El Rojo: great work - i'm inspired !
Dude: I hope you can carry that M16 for a long and successful career. My concern is that you may be buried with it instead.
Some historical perspective:
Recall that the inital/intended use of the AR design by the US was at SAC bases guarding B-52's - as supplement/replacement to the handguns they carried. In this role it was probably perfect - light, handy, keep in the guard shack most of the day, cleaned a lot, shot at the range under carefully controlled conditions to requalify, useful for whacking varmints out on far-away runways when you go bored. As such, it compiled a sterling reliabilty record - which was later used as one argument for its adoption as general issue rifle.
IMHO the adoption of the AR series as a general issue service weapon was a badly flawed decision based on extrapolated data and poor theoretical models. There was also an element of inter-service rivalry (whaaa...how come them zoomies can have new toys and we can't). And the biased reliability record already described.
The majority of my 22 yr military career was spent on USN small craft (minesweeps, "research vessels"). Although we were suppose to have M16's, we carried fiberglass stocked M14's on board instead. Every single shipboard CO I served with had the option of swapping those M14's for M16's. Not one did - as most had personal experience with the M16's failures in combat during their patrol gunboat tours. The rest had learned to listen.
A month after I retired from the reserves I bought myself a little "retirement present"- a new M1A. It's the only semi-auto centerfire I own or will (hopefully) ever need.
sign me up to the club MADDOG
-ric
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