[MicroBalrog]

Hi, people!
I'm on leave from the IDF with my M-16A1. It says on the receiver it used to be US .gov property. Now, was it ever in any conflict?

Ser. Number 5236481

[mattd]

I'm guessing Israel gets brand new guns from America.

[MicroBalrog]

mattd - this one is rather worn, and has "US government property" on it, so I guess it was used by the US Army at some point.

[Sir Galahad]

It is not possible to know that. I saw the pre-forward assist M-16s in the army and maybe they served Vietnam, or perhaps not. They might have been kept stateside or in Europe. Your M-16 may have even been used as a ersatz bong in the pre-drug testing 1970s U.S. Army. It's hard to say.

[MicroBalrog]

But what information may be derived from it?

Year of deployment?
Unit of original deployment?

[BigG]

Since the M16 family of weapons is modular, there's no telling if the upper and lower are the same pair as when issued. The Serial No. part is the lower and it could have been rebuilt a number of times and had numerous uppers attached to it.

[Nightcrawler]

Brand new? Doubtful. There aren't any brand new M16A1s, and all current M16s (A2s, A3s, and A4s) are made by FN.

We have M16A1s in my Guard unit. Most are Hydra Matic, a few are H&R, a very few are genuine Colt M16A1s, and many have receivers that are stamped "COLT AR-15" and "MOD M16A1". These receivers are VERY old.

However, the stocks, uppers, and other parts have been replaced piecemeal over the years. Some have A2 stocks, all have the eliptical handguards (instead of the triangular ones which I liked better).