These were sold to the military in small-ish batches under commercial Colt names. Most infantrymen could not see their targets but knew generally where they were and would often either fire blindly or hold fire entirely. purchase helps support my work in bringing you more awesome gun and gear articles. This original Colt Parts Kit is from the 1970s & 80s. or those serving it. It was also due to the fact that when the rifle ran out of ammunition, the bolt locked to the rear, indicating the need to reload. However, none of these changes addressed the greatest issue—the ball powder was simply bad. This was a problem that needed remedy, and the M16 offered a solution. This made the M16 lighter, but much hotter. 2020. “USMAA Technical Report No. He told the Ordnance Corps to purchase these new rifles. We’ll never know exactly who is to blame. home / retro rifle & service rifle parts / m16 & m16a1 parts / complete uppers & parts kits / original colt m16a1 parts kit in very good condition ORIGINAL COLT M16A1 PARTS KIT … There was a proposal to include a mechanism in the original AR-15, the M16’s prototype, to manually close the bolt, but the proposal was rejected as useless. Thank you for this well-written, well-researched article. Between 1967 and 1968, the death toll of American soldiers jumped from 11,363 to 16,899. Please fly our flag daily. Clearing this malfunction is fairly easy: Drop the magazine, rack the charging handle a bit, and 9 times out of 10 the spent case will come out. The standard M16A1 barrel is a 20” chrome lined 1:12 twist barrel with a rifle … 4Bruce, Robert. I believe he said he fought in the hills hear Da Nang during the Tet Offensive, as well as Chu Lai and the A Sau Valley. He died running up and down the line while using his cleaning rod to unjam his fellow Marines’ rifles. He claimed that, after three years of testing, none of the problems found could have been remedied by a bolt closing device. It does not surprise me any more to hear or read about the injustices perpetrated by our govt. The M16 in Vietnam: A History of the Weapon’s Effectiveness in the Vietnam War and the Necessity of its Creation. My issue M-16 worked well and never jammed. With all the advantages of automatic fire, recoil control, and ballistic reliability, soldiers felt that their efforts were contributing more to the fight than just shooting leaves and grass. Not the type of weapons being fired by our soldiers. It could quite literally save your life. Philologia, 12(1), 14–19. If the bolt is not entirely closed, the shot will misfire. The congressional committee that went to Vietnam to investigate the M16 failures tragically discovered that a Marine was killed in combat because he was the only member of his squad with a cleaning rod. This isn’t a big deal if you’re shooting semi-automatic because the BCG will settle forward before you can pull the trigger a second time. Great read but sickening to know the truth. “Bibliography: Marshall, Samuel Lyman Atwood.” Handbook of Texas Online. In other words, they pulled those numbers out of thin air because that’s what the ball powder produced. Reloads on the M16 were faster, getting empty weapons and vulnerable soldiers back into the fight much quicker.6 This was mostly due to the general design of the weapon, since the M16 had a magazine well that guided the user’s hand. While the improvements made upon the M16 were crucial in this time, many other major factors contributed to these figures, mainly the Tet Offensive of 1968. The amount of testing a national armory or manufacturer completes can never replicate tens of thousands of grunts firing millions of rounds. The internal piston design also forced any byproducts of the miniature explosion, such as carbon and vaporized metal, into the receiver. 2009. They thought the ends would justify the means and the Army would drop the M16 in Vietnam because it was a piece of garbage and go back to the M14. This strategy may also have yielded the benefit of using captured enemy munitions against them.5 The U.S. military’s goal was not to match the enemy’s ability, but rather to create a superior rifle. The M16 was an icon for protagonists in movies and TV, a symbol for democracy, and it became the image for American or NATO forces for decades to come. Committee on Armed Services. Without a manual bolt closing device, a soldier with a jam would have to tear down the entire weapon and fix the weapon with their hands. Her served in very active areas, and enemy contacts were often with units of NVA regulars, as opposed to VC. With bolt action weapons, common throughout World War II and the Korean War, soldiers could manually push the bolt fully forward. Time; 09 June 1967. This means that even a poorly aimed shot, as long as it makes contact with an enemy, can still potentially do more damage than a bigger bullet. The loudest sound in a firefight is your weapon going “click.” In an instant you realize that the one thing that might protect you from the enemy has failed, and you’re in a race against time. If soldiers do not feel like their efforts are making a difference, their morale (or lack thereof) can turn the tides in the enemy’s favor. how to clean and maintain my weapons. My uncle worked his way up to sergeant in an Army infantry unit, spending much of his time tasked to call in air support for his lieutenant. In short, they sabotaged the M16 project. The upper receiver parts kit story is similar to the lower kits, differing only in select parts and will determine the weight, accuracy, and general performance of your completed rifle. On that note, always be sure to point your weapon in a safe direction. Based on those specs, they determined that stick powder could not meet the specified requirements. the world’s largest supplier of retro usgi m16 collector’s grade furniture U.S. Collectors Ordnance (USCO) specializes in original U.S. Government Issue (USGI) Vietnam Era Retro M16A1 and M16-series rifle triangular handguards, buttstocks, pistol grips, slings and other accessories. Soldiers would have to shove rods down the barrel of their rifles to attempt to knock the empty cartridges out, similar to a Revolutionary War soldier with a musket. Burdett, and Thomas, F. “Marshall, Samuel Lyman Atwood.” The Handbook of Texas Online|Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). And by the 1960s, had done so for almost 150 years. The M16A1 was one of the first models to improve upon the original M16. Accessed April 26, 2019. http://www.americanwarlibrary.com/vietnam/vwatl.htm. Not to mount in a civil M16 / AR15 if fullauto is forbidden in your country. This carry handle upper receiver gives the M16A2 a very unique profile, and makes it stand out in a world of flat top uppers. United States. It jammed continually with blanks, and during a live-fire range it went automatic even though the safety was still on. Weapon lubricant, cleaning patches, brushes, picks, and the item most needed of all, bore rods to knock out stuck cases. All the while, the enemy is spraying you down with their AK-47s. Once machined, the upper is finished with a matte black hard anodized finish. The M16 and XM16E1 had much heavier firing pins. June 15, 2010. Cleanliness is a must – and it may save your life!” This was not an exaggeration. 14–19. Those who investigated it we're just a kangaroo court that allowed this lack of justice to occur (think Hilary Clinton and Benghazi for instance) Sad . The Marine Corps, Army, and the creator of the weapon all agreed that the bolt closing device was unnecessary. Stoner warned the Army about what would happen with the new data package. Dwell time is the amount of time between when the cartridge starts to burn and when the action of the rifle starts to cycle. RVN. John Keegan, a prominent military historian, writes in his book, The Face of Battle, “Infantrymen, however well-trained and well-armed, however resolute, however ready to kill, remain erratic agents of death. Page 2326. ISBN 978-0-88029-601-4. I like so many others always blamed the rifle. So, the question remains: was the M16 an effective weapon in the Vietnam War, and was it a necessary implementation? AR/M16 Bolt Carrier Group – Micro-Polished Titanium Nitride – HPT/MPI $ 174.99. A study was conducted on the performance of the M16 and AK-47 by the United States Army in May of 1990, overseen by Lieutenant Colonel J. M. Weaver Jr. The problem of soldiers not believing their efforts on the battlefield was solved by the increased ammunition capacity from the M1 Garand, the most common weapon used in World War II, as well as the fully automatic feature. However, the U.S. military had a “sole-source” contract (zero chance for corruption there…) for gunpowder with Olin Mathieson, who exclusively manufactured the ball-shaped WC 846 powder for the military. The U.S. military doctrine of today rarely has the average rifleman employing full-auto in their M16s or M4s. Bolts would crack, the disconnector on hammer springs would snap off, chambers and bores would corrode, and stocks and grips would crack and break off. I won’t try to name them here because…well, I’ll probably miss one and get yelled at in the comments. Bruce, Robert. The AK-47 lacked such a feature, making it difficult to quickly tell when you needed to reload. By that point, special forces and ARVN had been using the stick powder for years. This was not the case with the M16, because its bolt was fully encased by the upper receiver, manipulated by the charging handle, which could only be pulled backward. Mechanical superiorities, however, were not enough to ensure victory in a battle. Different powder burns differently. I killed all three of them 15 feet away.”. Poster Vietnam War Gun Colt 1911 Pistol M16 Rifle M60 Machine Grenade Print Art. The M16 lacked a component that allowed a soldier to manually close the bolt. Your findings of problems caused by the "ball" powder seem to be inline with what he experienced. I was in Viet Nam and had the same problems as stated in this article. The M16A1 solved many of the design and manufacturing problems inherent to the M16 family. We’ve built dozens of AR’s and we’ll cover all the best AR-15 upgrades such as handguards, triggers, BCGs, gas blocks, and more. Most often, the extractor on the bolt would simply slip off the rim of the spent cartridge. This was a far less common problem, but it did occur—and yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. The 7.62 was a heavy round, and soldiers found it difficult to maneuver through a battlefield and retain their stamina while carrying scores of heavy clips. Ehrhart, Major Thomas P. Increasing Small Arms Lethality in Afghanistan: Taking Back the Infantry Half-Kilometer. Thank you for such a well written and well researched article. Ironically, these changes were not instituted to fix the M16. Article. Washington, D.C.: U.S. AR15/ M16/ SP1 Slick Side Upper Receiver. Add to Cart. The history of that round is interesting in and of itself, but we’ll save that for another time. If you’re lucky, this causes the bolt to short stroke, resulting in a failure to strip a new cartridge from the magazine. to the right side of my rifles with helment jungle bands to stroke a stuck case out of Regulated almost entirely to guard duty, the Air Force’s M16s did not have much opportunity to see combat nor the conditions that resulted in failures. In some rare cases, the Air Force would continue to use their original M16s until the early 2000s before finally upgrading to the M16A2 pattern. 1968 had more casualties than any other year, but also had the greatest number of troops in Vietnam compared to any other year, at 536,100 troops.21 The year following, there were 475,200 American troops in Vietnam. a rifle. Practically every one of our dead was found with his (M16) torn down next to him where he had been trying to fix it.”1. The problems that arose during the early years of the Vietnam War would soon prove them correct, but only by technicality. The BCG comes forward and, for whatever reason, fails to properly feed a round into the chamber. 2 Available Options: Stripped Receiver Assembly: Comes with rear sight and dust cover $124.95. DOI: http://doi.org/10.21061/ph.228, O'Connell, J.. “The M16 in Vietnam: A History of the Weapon’s Effectiveness in the Vietnam War and the Necessity of Its Creation”. Having functional, safe weapons also boosted the morale of troops, giving them the confidence that their efforts were making a difference in the war they were forced into. Deactivated US Colt M16a1 with Colt M203 grenade launcher: Just epic - a late Vietnam era Colt M16a1 complete with real deal Vietnam era Colt M203 Grenade Launcher with the super cool looking front grip mount rather than the later stly. It’s very pretty when it’s not being burned by Napalm, but it’s also incredibly wet. Equal and opposite reactions mean that a faster rearward-moving BCG also equals a faster forward-moving BCG, causing more pronounced bolt bounce and granting the free-floating firing pine more inertia. But the rifle and cartridge they designed were not the same ones fielded by the U.S. Army. Learning how to shoot at a young age in the Boy Scouts, he now spends most of his time working on or with firearms. June 13th 2009. In many cases, the bolt would not lock in completely as a result of debris or lack of lubrication. 9Fallows, James. The report from Colt was sent to the Army and ignored. In those rifles, it’s a lot harder to get the case out and normally requires the use of a cleaning rod. It was a serious and notorious problem with the M1. Department of Defense. The M14’s shortcomings rested in its unwieldy, almost uncontrollable, fully automatic setting. Before we get into the why and who of the matter, let’s examine what went wrong with the XM16E1 in Vietnam. For the record, this was done totally outside the military’s purview. “The M16 in Vietnam: A History of the Weapon’s Effectiveness in the Vietnam War and the Necessity of Its Creation”. Needless to say he told me to "...get this piece of junk off the firing line.". If the only issue at hand was that the United States had inferior weapons to the AK-47, why would the military not just adopt the Kalashnikov AK-47 as a standard issue rifle? During the Civil War President Lincoln was given a demonstration of a lever action rifle ( a Henry if I remember correctly). 12Hearings, Reports and Prints of the House Committee on Armed Services, Issue 14, Part 1. One Marine writing his parents explained: “Out of 40 rounds I’ve fired, my rifle jammed about 10 times. In April of 1967, twelve chrome plated M16s were shipped to Vietnam for evaluation, but when the Army Weapons Command technical team arrived in Vietnam in May of 1967, only two of these rifles could be found. 5Killicoat, Phillip (April 2007). Hakim & Rasheed Carbine [Review]. Load a magazine, charge the handle or drop the bolt, and you get a “bang” instead of a “clang”. We’ll never know exactly why they chose to let people die rather than adopt a new powder. In other words, if the part was necessary for the XM16E1 to function, it would likely break during normal use. In June of 1963, the Army Materiel Command conducted tests at Frankford Arsenal and determined that stick powder was not a viable propellant for the M16. I learned a lot as usual with these articles, and I’m an old timer! You do not pay anything extra and your The Vietnam War, however, was the debut of the M16. The third of the major changes was not actually a change to the rifle itself, but rather a rifle accessory. I hope you can see where this is going. Replica of Vietnam War M16 Upper - So Authentic You Can Smell the Elephant Grass! However, the weapon’s effectiveness has faced scrutiny within the context of the Vietnam War. The changes between the XM16E1 and the M16A1 include the buffer, bolt hardness, gas tube, finish on the bolt carrier key, bolt catch, flash hider, firing pin retainer, and disconnector. Never knew this side of it. Keep in mind that these failed mechanics are occurring within milliseconds of each other. Read more . The men who suffered and died because of someone's ego is disgusting. But if the issue occurs during full-auto fire? Improper maintenance equipment and the lack of instruction on how to properly care for it exaggerated the problems that were inherent to its design. Stoner, ArmaLite, and Colt knew it, too. In the book, Col. Moore credits the XM16E1 as being a determining factor in how his unit was able to survive the battle. However, this is another scenario that can’t be solely attributed to the XM16E1. The following year, when the M16A1 was made standard issue, the death toll fell back down to 11,780.19 1968 was the year with the most American casualties. So, the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps “accepted” the M16 on their terms. February 2014. While the movie doesn’t touch on the matter, the book it was based on explicitly quotes Col. Moore (author) and Sgt. M16A1 nor my XM177E2 because I knew But the short answer is incompetence, corruption, criminal negligence, and a gross disregard for American lives. In this new cartridge, they used a specific power, the IMR 4475—an extruded or “stick” powder made by Du Pont and sold to Remington. I had the "wait-a-minute version with the 3 prong flash suppressor and it would catch on every wine in the jungle. The bullet’s weight also slowed its velocity, which caused its trajectory to drop and made it vulnerable to wind resistance. By January of 1967 the Army had d. $9.98. But due to forces outside of their control, they were forced to accept it. Has anything been done so that this SNAFU doesn’t happen again? While the sub-committee asked that Colt’s profits and Olin Mathieson’s “sole-source” contracts be investigated and audited, congress never followed through. US M16 A1 receiver upper, original US Colt made. Stoner designed the M16, but Colt owned the rights to produce it. I chuckle a bit as now a single point sling is the rage, I used he carrying strap from a T-12 telephone with the ends clipped together through the carrying handle, adjusted so the trigger was at hand level so it could be fired one hand. For simplicity sake, let’s just call them the stick powder and the ball powder. G.P.O., 1969. This was not the case with the M16, because its bolt was fully encased by the upper receiver, manipulated by the charging handle, which could only be pulled backward. The forward assist was a small button the right side of the rifle that, when struck with enough force, would push the bolt as far forward as possible. However, the weapon’s effectiveness has faced scrutiny within the context of the Vietnam War. House. Keep up the good work. California, San Francisco. However, the problems did not end there. The U.S. Army Ordnance Corps has a long history of screwing over soldiers. Savage recalls that he “had about thirty magazines in my pack. They just overhauled the design so it would run better with the Army’s ball powder. The M16 rifle, officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16, is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military.The original M16 rifle was a 5.56mm automatic rifle with a 20-round magazine.. They also concluded that the Army should instead use the same ball powder American forces had been using since the end of World War 1. “M14 vs. M16 in Vietnam.” Small Arms Review. But the U.S. Army refused, citing that it was “unnecessary” and “cost-prohibitive.”. Im looking to buy my first AR so I like learning. Disqus. Thanks. If the military adopted Colt’s rifle, Colt would build it. Unable to meet these requirements, Colt declared that they were no longer accountable for the M16 passing the Army’s acceptance test and could not guarantee performance results with the ball powder. The selector switch, which the user could manipulate to set the weapon to safe, semi-automatic, or full auto, was much easier to access on the M16 as well. Fackler, Martin L. Effects of Small Arms on the Human Body. Have you ever wondered what exactly your buffer weights do? It was not until the early 1970s that I noticed a marked improvement with M 16s. DOI: http://doi.org/10.21061/ph.228, O'Connell, J. The M16’s “internal piston” design used combustion to move the internal parts, as opposed to gas pistons that were common in machine guns, including the AK-47. Philologia. In battle, the difference of a few milliseconds can cost a life. Report of the M16 Rifle Review Panel. This was best way, I thought, to carry the M16 when in Saigon as I was transferred from the 101st ABN a few months into my 2nd tour. The Vietnam War, however, was the debut of the M16. We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe. This means that in 1968, 3.1% of American troops were killed in combat, and in 1969, that number dropped to 2.4%. No previous weapon used in American wars could possibly outclass the AK-47 that the enemy most often used. They designed them, tested them, and produced them. Move the BCG faster and harder, and you cause increased wear on critical parts, such as the bolt and disconnector. But the U.S. Army had spoken. He had seen firsthand how crucial the rifle would be in the dense jungles of Vietnam and how woefully outdated the M14 was. I always love reading history especially from the Civil War through Vietnam. It’s a crying shame that such atrocities happened and they didn’t need to. But if you’re spraying full-auto fire to suppress the enemy during an ambush, taking the time to rack a charging handle because your rifle went “click” will leave you with a lifelong bad opinion of the rifle. There were even a few versions that were never given military designations at all. His studies confirmed what Eugene Stoner had envisioned with his weapon design. If you’re really unlucky, the extractor doesn’t slip off the rim of the case and instead rips the rim clean off, leaving the rest of the spent case in the chamber. While “M16” is a popular designation for these rifles, the truth is another layer deep. The M16’s gas impingement operating system diverts hot gunpowder gasses that follow the bullet out of the muzzle through a tube, sending it back into the rifle’s upper receiver. When you look up, you see a pair of eyes filled with pure hatred for you, staring down the sights of an AK-47. These circumstances left the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps…obsolete. This is a non T-marked stripped upper featuring a 1913 top rail, M4 feed ramps, and hard-coat anodiz.. Out Of Stock. Gunpowder is gunpowder, right? I believe he said he fought in the hills hear Da Nang during the Tet Offensive, as well as Chu Lai and the A Sau Valley. Some burns faster, some slower, some are resistant to temperature, and some aren’t. Insurrection and having to re-issue 45 Colt SA’s (leading to the adoption of the 1911 45 ACP). As a career law enforcement officer and leo rangemaster I have enjoyed many conversations about guns with my uncle, a soldier in Vietnam in the height of the war. Corrosion in the chamber of the XM16E1 caused pitting, and those pits became a critical downfall of the rifle. The Army started to issue thirty-round magazines instead of the iconic twenty-round magazines that soldiers carried in the beginning of the war. DTIC. daily, which ever came first. Excellent article. M16 VN 2014 Version; 1x Vietnam style magazine; Specification Specification . Terms that were impossible for the M16 to meet, which they knew from the start. Accessed April 26, 2019. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843858,00.html. The M16 fires the 5.56x45mm cartridge. Harrisburg: Stackpole Books, 1977. Let’s get into it. David Spiwak is Central Pennsylvania's premier Class 3 Dealer, and we take a lot of pride in the large number of M16 assault rifles in our inventory. Options. In 1965, a full year after tests proved that ball powder could break the M16 rifle, General William Westmoreland, the commanding officer of U.S. Army Vietnam, sent an urgent request for the adoption of the M16 by U.S. forces in Vietnam. What a crime. I knew most of this except the bounce back problem. Rates for the AK-47 were 94% at 300 meters, 54% at 600 meters, and 31% at 800 meters.8 This is due to the heavier cartridge that the AK-47 sports, combined with its inferior and unreliable iron sights. Based on the tests at Frankford Arsenal, the Army drew up a technical data package that required the M16 to have a muzzle velocity of 3,250 feet per second and a chamber pressure not exceeding 52,000 PSI. But if you’re unlucky, this could result in a “double-feed.”. A representative from the Air Force, in the 1969 congressional hearing, claimed that a manual bolt closing device was unnecessary. The M16 in Vietnam: A History of the Weapon’s Effectiveness in the Vietnam War and the Necessity of its Creation. O'Connell, J., 2020. They found that the M16 with stick powder had 3.2 malfunctions and .75 stoppages per 1,000 rounds. The Unique Upper What really sets the M16A2 apart from modern AR 15s is the carry handle equipped upper receiver. The problems with the M16 would not have been remedied by a manual bolt closing device, but they could be temporarily fixed long enough to keep soldiers alive so they could fix the problems later. During 1968, the Tet Offensive created a rippling effect in the figures of casualties at the time. Research suggested that a smaller, faster moving round, would do more damage than a heavier round. The Barrel Assembly. Stick powder worked. And pity the rest of the GIs and Greenies didn't for years later. The Army was okay with this, even though the rifles didn’t meet the technical data package specifications when paired with the stick powder. Per the Army’s acceptance requirements, the M16s produced by Colt could not exceed 850 rounds per minute, a feat that was nearly impossible with ball powder. Carbon buildup from gunshot residue within the chamber was a culprit, but also consider the environment the weapon was used in— a jungle is certainly not a place you would want to take such a delicate instrument, especially one that was not regularly maintained. Another common reason that a weapon system would go down was because of something called “failure to extract.”15 This occurred when the spent cartridge from a fired round would not eject from the upper receiver, and a new round would be loaded in, jamming the spent cartridge into the chamber with the brass casing still inside. It is still in service today as the standard issue weapon for 85 sovereign nations, including the United States. You stare off, seeing the skyline of a city you can’t pronounce, dying in someone else’s country, bleeding out beside your broken M16. No, not at all. An amazing read. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4202 (Post-Conflict Transitions Working Paper No. In 1964, the M16 entered US military service and the following year was deployed for jungle warfare operations during the Vietnam War. The mechanical improvements on the M16A1 significantly reduced weapon malfunctions. United States. The Krag Jorgensen rifle, although a fine weapon m, lacked the speed of reloading that the Mauser had with the stripper clip. It is important to look at the design and the intention of the M16 before judging the performance. He doesn’t know your name, but he knows your flag, and he flinches only from the recoil of his weapon as he mercilessly guns you down. The M16 was an icon for protagonists in movies and TV, a symbol for democracy, and it became the image for American or NATO forces for decades to come. The barrel is the M16A1 made for the Colt front sight base. Chrome plating is highly corrosion-resistant and three times harder than steel. Firing would begin with him, and spread out from there, which meant that the nearer a man was to the BAR, the more likely he was to fire. Except the soldiers didn’t—or rather, couldn’t—discard the magazines due to supply issues. Unfortunately, the M16A1 would not enter service until 1967. (2020). Ezell, Edward Clinton. This term means that the bolt traveled far enough back to strip a new cartridge from the magazine, but because the chamber is still occupied, the two rounds double-feed. Great article, I heard stories from my now ex father in law. You need to drop the magazine, lock the bolt back, pull out your cleaning rod (if you were issued one…), and jam it down the barrel of your rifle to knock the spent case out. This could not be fixed during a firefight and required surgery to repair.10 Even if the shooter missed a vital organ, there was still a chance that the round would bounce around inside the victim’s body and cause enough damage to kill him later. The shortcomings of the M16 were not entirely the fault of the weapon’s design. In part, they prevent bolt carrier bounce.