M16 OR MINI 14 FOR FIGHTING IN VIETNAM?

[Zullo74]

Byron wrote...

I had no problems with my 16, I kept it clean but all infantryman should keep their rifles clean.
The Mini 14 is a good rifle and may have done well in the jungles. The loads we carried were about 80+ pounds. We carried 200 rounds each for the 60. I shudder to think what the ruck would have weighed using the M14.

Byron,
I believe that the infantry man's load has been 80 pounds since the Civil War.
One reason the US went with the 5.56mm round was that an individual could carry more rounds in that 80# load than if it were 7.62mm.

 

[HorseSoldier]

A 9mm in combat? Did we not learn the lesson from Miami? Give the troops either .40 S&W or .45 ACPs. Something with some real knock down power.

The lesson of Miami seems to be that an unprofessional mindset (inadequate preparation, failure to plan for contingencies, etc.) going into combat, combined with inability to execute basic combat marksmanship drills, gets you killed. 9mm was a more convenient scapegoat for the FBI rather than addressing poor TTPs and inadequate weapons training, as bullets are an easy/cheap fix (and don't threaten careers).

I'd say we've learned that lesson very well along the way, long before the FBI fiasco in Miami.

 

[jim d]

Having read this thread it has come to me that most people do not understand the reasons that the M-16 was developed. The M-14 was issued as a semi-auto in most cases and only modified with a selector switch to be issued on a limited basis in a infantry platoon. The M-14 was designed to fire only 3to5 round bursts on full auto not a full 20 round burst. The military brass came up with the idea that you could lay down a better field of fire if you had a weapon that could fire full auto most of the time thus the M-16 with it's smaller round and less recoil. Having spent over 9yrs. in the Marines and 2 tours in Nam and being both a weapons instructor and a armorer and a combat platoon sgt. I was able to see both sides of the issue of the M-14 vrs.the M-16. Yes we had problems with the M-16s but that issue was solved with the chromed barrels yet I still prefered to carry the M-14 and during the time I did ,not once did I ever put the weapon on full auto. Both weapons are good for what they were designed to be used for.