Shittiest weapon ever

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2003-08-18 01:56am

M-16A1 was pretty bad. McNamara's Whiz Kids decided the rifle didn't need a chrome-plated firing chamber, so if any moisture or sand or dirt or ANYTHING got into the chamber, it pitted and caused a misfire. Hand-loading a round into the chamber had a very good chance of causing the round to fire the moment the bolt was released, because the spring was too strong. The A2 is much better, though.

And for worst mid-20th century equipment, the Type 95 Light Tank has to be up there. A WWII tank with 1 37mm gun and 2 7.7 mm, with a maximum 14mm armor. M1 Garands could punch through the armor, and bayonets could jam the turret or road wheels. With a top road speed of 45 km/h, it was slow, lightly armed, and virtually unarmored.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-08-18 12:09pm

The Dark wrote:M-16A1 was pretty bad. McNamara's Whiz Kids decided the rifle didn't need a chrome-plated firing chamber, so if any moisture or sand or dirt or ANYTHING got into the chamber, it pitted and caused a misfire. Hand-loading a round into the chamber had a very good chance of causing the round to fire the moment the bolt was released, because the spring was too strong. The A2 is much better, though.

Couple problems. One, the first introduced M16 was the M16 itself. When the problems were presented the military was forced to redesign the weapon and created the M16A1. The M16A1 fixed most of the problems with the original. Then the M16A2 was created to modernize the rifle and remove fully auto capacity.

Anyway there were two primary problems with the original M16. Both of these were actualy not directly the fault of the rifle itself. The first was the fact that soldiers were told the rifle was self cleaning. This had the affect of the soldiers never bothering to clean their weapon and it would jam up. The second problem was the cartridge they were using. It was a really bad cartridge and VERY dirty leaving a lot of crap in the barrel. Sustained fire from a single clip had a fair chance of causing a missfire or jam. Combine these two factors together and you have some real issues.

Anyway the M16 had two major problems along with a few other flaws. In just a few short years these problems were worked out and the M16A1 was created. The M16 in general has been a very succesful rifle series and the newest M16A3 is a very impressive weapon. Reliable, capable of modifications as needed, and still up to date with the future.

Rubberanvil · Post by **Rubberanvil** » 2003-08-18 12:26pm

Alyeska wrote:The M16 in general has been a very succesful rifle series and the newest M16A3 is a very impressive weapon. Reliable, capable of modifications as needed, and still up to date with the future.

The M16's future is drawing to a close if the US Military is no longer willing to buy them.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2003-08-18 12:29pm

Rubberanvil wrote:
Alyeska wrote:The M16 in general has been a very succesful rifle series and the newest M16A3 is a very impressive weapon. Reliable, capable of modifications as needed, and still up to date with the future.
The M16's future is drawing to a close if the US Military is no longer willing to buy them.

Is there a replacement on the horizon for the M-16? And PLEASE don't tell me it's that rifle that can do everything from look around corners, laser designation, etc. I have an issue with swiss army like weapons.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-08-18 12:34pm

Rubberanvil wrote:The M16's future is drawing to a close if the US Military is no longer willing to buy them.

The USMC is currently in the process of totally reequipping with the M16A4

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-08-18 12:37pm

Stravo wrote:
Is there a replacement on the horizon for the M-16? And PLEASE don't tell me it's that rifle that can do everything from look around corners, laser designation, etc. I have an issue with swiss army like weapons.

The Rifle your thinking of its just an M4 with a couple boxes screwed on.

The US Army will likely replace all M16's series weapons with the M8, which is just a modified G36. It will be able to accept a shorter 14.5 inch barrel and a nice long 20-inch barrel so that it can replace both the M16 and M4. The XM-29 5.56/20mm hybrid may also be equipping about half of troops but it looking like the whole program will be unable to meets its goals and be killed.