[DMK]

"The M-16" on Modern Marvels at 10:PM Eastern, right after "Snipers".

[cheygriz]

Great show. Factual, and well documented. It explodes a whole bunch of myths!

Sure makes the Army Ordnance Board look like braying jackasses!

[boing]

I saw the commercial last night, where the voice-over guy says "The M-16 is the most effective combat rifle ever designed", or words to that effect. Now we know!

And to think of all that TFL bandwidth we wasted on "AK vs. AR" threads...

:p

[Destructo6]

What's the nonsense with the M16 being the only US service rifle developed "outside"?

Certainly the Krag-Jorgensen wasn't developed in-house. The Thompson, Browning's many weapons, and others came from sources as "outside" as Armalite.

[BigG]

Destructo6:

Could they have meant "not produced in-house?" Springfield Armory (the real one) produced most of the weapons or subcontracted to Remington, Winchester, Colt and others, but the gov't was in the arms production business itself, unlike now where it buys off the open market?

[blades67]

Could they have meant "not produced in-house?"

I think that was what was meant.

[SodaPop]

"The M-16 is the most effective combat rifle ever designed"

And we haven't won a war with it YET!!:neener:

Only if you count the cold war, but how many shots where fired there?

[Gewehr98]

Even with the part about the dead Marines, found with cleaning rods in their jammed M-16's. Should've had Dick Culver on the show to provide some counterpoint. :(

[BigG]

Seriously, if any of you are really interested in the lore and/or romance of the M16, you owe it to yourself to read The Black Rifle.

One of the BIG objections to the M16 was from internal army doofuses because Springfield Armory and a few others had produced most of the weapons our forefathers wielded throughout the nations history. "Ain't invented here" was a big problem to those guys. SA had produced a more or less "Mini 14" as its candidate for the advanced infantry weapon. Not to mention that whiz kid Bobby McNamara closed Springfield Armory for good. 150 years of history shot in the you know what.

[SodaPop]

Should've had Dick Culver on the show to provide some counterpoint.


I think I'm pretty fair minded about giving certain firearms there due, but I think that show was pretty mild. The AR15/M16 is STILL one of the most controversial firearms.

[Peetmoss]

I watched the History of the M16 and found it well entertaining. It did remind me of a question I have been asking myself for a long time though, Maybe someone here can answer it. Armalite designed the AR 15 and then sold the rights to Colt so how is it that all these other manufactures use the AR15 trademark of Colt?

[BigG]

They don't. AR15 is a generic term for clones of the Colt AR15, like 1911 is a generic term for clones of the original army pistol, or Kleenex is the generic term for clones of the product made by Kimberley-Clark(?). It is illiteracy at work or gunner shorthand, take your pick.