M16 full auto or not?

We had a "shotgun guard" guy in the back of a deuce-and-a-half for a supply run in Korea. A slicky-boy cut the canvas and climbed in when we stopped at a stop sign. His idea was to throw stuff out for his buddies to carry off.

"Mousie" cut loose with his grease gun, at about five feet. Seriously ruined the slicky-boy. Messy.

And MPs and paperwork. Later, Mousie got a General Court Martial, was found guilty of manslaughter, fined one dollar and given a carton of cigarettes, which took care of any double-jeopardy issues.

Anyhow, the old grease gun ain't all bad, if you're not in front of it.
 
I went to Fort Knox in 1990 and we had the M16A1 with the full auto. Probably left over relics from Vietnam era. We never trained with anything but the semi-auto mode.
 
The FA M4A1 I handled was more reliable than any M16A2 or standard M4 I ever shot. (Whether I was even using a burst/auto function, or not.)

I too, think this is due to the complexity of the trigger group. However, I have to admit that the A2s and M4s were older, and much closer to being scrap metal than the M4A1.

That being said - I still prefer burst function over full auto. If you really need to spray, you can pull the trigger repeatedly. If you don't need to be reloading every 6 seconds; the burst function helps keep you on target, and not digging in your web gear.

There really is no good way to say which is better, definitively. We can list pros and cons all day, but in my mind; it all comes down to personal preference and the intended use.

I luckily never had to fire my weapon in combat. If I had... The selector switch would have been on "Semi".
 
Anyhow, the old grease gun ain't all bad, if you're not in front of it.
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I'll totally agree with you there Art. In fact contrar to what I said earlier inside of 25 or 30 yards the M-3 was downright useful. It was short, had a 30 rd mag and only 3 moving parts and 3 springs including the mag.
I remember try to think up a way to equip the M240 Coax with hand stocks so our tank loaders could take it out with them instead of the M-3. The powers that be were on that though as it did come to pass and I have heard our guys coming back say that the M240 is a Godsend. :D

Ken
 
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