Stalk3rchief said:
tsb247 said:
Stalk3rchief said:
Beyond a doubt, the M-16 is a piece of shit.
Anyone with weapons experience will tell you that it's a pain in the ass to take apart and reconstruct, it's innacurate and very unreliable.
Ummm... I'm going to have to go ahead and stop you there. The M-16 is FAR from a piece of shit. There are a LOT of people who aren't breathing anymore because of that little black rifle. There's a reason it is still seeing HEAVY use today.
The M-16 is
NOT inaccurate in any way, shape, or form. The 5.56x45mm round has proven itself to be a more than accurate round time and again, and the M-16 has also proven very efficient at delivering it. In fact, the 5.56x45mm round has FAR better terminal performance at range than the 7.62x39. The 5.56x45mm round may lack the stopping power of the 7.62x39, but it is a faster round with better ballistics. The only thing that the 5.56x45mm round lacks is the kinetic energy due to it's smaller size. This makes it a little less capable of penetrating heavily armored targets, but with the right kind of bullet, the 5.56x45mm round can still penetrate just about any normal, reasonable, object it will encounter (light wood, drywall, soft body armors, some hard body armors, and many other materials.).
I've never found mine (it's an AR-15, but they are fundamentally the same) to be a pain in the ass to take apart either. It is easy to take apart, and the only real pain can be the bolt carrier, but even that is no big deal. The only reason you would ever want to take that apart anyhow would be to scrape the carbon off of it. As far as the rest of the weapon is concerned, it is a breeze to disassemble and reassemble. No tools are required, and there are very few small parts, no springs, and there are only two pins that hold the upper and lower recievers together.
I have also not had any problem with my AR-15 jamming. As long as you take care of it, it will work. I have fired THOUSANDS of rounds through my rifle, and I have yet to encounter a malfunction. The only reason I can think of that it would jam would be if someone flat-out did not clean it - ever. As long as you keep the carbon out of the bolt-carrier and keep a little Break Free in it, it will work whenever you ask it to.
That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't excuse the fact that it's a pain in the ass to take apart and reconstruct, and that it has 0 stopping power.
Yeah it's still used today, but only because it's cost effective.
There are at least 10 assault rifles that beat it in every single way, but they're more expensive. I have 2 friends that are in the military, one's a simple lieutenant, the others an MP. BOTH of them have told me how unreliable the M-16 is on the field.
It's accurate, but even they have told me that's it's only advantage.
ONLY advantage.
The weapon was not designed to kill, it was only meant to immobilize any threat.
For some reason it's viewed as "More Humane"
In basic, when one is required to take the M-16 apart and put it back together, they BOTH told me it has too many parts.
I think I'll take the word of two trained soldiers over yours.
It's hardly a pain in the ass to take apart and put back together. I just took mine apart and put it back together (and took pictures to demonstrate how simple it is). This 11 year old girl obviously has no problem with it:
Here are some pictures of my rifle field-stripped. I did not remove the buffer spring nor did I bother with the trigger group since those RARELY ever break. The buffer tube should be swabbed from time to time, but there are differing opinions on that. As you will see it is HARDLY difficult or complex. Field-stripped, the rifle has very few parts. Most soldiers and Marines only need to disassemble it to this extent for cleaning.
Fully Assembled Rifle:
Partial Field Strip:
Field Stripped with disassembled bolt assembly:
Close-up of the disassembled bolt assembly:
Again, there was no need to pull out the trigger group or buffer spring since they should never fail, and if they do, it is usually because the person operating the weapon did RIDICULOUS things to it (like bathe it in bleach and run it over with a tank). I also did not bother with them because the AK field stripping procedure does not remove the trigger group either.
Your claim that it is unreliable is also ill-founded. The design has been in constant revision for 45 years now, and all of the kinks that existed when it was fielded back in 1964 have pretty much been ironed out. Again, the only way it will malfunction on any regular basis is if the person operating it fails to give it basic, routine, maintainence. Any other firearm on earth will fail if it is not properly taken care of. Even the venerable AK-47 can be made to fail if it is not properly maintained. I have seen it myself.
As for your, "0 stopping power," claim, I can promise you one thing. One bullet from an M-16 will kill you just as dead as any single bullet from any other weapon. the 5.56x45mm FMJ can penetrate concrete blocks and also has the tendency to tumble upon entering a soft target. The fact that the round tumbles end over end means that the bullet creates a wound channel that is the length of the bullet rather than just a clean hole!
I too know quite a few Soldiers as well as Marines. Hell, one of them is a certified U.S. Army armorer. Every single one of them swears by their M-16 because it does what it needs to do and it does it very well. It makes bad guys die... And it has more than proven that over the past 45 years or so. Seriously, your claims that it is inaccurate (a
laughable claim that will be refuted by anyone who has
ever used one), a pain to take apart (which I have shown is not the case), and unreliable are a little ridiculous. Sure, there are better rifles out there, but the M-16 and its variants are hardly, "Shit."
EDIT: Much respect to your enlisted friends, but I am speaking from personal experience as well. The M-16 platform is excellent, and I know very few Soldiers or Marines that will argue differently. I own one, and I feel as though that makes me more qualified to pass judgement than you seeing as how I use, clean, and modify it on a regular basis. Were you ever enlisted?
