ahead of the trigger guard. Current military magazines have a capacity of 30 rounds, as opposed to the 20-round magazines issued in Vietnam. (30-round magazines were not developed and issued until late in the war.) Aftermarket double magazine clips are available. This practice is discouraged by military authorities because it is said to increase the chance that the top of a magazine will be damaged or pick up dirt. Nevertheless, recent pictures from Iraq (2004) show that Special Forces and mainstream military forces are quick to make use of double magazine clips. Loading the magazines to full capacity may cause feeding problems, so some troops opt to fill magazines with a maximum of 28 rounds. Both the M193 and newer M855 (SS109) bullets may fragment when striking soft tissue or light cover such as small trees. When fired from less than 100 meters, these bullets will penetrate 100 millimeters (4 inches) into body tissue, before yawing 90 to 180 degrees. Fragmentation occurs when lateral forces on the bullet cause it to break in half. This occurs at the weak cannelure, which is a groove allowing the bullet casing to be sealed to the copper jacket. The rear section of the 5.56 mm bullet may then fragment into numerous tiny pieces, causing increased damage to surrounding tissue. The necessary velocity for reliable fragmentation is roughly 823 meters (2,700 feet) per second, but many other factors play a role in whether the bullet will actually behave in this manner. The M193 and M855 bullets may reliably fragment out to 125 meters when fired from a 508 millimeter (20 inch) barrel on an uncovered target. On uncovered targets the afore mentioned bullets may or may not fragment at ranges of less than 190 meters and will usually not fragment beyond 190 meters. The U.S. no longer issues fully-automatic M16-style rifles throughout the Services. Even with the light recoil of the M16, the point of aim is still thrown off sufficiently by each round that a fully-automatic rifle would be inaccurate and amount to a waste of ammunition. The 30-round magazine is not suited to sustained fire like the belted feed systems of heavier true machine guns, and the M16's lightweight barrel would overheat quickly under automatic fire. Doctrinally, machine guns deliver suppressing fire to keep the enemy under cover while the more mobile riflemen flank the position and deliver point fire. Some variants of the M4, which design favors close-quarters battle, are capable of fully automatic fire as this makes more sense at the limited ranges encountered in close-quarters combat. Most M16 and M4-style weapons issued are capable of semi-automatic fire and 3-round burst. The burst-fire mechanism utilizes a three-part automatic sear that fires up to three rounds for each pull of the trigger. It is non-resetting, meaning that if the user fires a two-round burst and releases the trigger, he will encounter a single round fired the next burst. In theory, burst-fire mechanisms allow ammunition conservation for troops with limited training and combat experience, at the cost of a very poor trigger pull. They also tend to limit the weapon's effectiveness when used in suppression, ambush situations, and close-quarters combat. Colt developed a variant with a heavier barrel, belt-feed, and fast barrel replacement. This was intended to provide a squad with the firepower of a machine gun with the portability of the M16. This was canceled in favor of the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in the 1970s. Squads are now issued the M249 (one per fireteam) to provide automatic fire. Fully-automatic rifles (the M16A3 and M4A1) are issued by the U.S. military to certain specialized units. [edit] Production and usage A Marine with an M16A4 (equipped with ITL MARS reflex sight and M5 RAS foregrip) in Fallujah, Iraq, December 2004 during Operation Phantom FuryThe M16 is the most commonly manufactured 5.56 x 45 mm rifle in the world. Currently, the M16/M4 system is in use by 15 NATO countries and more than 80 countries world wide. Together, the U.S. and Canada (as the C7) have produced more than 8,000,000 units with approximately 90% still in operation [1]. In U.S. service, the M16 primarily replaced the M14 and M1 Carbine series as standard infantry rifles, and to a lesser extent, some of the jobs of the BAR Light automatic rifle. The M14 continues to see service, just not as the primary service rifle. It is used as a sniper rifle, designated marksman rifle and several smaller niche areas. In addition to the United States of America (the country of origin), users of the M16 rifle and its variants have included and are: Argentina, Australia, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, East Timor, Estonia, Fiji, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq ,Ireland, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Jamaica, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Maldives, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Laos, Nigeria, Netherlands, Oman,Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vietnam and Venezuela.[2]. [edit] Variants [edit] AR-15 (Colt Models 601 & 602) Main article: AR-15 Colt's first two models produced after the acquisition of the rifle from ArmaLite were the 601 and 602, and these rifles were in many ways clones of the original ArmaLite rifle (in fact, these rifles were often found stamped Colt ArmaLite AR-15). The 601 and 602 are easily identified by their "slab-sided" lower receivers without the commonly found "fencing" around the magazine well, and in certain cases their green or brown furniture. The 601 was adopted first of any of the rifles by the USAF, and was quickly supplemented with the XM16 (Colt Model 602) and later the M16 (Colt Model 604) as improvements were made. There was also a limited purchase of 602s, and a number of both of these rifles found their way to a number of Special Operations units then operating in South East Asia, most notably the U.S. Navy SEALs. The only major difference between the 601 and 602 is the switch from the original 1:14-inch rifling twist to the more common 1:12-inch twist. [edit] M16 An early M16 rifle: note "duckbill" flash suppressor, triangular grip, and the lack of forward assist and brass deflectorVariant originally adopted by the USAF. This was the first M16 adopted operationally. This variant had triangular handguards, a three-pronged flash suppressor, and no forward assist. Bolt carriers were originally chrome plated and slick-sided, lacking any notches for a forward assist. Later, the chrome plated carriers were dropped in favor of Army issued notched and parkerized carriers. The Air Force continues to operate these weapons and upgrades them as parts wear or break and through attrition. [edit] XM16E1 and M16A1 The prototype army-version, XM16E1, was essentially the same weapon as the M16 with the addition of a forward assist. The M16A1 was the finalized production model. To address issues raised by the XM16E1's testing cycle, a "bird-cage" flash suppressor replaced the XM16E1's three-pronged flash suppressor, which was too easy for foreign material to get into and which caught on twigs and leaves. After numerous problems in the field, numerous changes were made. Cleaning kits were developed and issued; barrels with chromed chambers and later fully-chromed bores were introduced. The number of malfunctions due to fouling and corrosion declined and later troops were generally unfamiliar with early problems. A rib was built into the side of the receiver on the XM16E1 to help prevent accidentally pressing the magazine release button when closing the ejection port cover and perhaps also to protect the receiver from wear from the cover hitting up against it. This rib was later extended on production M16A1s to help in preventing the magazine release from inadvertently being pressed. The bolt cam pin and the hole it rides in the bolt were tapered to prevent the bolt from being inserted upside down (creating a failure to fire). The M16A1 remains in service in extremely limited numbers, mainly as a training aid. It has, however, been widely exported abroad. [edit] M16A2 New rear sight, brass deflector and forward assist of M16A2 A Marine with an M16A2 on a training exercise at Camp Baharia, Iraq, 2004. An M1 Abrams tank is in the backgroundThe development of the M16A2 rifle was originally requested by the United States Marine Corps as a result of the USMC's combat experiences in Vietnam with the M16 and M16A1.[1] The Marines were the first branch of the US Armed Forces to adopt the M16A2 in the early/mid 1980's with the US Army following suit in adopting the M16A2 in the late 1980s. Modifications to the M16A2 were more extensive. In addition to the new rifling, the barrel was made with a greater thickness in front of the front sight post to resist bending in the field, allow for cooling between shots, and the stepped-up design allowed use of the M203 grenade launcher to be used with the weapon.[1] The front sight was now a square post with 4 detent positions in order to refine the sight picture. A new adjustable rear sight was added, allowing the rear sight to be dialed in for specific range settings between 300 and 800 meters to take full advantage of the ballistic characteristics of the new SS109 rounds and to allow windage adjustments without the need of a tool or cartridge.[1] The flash suppressor was again modified, this time to be closed on the bottom so it would not kick up dirt or snow when being fired from the prone position, and acting as a recoil compensator.[6] The front grip was modified from the original triangular shape to a round one, which better fit smaller hands and could be fit to older models of M16s.[1] The new handguards were also symmetrical so that armories didn't need separate left and right spares. The handguard retention ring was angled to make it easier to install and uninstall the handguards.[1] The pistol grip adds a notch for the middle finger and more texture to enhance the grip. The buttstock was lengthened by 5/8 inches.[1] The new buttstock is ten times stronger than the original due to advances in polymer technology since the early 1960s. Original M16 stocks were made from fiberglass-impregnated resin; current stocks are engineered from DuPont Zytel glass-filled thermoset polymers. The new stock includes a fully textured polymer buttplate for better grip on the shoulder, and retains a panel for accessing a small compartment inside the stock often used for storing a basic cleaning kit. The heavier bullet reduces muzzle velocity from 3,200 feet per second (975 m/s), to about 3,050 feet per second (930 m/s). The A2 also uses a faster twist rifling to allow the use of a trajectory-matched tracer round. A spent case deflector was incorporated into the upper receiver to prevent casings from striking left-handed users.[1] The action was also modified, replacing the fully-automatic setting with a three-round burst setting.[1] When using a fully-automatic weapon, poorly trained troops often hold down the trigger and "spray" when under fire. The U.S. Army concluded that three-shot groups provide an optimum combination of ammunition conservation, accuracy and firepower. There are mechanical flaws in the M16A2 burst mechanism. The trigger group does not reset when the trigger is released. If the user releases the trigger between the second and third round of the burst, for example, the next trigger pull would only result in a single shot. Even in semi-automatic mode, the trigger group mechanism affects weapon handling. With each round fired, the trigger group cycles through one of the three stages of the burst mechanism. Worse, the trigger pull at each of these stages may vary as much as 6 lbs. in pressure differential, detracting from accuracy. All together, the M16A2s new features added weight and complexity to the M16 series. Critics also point out that neither of the rear sight apertures is ideally sized. The smaller aperture was described as being too small, making quick acquisition of the front sight post difficult; and the larger aperture was described as being too large, resulting in decreased accuracy. To make matters worse, the rear sight apertures are not machined to be on the same plane. In other words, the point of impact changes when the user changes from one aperture to the other. The rear sight's range adjustment feature is rarely used in combat as soldiers tend to leave the rear sight on its lowest range setting: 300 meters. Despite criticism, a new rifle was needed both to comply with NATO standardization of the SS109 (M855) and to replace aging Vietnam era weapons in the inventory. [edit] M16A3 The M16A3 was a fully-automatic variant of the M16A2 adopted in small numbers around the time of the introduction of the M16A2, primarily by the U.S. Navy for use by the SEALs. It features a Safe-Semi-Auto (S-1-F) trigger group like that of the M16A1. Some confusion continues to exist regarding the M16A3. It is often described as the fully-automatic version of the M16A4. Descriptions of the M16A3 that claim that it shares the M16A4's Picatinny rail are incorrect. This misunderstanding most likely stems from the usage of the A2 and A3 designations by Colt and other manufacturers of weapons before the official adoption of the M16A4. Colt used the "A3" designation in the hopes of winning military contracts as they also did with the terms, "M4" and "M5." [edit] M16A4 New M16A4The M16A4, now standard issue for frontline U.S. Marine Corps and some U.S. Army units, replaces the combination fixed carry handle/rear iron sight with a MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rail, allowing for the rifle to be equipped with a carry handle and/or most military and consumer scopes or sighting systems. Most of the U.S. Marine Corps' M16A4s are equipped with a Knight's Armament Company M5 RAS handguard, allowing vertical grips, lasers, tactical lights, and other accessories to be attached. U.S. Army M16A4s also often feature the KAC M5 RAS. In U.S. Army Field Manuals, M16A4s fitted with the RAS are sometimes referred to as M16A4 MWS or Modular Weapon System. This model retains the 3-round burst mode of the M16A2. [edit] Specialist variants [edit] Colt Model 655 and 656 "Sniper" variants With the expanding conflict in South East Asia, Colt developed two rifles of the M16 pattern for evaluation as possible light sniper or designated marksman rifles. The Colt Model 655 M16A1 Special High Profile was essentially a standard A1 rifle with a heavier barrel and a scope mount that attached to the rifle's carry handle. The Colt Model 656 M16A1 Special Low Profile had a special upper receiver with no carrying handle. Instead, it had a low-profile iron sight adjustable for windage and a Weaver base for mounting a scope, a precursor to the Colt and Picatinny rails. It also had a hooded front iron sight in addition to the heavy barrel. Both rifles came standard with either a Leatherwood/Realist scope 3-9x Adjustable Ranging Telescope. Some of them were fitted with a Sionics noise and flash suppressor. Neither of these rifles were ever standardized. These weapons can be seen in many ways to be predecessors of the U.S. Army's SDM-R and the USMC's SAM-R weapons. [edit] XM177, M4 Carbine, and Colt Model 733 An M4 Carbine (foreground) and two M16A2 (background) being fired by U.S. Marines during live fire exercise: though adopted in the 1990s and derived from the M16A2, the M4 Carbine was part of a long line of short-barreled AR-15 used in the U.S. militaryIn Vietnam, some soldiers were issued a carbine version of the M16 called the XM177. The XM177 had a shorter 10 inch (254mm) barrel and a telescoping stock, which made it substantially more compact. It also possessed a combination flash hider/sound moderator to reduce problems with muzzle flash and loud report. The USAF's GAU-5/A (XM177) and the U.S. Army's XM177E1 variants differed over the latter’s inclusion of a forward assist. The final USAF GAU-5A/A and U.S. Army XM177E2 had a 11.5 inch (292mm) barrel with a longer flash/sound suppressor. The lengthening of the barrel was to support the attachment of Colt's own XM148 40 mm grenade launcher. These versions were also known as the Colt Commando model commonly referenced and marketed as the CAR-15. The variants were issued in limited numbers to special forces, helicopter crews, Air Force pilots, officers, radio operators, artillerymen, and troops other than front line riflemen. The M4 Carbine was developed from various outgrowths of these designs, including a number of 14.5-inch-barreled A1 style carbines. The XM4 (Colt Model 720) started its trials in the mid-80s, with a 14.5-inch (368mm) barrel. Officially adopted as a replacement for the M3 "Grease Gun" (and the Beretta M9 and M16A2 for select troops) in 1994, it was used with great success in the Balkans and in the War on Terror, including the Afghanistan and Iraq theaters. It is three round burst on the standard carbine, and full auto on the M4A1 Carbine. M231 FPWColt also returned to the original "Commando" idea, with its Model 733, essentially a modernized XM177E2 with many of the features introduced on the M16A2. A more complete history of this weapon can be found with other information on the Colt Commando. A Firing Port Weapon or FPW was also developed to work with the Bradley IFV, designated the M231. [edit] Mk 4 Mod 0 The Mk 4 Mod 0 was a variant of the M16A1 produced for the U.S. Navy SEALs during the conflict in Vietnam and adopted in April 1970. It differed from the basic M16A1 primarily in being optimized for maritime operations and coming equipped with a sound suppressor. Most of the operating parts of the rifle were coated in Kal-Guard, a quarter-inch hole was drilled through the stock and buffer tube for drainage, and an O-ring was added to the end of the buffer assembly. The weapon could reportedly be carried to the depth of 200 feet (60 m) without damage. The initial Mk 2 Mod 0 Blast Suppressor was based on the U.S. Army's Human Engineering Lab's (HEL) M4 noise suppressor. The HEL M4 vented gas directly from the action, requiring a modified bolt carrier. A gas deflector was added to the charging handle to prevent gas from contacting the user. Thus, the HEL M4 suppressor was permanently mounted though it allowed normal semi-automatic and automatic operation. If the HEL M4 suppressor were removed, the weapon would have to be manually loaded after each single shot. On the other hand, the Mk 2 Mod 0 blast suppressor was considered an integral part of the Mk 4 Mod 0 rifle, but it would function normally if the suppressor were removed. The Mk 2 Mod 0 blast suppressor also drained water much more quickly and did not require any modification to the bolt carrier or to the charging handle. In the late 1970s, the Mk 2 Mod 0 blast suppressor was replaced by the Mk 2 blast suppressor made by Knight's Armament Company (KAC). The KAC suppressor can be fully submerged and water will drain out in less than eight seconds. It will operate without degradation even if the M16A1 is fired at the maximum rate of fire. The U.S. Army replaced the HEL M4 with the much simpler Studies in Operational Negation of Insurgency and Counter-Subversion (SIONICS) MAW-A1 noise and flash suppressor. [edit] International Variants [edit] C7 and C8 Canadian Forces Reserve infantrymen train in urban operations with C7 and C8 rifles.Main article: Colt Canada C7 rifle The Diemaco C7 and C8 are updated variants of the M16 developed and used by the Canadian Forces and are now manufactured by Colt Canada. The C7 is a further development of the experimental M16A1E1. Like earlier M16s, it can be fired in either single shot or automatic mode, instead of the burst function selected for the M16A2. The C7 also features the structural strengthening, improved handguards, and longer stock developed for the M16A2. Diemaco changed the trapdoor in the buttstock to make it easier to access and a half-inch spacer is available to adjust stock length to user preference. The most easily noticeable external difference between American M16A2s and Diemaco C7s is the retention of the A1 style rear sights. Not easily apparent is Diemaco's use of hammer-forged barrels. The Canadians originally desired to use a heavy barrel profile instead. The C7 has been developed to the C7A1, with a Picatinny rail on the upper receiver for a C79 optical sight, and to the C7A2, with different furniture and internal improvements. The C7 and C8 are also used by Hærens Jegerkommando, Marinejegerkommandoen and NORSOF Task Group (Norway), Military of Denmark (all branches), the Royal Netherlands Army and Netherlands Marine Corps as its main infantry weapon. Following trials, variants became the weapon of choice of the British SAS. [edit] Others The Chinese Norinco CQ rifle (aka M311) is an unlicensed derivative of the M16A1 made specifically for export, with the most obvious external differences being in its handguard and revolver-style pistol grip. Khaybar KH2002, is an Iranian bullpup conversion of the locally produced S-5.56 rifle. Iran intends to replace the standard issue weapon of its armed forces with the Khaybar. The S-5.56 assault rifle itself is an Iranian M16 derivative based on the Norinco CQ. The MSSR developed as an effective, low cost sniper rifle by the Philippine Marine Scout Snipers. Combined Service Forces Type 65 assault rifle & Combined Service Forces Type 86 assault rifle [edit] Summary Colt model no. Military designation Barrel Length Barrel Handguard type Buttstock type Pistol grip type Lower receiver type Upper receiver type Rear sight type Front sight type Muzzle device Forward assist? Case deflector? Bayonet lug? Trigger pack 601 AR-15 20 in (508 mm) A1 profile (1:14 twist) Green or brown full-length triangular Green or brown fixed A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 Duckbill flash suppressor No No Yes Safe-Semi-Auto 602 AR-15 or XM16 20 in (508 mm) A1 profile (1:12 twist) Full-length triangular Fixed A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 Duckbill or three-prong flash suppressor No No Yes Safe-Semi-Auto 603 XM16E1 20 in (508 mm) A1 profile (1:12 twist) Full-length triangular Fixed A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 Three-prong or M16A1 birdcage flash suppressor Yes No Yes Safe-Semi-Auto 603 M16A1 20 in (508 mm) A1 profile (1:12 twist) Full-length triangular Fixed A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 M16A1-style birdcage flash suppressor Yes No Yes Safe-Semi-Auto 604 M16 20 in (508 mm) A1 profile (1:12 twist) Full-length triangular Fixed A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 Three-prong or M16A1-style birdcage flash suppressor No No Yes Safe-Semi-Auto 645 M16A1E1/PIP 20 in (508 mm) A2 profile (1:7 twist) Full-length ribbed Fixed A2 A1 A1 or A2 A1 or A2 A1 or A2 A2 M16A1 or M16A2-style birdcage flash suppressor Yes Yes or No Yes Safe-Semi-Auto or Safe-Semi-Burst 645 M16A2 20 in (508 mm) A2 profile (1:7 twist) Full-length ribbed Fixed A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 M16A2-style birdcage flash suppressor Yes Yes Yes Safe-Semi-Burst 645E M16A2E1 20 in (508 mm) A2 profile (1:7 twist) Full-length ribbed Fixed A2 A2 A2 Flattop with Colt Rail Flip-up Folding M16A2-style birdcage flash suppressor Yes Yes Yes Safe-Semi-Burst N/A M16A2E2 20 in (508 mm) A2 profile (1:7 twist) Full-length semi-beavertail w/ HEL guide Retractable ACR ACR A2 Flattop with Colt rail None A2 ACR muzzle brake Yes Yes Yes Safe-Semi-Burst 646 M16A2E3/M16A3 20 in (508 mm) A2 profile (1:7 twist) Full-length ribbed Fixed A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 M16A2-style birdcage flash suppressor Yes Yes Yes Safe-Semi-Auto 655 M16A1 Special High Profile 20 in (508 mm) HBAR profile (1:12 twist) Full-length triangular Fixed A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 M16A1-style birdcage flash suppressor Yes No Yes Safe-Semi-Auto 656 M16A1 Special Low Profile 20 in (508 mm) HBAR profile (1:12 twist) Full-length triangular Fixed A1 A1 A1 A1 with modified Weaver base Low Profile A1 Hooded A1 M16A1-style birdcage flash suppressor Yes No Yes Safe-Semi-Auto 945 M16A2E4/M16A4 20 in (508 mm) A2 profile (1:7 twist) Full-length ribbed or KAC M5 RAS Fixed A2 A2 A2 Flattop with MIL-STD-1913 rail None A4 M16A2-style birdcage flash suppressor Yes Yes Yes Safe-Semi-Burst Colt model no. Military designation Barrel Length Barrel Handguard type Buttstock type Pistol grip type Lower receiver type Upper receiver type Rear sight type Front sight type Muzzle device Forward assist? Case deflector? Bayonet lug? Trigger pack [edit] Cultural Impact and Civilian Ownership The M16 and its variants are ubiquitous in American and many other countries' films, TV series and video games. Among U.S. firearms owners fully automatic civilian M16 model production was restricted after 1986, but due to its long history there are many in circulation. [edit] See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to: M16List of individual weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces (Rifles) List of weapons of the U.S. Marine Corps CAR-15 Family Colt Automatic Rifle — Squad automatic weapon version (aka Colt M16 LMG, M16A2 LMG) M4 carbine HK416 M468 FN SCAR Mark 16 and Mark 17 rifles Daewoo K2 South Korean assault rifle KAC Masterkey shotgun XM26 Lightweight Shotgun System XM320 40 mm single-shot grenade launcher Comparison of the AK-47 and M16 [edit] References Ezell, Edward Clinton. (1984). The Great Rifle Controversy, Harrisburg: Halsted Press Hughes, David R. (1990). The History and Development of the M16 Rifle and its Cartridge, Oceanside, CA: Armory Publications. Hutton, Robert, The .223, Guns & Ammo Annual Edition, 1971. Pikula, Sam (Major), The ArmaLite AR-10, 1998 Stevens, R. Blake and Edward C. Ezell. (1994). The Black Rifle: M16 Retrospective, Ontario: Collector Grade Publications. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Venola, Richard (2005), "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been", Book of the AR-15 1(2): 6-18 ^ a b c d e f g h Ezell, Edward Clinton (1983). Small Arms of the World (in English). New York: Stackpole Books, 46-47. ISBN 978-0880296014.   ^ Hutton, Robert (ed.), The .223, Guns & Ammo Annual Edition, 1971 ^ M16 Specifications. Retrieved on 2007-01-13. ^ a b c Ezell, Edward Clinton (1983). Small Arms of the World (in English). New York: Stackpole Books, 746-762. ISBN 978-0880296014.   ^ Military Small Arms of the 20th Century, page 292; Hogg, Ian; Weeks John Related Products G&G G3 FS51 fixec stock with 500 Rounds Magazine G&G EGR 300 SP G&G M4 Carbine EGR 16P G&G MP5 A4 Navy Style Fixed Stock Airsoft HIT Guns $270.00 Add HIT Guns $410.00 Add HitGuns Airsoft $170.00 Add HitGuns Airsoft $170.00 Add Top Tech Full Metal T418 Airsoft Electric Gun G&G M4 Carbine CQB G&G MP5 A4 Navy Style Fixed Stock Full Metal Airso G&G KP5 A5 Navy Style Foldable Stock Full Metal Ai HitGuns.com Airsoft $439.99 Add HIT Guns $360.00 Add HIT Guns $250.00 Add HitGuns.com Airsoft $270.00 Add  Share your knowledge of this product with other customers... Be the first to write a review. 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