I’m a littles surprised, that with you having been issued the M1, M14 AND M16...during Vietnam... that you would still choose the M1. But then, I then, maybe you were issued one of the earlier “suspect” ARs?
My Father was in the Corps, and served in Vietnam ‘69-‘70...among some of the worst combat. His Batall was among the last who were issued AND went into the jungle with his M24, then swapped out to the M16. And like pretty much every Vet I’ve ever heard from, he was very skeptical of the “Mattel Toy”. But he has told me on many occasions, how all the worry & skepticism went away the FIRST firefight he was in! From them on he LOVED his M16, and at least at that time, every other Marine he heard from sounded off the same.
As with al things, weaponry has advanced. The M1 served its purpose, and so very well. Although, I will say that we are quite lucky that Germany never got its act together with the STG44 Sturm Gewehr. Had ALL German troops been issued one of those against our M1s....we would have been in trouble.
Arm one group with M1 Garands & another group with M16s, and the ones armed with M16s are HEAVILY favored to victory.