Why was the army so against adopting the M16? Just a case of unwanted change...

Why was the army so against adopting the M16? Just a case of unwanted change? It seemed literally every military evaluator put the M16 above the M14.

>en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M16_rifle

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Big.30 and bean counters. Anytime you add something new people lose their fucking minds. Big .30 didn't want anyone stepping on thirdy cal and the bean counters didn't want to have to factor in a new line of logistics.

dum army

They had just streamlined 4 different weapons systems with 4 different calibers into the M14 and 7.62 so it's pretty easy to see why they were reluctant to go back. Of course in hindsight we know it was the right choice, but hindsight is 20/20.

>In March 1965, the Army began to issue the XM16E1 to infantry units. However, the rifle was initially delivered without adequate cleaning kits[40] or instructions because Colt had claimed the M16 was self-cleaning. As a result, reports of stoppages in combat began to surface.[40] The most severe problem, was known as "failure to extract"—the spent cartridge case remained lodged in the chamber after the rifle was fired.[40][64] Documented accounts of dead U.S. troops found next to disassembled rifles eventually led to a Congressional investigation.[40][65]

>"We left with 72 men in our platoon and came back with 19, Believe it or not, you know what killed most of us? Our own 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." -Marine Corps Rifleman, Vietnam.

Jesus Christ can you imagine dying while trying to get your rifle working

>Whatever you do don't use ball powder
>ok we'll cut cost buy using ball powder
>don't do this
>Big Army does it anyways

And this is how the great chapter of "Matel-16" Fuddlore was born.

The guys in charge were so autistic about keeping their precious M14 in service they got people outright killed over it.

they don't like it when their guns jam

(((Big .30))) doesn't want us to know about intermediate cartridges. Most senators are in bed with (((Big .30))), and (((Big .30))) has an iron grip on the firearms manufacturers.

Big .30 if true

It's just Soviet shilling. There is nothing wrong with the M-16. Far better than their AK-74. If it was made today it would considered as impressive enough to be made by Chinese.

IMPRESSIVE

Because they really, really, really, REALLY were giddy about their shiny new Garand 2.0 that was going to be the mainstay small-arm for the next three decades.

Now imagine it all gets threatened by some plastic pea-shooter brought in by an Air Force queen. You bet your ass those troglodyte cunts were hacked off.

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So they were basically fudds

Because of pic-related who was an absolute fucking turbo fudd. Like legit this guy is the text book definition....

So this whole shit show began in 1960 when General Curtis "bombs away" LeMay became a huge fan of the AR-15 in 1960 and ordered over 8000 for the US Air Force security forces but Taylor, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Kennedy to axe the M16 orders. Then some spooks from some special weapons testing arm of the government sent a bunch to special forces units operating in Vietnam. The reception from the troops was so enthusiastic that they sent 1000 more rifles over. American special forces personnel "filed battlefield reports lavishly praising the AR-15 and the stopping-power of the 5.56 mm cartridge, and pressed for its adoption".

Despite the M16 performing great in every field test, including use by special forces in actual combat, the US Army still shot it down as a replacement for the M14. It got so bad that the government had to hire an outside source to figure out how the Army was doing their testing and to surprise of all, it turned out the Army was purposely biasing their tests to make the M14 win.

Here is what the tests found M16 vs M14:
>Army would continue testing the AR-15, finding that the intermediate cartridge .223 (5.56mm) rifle is much easier to shoot than the standard 7.62mm NATO M14 rifle
>found that 43% of AR-15 shooters achieved Expert, while only 22% of M-14 rifle shooters did so
>AR-15 was three times more reliable than the M14 rifle
>tests found that a 5- to 7-man team armed with AR-15s has the same firepower as 11-man team armed with M14s That soldiers armed with AR-15s could carry three times more ammunition as those armed with M14s (649 rounds vs 220 rounds)

Yet despite all of the data, the fuddy mcfudds shot it done because "muh 308" and "muh wood"

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i love the original m16 and ar look, modern ar's were a mistake

LeMay was also threatened the Army Ordnance Board that if they didn't stop dragging their feet he would immediately replace the M16 with ArmaLite's AR-18. Which was undergoing testing at the time.

ew

triangular hand guard looks way better than the ribbed cylinder
and fixed stock looks cooler than retracting

Just like how every (((politician))) puts Israel above the US

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Triangle handguards really only look good from the side.

Yeah, well rifles have to be designed according to set specs. They dicked around with those specs last minute, changing the powder to try and use up stores of ball powder. This changed the timing of the rifle. Some fucking bean counter wanted to reduce cost by not issuing them with cleaning kits and dropping chrome lining from barrels/chambers. Hence reduced corrosion resistance and insufficient cleaning kits in field. From some massive tome I read on the development of the AR-15/M16, I don't remember anything about Armalite or Colt actually alleging they were self-cleaning.

I get the point behind cost-savings and logistics. Ironically, they seem to stress it where bringing down unit costs will either be ineffectual or cause real harm, and dodge any concern about cost and time tables on projects where overages run into the billions. There's a point where everyone who mishandled the M16 acquisition and fielding process should have been hanged or locked away.

why was it ribbed