How Old is My M16?

Demolitions? Ooooh boy! Fun stuff. When I was in NCO academy we had to run two patrols with demo. TNT for one and a slab of C-4 the second time. They had no problem finding the demo man. Me! Me! I'll do it! :D


Funniest thing I saw in the Army was when we did the demo range in NCO academy. We all prepared our little TNT charge with 18 inches or so of fuse, and an M-60 igniter. We set our charges, pulled the ring, and several had to be restrained from immediately running away. No, you've got to check to see your fuse is burning first. It is? Okay, now you can walk back to the bunker.

Picture a big black guy, maybe 6'4", with an equally big instructor holding him back by the collar like a dog on a leash, while he leannnnnned into his shirt as he headed back to the bunker as fast as the sergeant would let him move. And he had the biggest eyes I have ever seen on any man! :D
 
Granted, the modern demolitions and initiators we use (MDI) is a lot less fussy than the old electircal stuff. Safer, too. To the point where riding in the back of a track, sitting on top of five 40-lb (TNT) cratering charges, with 12lbs of C4 strapped to my chest doesn't bother me. You just try not to think about it. The Army assures us it's perfectly safe, after all. :eek: :rolleyes:

Haste makes waste, though. We had one hard-charging, particularly anal sergeant rush a bunch of fresh-out-of-AIT privates through their demo setup at Grayling last year. It ended up not going off properly, and a couple guys had to run out there and plant charges next to a burned but not exploded shaped charge, risking their lives. All because one hard charger wanted to be hooah and high-speed. :rolleyes:

It'd be less worrysome if we messed with live demo more than once a year. Running around with plastic explosives and TNT is the kind of thing you don't want to get rusty at, you know?

Yeah, though, Michigan Tech ROTC gets to borrow our M16s and SAWs on occasion. Hell, JROTC used to get to play with 'em, before PC set in at my old high school. I learned how to field strip an M16 when I was 14. :)
 
At any rate, on the side of the magazine well it has a Colt logo and says "Colt AR-15". Beneath that aways, amongst various serial numbers, it has something like "M16A1 Mod" stamped on it, leading me to believe that my rifle is modified from a semiauto AR-15, or something
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It is not a conversion. Colt really did make full-auto weapons that were stamped AR-15. Almost of of the ones that went to the civilian market prior to the ban in in May 1986 were stamped this way. Only the ones going to the DOD were stamped M16**.

If you want to check, just open it up and check for a DIAS. It will not be there.
 
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The Colt M16s were all rollstamped "Colt AR15 Model M16, IIRC.

The civilian clone Colt was marked exactly the same except the model was SP1.
 
Since this thread is still alive and kicking, I took a look around my harddrive and finally found some pictures of a VERY old Colt/Armalite AR15 that was found in the back of some reserve unit's armoury.

These are the pictures of the gun I mentioned in my post on the top of this thread, just took me a long time to track them down on my harddrive.

Look at the charging handle, delta ring, slab sided lower, absence of a FA, and absence of any brass deflector. They don't get much older than this rifle, piece of history and amazing it's still in such condition.


http://home.bak.rr.com/varmintcong/DCP_0064.jpg
http://home.bak.rr.com/varmintcong/DCP_0062.jpg
http://home.bak.rr.com/varmintcong/DCP_0055.jpg
http://home.bak.rr.com/varmintcong/DCP_0057.jpg


So Nightcrawler, how closely does the gun you describe fit the rifle I pictured? I even have a picture of the above rifle's firing pin retaining pin from the bolt carrier, it's not the little split cotter pin but a machined piece of metal.
 
All of our M16s have the forward assist. They also have the cotter pin in the bolt carrier group.

I have Annual Training on August 3rd-17th. I'll try to get the beginning digits of some serial numbers of both the Colt and the Hydra-Matic M16s, to maybe get a better idea of their exact age.

Now if anybody really wants an arcaheology project, try and date our M113A2s. :o
 
Don't go knockin the M113. there was a time when it was the only reliable tracked vehicle the Army had.

You young punks are spoiled with all this great equipment the Army has now.

And you don't have to eat Ham n Lima beans :barf:


:D
 
These Rifles will continue in service forever

Nightcrawler,

I would guess that most of the ones marked Colt AR15 have serial numbers in the 4 million range. The ones my Guard unit turned in last December did. We even had a couple of XM16E1s that had been upgraded to M16A1s. I would guess that your Colts were made in 1965 or 1966 and the Hydromatics were built a little later. I don't have my copy of The Black Rifle here at work so I can't check to be sure.

When the Army adopted the M16A2 as standard in 1985, they decided to stop buying parts that were common to both the M16A1 and M16A2. As soon as all the triangle handguards, A1 pistol grips and A1 stocks were used up, they started putting A2 furniture on them. It was not an attempt to upgrade, but just plain and simple economics.

Now fast forward to 2002. My son who just gradutated from Infantry OSUT on 14 June was issued an M16A4 that started life as a Colt AR15 back about the same time yours did. The Army recently let a contract for conversion kits to upgrade many of these older weapons to M16A2s and M16A4s. I guess they have decided that the reinforcements on the lower receiver that was part of the original A2 design aren't necessary. So when you finally trade your old A1s in, you might get some back, only upgraded to A2s or A4s.

Jeff
 
Ham n Lima beans
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You just had to do that, didn't you?!? :mad: We had a nice thread going here and you had to bring that stuff into it!!! I suppose next you'll be talking about spaghetti! :mad:


Bleh.


;)


Anyway, Nightcrawler, the bottom line answer to your question is..

Older than YOU!

:D
 
M113

Problem with our 113s is this: Right up until 98 or so, my unit was wheeled. Then the Army switched us to Mech, and we ended up getting somebody's old M113A2s. There's boxes inside of them marked for 7.62mm ammunition, for crying out loud. (We mount fifty cals on them.) Some of them run okay. Some of them run...well, there's this one that on the best of days and after superhuman efforts of the mechanics can barely pull 25mph. We used to have a huge hard time getting parts for these things, but...well, I think in a lot of ways they're maybe worn out. They're a pain in the butt to PMCS, too.

Don't know ham and lima beans. Things have improved in that aspect. I still sleep in shelter halves, though. You know the canvas ones the US has been using since WWII? Yeah. I got 'em.

But the food...I know I'm not the only one here to experience the horror of the Vegetarian MRE, right? :barf:
 
Hey, I think some of the vegetarian MRE's are pretty decent. I like the minestrone 'soup' for instance.

The only one I truly despise are the franks and beans. Those hot dogs are nasty, salty things.
 
I love the meat brick.

A.K.A. "Ham slice". In MRE's, all meat, whether they call it chicken, pork, or beef, tastes the same. The ham slice is a little compressed brick of meat with little fake grill lines on it. I'm always humored by the image of some worker in the MRE factory drawing the grill lines on with a magic marker...

The peanut butter plugs you up. For like, days.
 
Every time I've watched the movie American Pie and I hear the phrase "s*** brick" I think of what MREs will do to a person.
 
I haven't a clue how to date your rifle but I'll add a bit of my experiences to the thread.

The guy you described who was 6'4" with wide eyes? That MUST have been the same guy next to me in the gas chamber at Parris Island who bolted for the door when he took off his mask. He got his hand on the knob before 3 drill instructors wrestled him to the ground and made him go through the mask drill. All guys in military stories who get scared to death are 6'4", right? ;)

I've only had the experience of handling M16A2 rifles in the Marine Corps, I have no idea what's in the armory at the air base. I do remember that all the M16A2 serial numbers began with the number 6 that I saw, and I seem to remember an armorer saying it was a trait of a military rifle. Who knows? I was amazed the first time I'd seen an A1 up close, it was from a PA NG infantry company on an exercise in Estonia. I thought they sold/gave them all away and that every US troop had an A2. I guess in the Marine Reserves we had much better luck with equipment, although it did take several YEARS to get Barrett .50cal sniper rifles.

Those "beans & franks" were called baby d*cks by many in my Reserve unit. The omelete with ham was terrible when they still had it, but when they introduced the new meals I was surprised at how edible they are. Have you tried the arctic rations? Those are great, more stuff to eat in them than you know what to do with. Another Marine Reserve story related to the cold weather rats, supposedly during one of the exercises in Norway, a young Marine refused to go outside to make a sit-down head call since it was so cold in the field. He experienced a rupture in his intestines and was medevaced to Ramstein AB, where he later died. Sad.
 
Hey Cap,

Question is - do you have a P-38 on your dogtag chain? :D I still have the scar where IMT drills convincced me that that was a bad idea....

I ate so many C rats that I had the location of every meal memorized in the case. I could always snag the tuna
 
Yeah, I know what a C-Rat is. My dad had 'em in Vietnam, and he told me about them.

I have a P-38 on my keychain; bought it when I was like 8, because my dad had one on HIS keychain. It comes in handy once in awhile for things (though I've never opened a can with it). More often than not I stab myself in the finger when I'm digging for my keys. :o

I LIKE the MRE Cheese. It's good with the crackers, and not as, well, frightening as the peanut butter. EVERYBODY loves the cheese. So natrually only one in five MREs has it, right? Yeah. LOL
 
Question is - do you have a P-38 on your dogtag chain?
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NO way! You can get hurt that way!

It's on my key ring, where every sensible man carries it. :D


My dad had 'em in Vietnam, and he told me about them.
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:p Smart alek kid!


;)


Hey, when you can open a coke can with one, then you're good. ANYbody can open a C-rat can.


But you younger men have missed out on some fun, not having C-rats. The cheese makes a nice explosion when you toss it in the fire. Unopened. :D

Applesauce makes a muffled WHUMP kind of sound, and sprays hot applesauce for about 5 feet. Peanut butter is almost as explosive as cheese, though. It's the small size of the can, I think.

The pound cake is worthless for entertainment, though. Or eating! :barf:
 
Oh Cmon Capt Hoek. The C rat cheese made a great heater for the Ham N Limas ( Ham and Mother------s to grunts) when mixed with GI bug repellent. (the kind that came in the squeeze bottle)

Only REMFS wore P38's on their dog tag chain. Grunts took regular can openers with them. The kind you squeeze together and turn the knob. Also had a beer bottle cap opener which came in handy.

Key ring, of course you use a grenade ring right? Lost mine a long time ago, wish I could find another.

I still have a B1 unit "Beef with spiced sauce" intact and in the box. Found it in an old duffel bag.

That is the one that would shoot 3 feet if you heated the can before opening, believe it was the replacement for H N L.

Think I should donate it to a museum:D
 
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