What are your thoughts on the 3-round burst on the M16A2?

[benewton]

As memory serves, I put a few too many down range on auto during basic, and got my helmet wacked by the instructor, thus learning not to do that again.
We didn't get time out cards back then, he was right, I was learning, and that's that.

Since I did my basic back in '71, I couldn't give you the details if you offered me millions, but that would probably have been during the night fire training. Don't recall any intentional day auto work during basic....

'course later on, when I was the range medic, there was all that ammo left over during unit qualification (stange it seemed to me that many didn't like to shoot and avoided the whole thing) that we couldn't turn back in, so the lack of day auto training was rectified later.

 

[LostOneToo]

Increased rounds per minute = increased misses per minute. I'd stick with semiauto and if I had the full auto capabilities, it's not that difficult to crank off 2-3 round bursts on full auto.

 

[Quartus]

Which is a recoil problem, right?

No, sir, it is NOT. It's an ammo wasting don't hit the enemy problem. (Along with all the problems detailed by Sir Galahad. ) In Nam, it was a stick your rifle up over the edge of the foxhole with one hand and spray a magazine reload repeat problem. THAT is why the 3 roudn burst was developed - to force fire discipline. Nothing to do with a recoil problem.

I got a chance up at Ft. Lewis (WA) to burn up a lot of ammo out of an A1. (Somebody ELSE'S A1! ) I could keep a whole 20 round burst on the closer targets, say out to 75 meters. But that wasn't combat. I ws standing straight up and having a ball! (We had a bunch of extra ammo, and the old man decided he didn't want to do the paperwork to turn it in. )


Gary - I got whacked on the helmet, and saw it done to many others. Like the man said, we didn't get time out cards or stress chips or whatever they call them. My Basic was in '74.

 

[45R]

3rd burst is a full auto wanna-be.......