/vr/ - Retro Games

>>7806854
>Aren't the M16's notoriously unreliable?

I'll sperg for a bit:
>M14 adoption taking stupid amounts of time and money, production going pretty poorly
>people in charge get convinced to adopt another rifle, but only as a stopgap because the SPIW project will be finished soon
>Colt Model 601 gets adopted as the M16
>SPIW never gets finished because it's a stupid bullshit idea
>M16 did extremely well in testing and soldiers love it early on
>very lightweight, very easy to shoot, very accurate, .223 Remington (5.56mm NATO) makes nasty as fuck wounds, especially when it hits bone
>magazines aren't too great though, but if you only load them with 18 rounds instead of the full 20, they usually work
>Robert MacNamara, Secretary Of Defense, and the patron saint of beancounters everywhere, decides that there's money to be saved, so let's change the gunpowder we're using for 5.56mm ammunition to a cheaper kind
>new gunpowder produces a lot more pressure
>increased pressure makes the action cycle faster, meaning timing problems like the bolt outrunning the magazine and giving you an empty chamber, or the hammer following the bolt instead of cocking and the trigger does nothing, or extracting too early
>new gunpowder was also dirty, which with Vietnam's humidity leads to pitting and corrosion in the chamber and bore, which can make cases stick in there if left to sit long enough
>originally it was supposed to have the bore and chamber chromed but they nixed that on adoption to save more money
>also you weren't issued a cleaning kit, because that costs money too, the gun totally cleans itself bro (lmao no, probably an attempt by the Army Board Of Ordnance to sabotage the M16 because they were bitter that their beloved M14 was replaced)