Good Point
Many, many of the M16s the Army gets are NOT made by a premium manufacturer, like Colt, Bushmaster, or Armalite. My 'A2 in basic/AIT was converted from an A1 (could see the A2 stamped over the A1 on the markings) and was made by some company I've never heard of. It only failed me once or twice on the range, though, although I don't believe I fired a single blank through it the whole time I was there. (that was deliberate; nothing is more of a pain in the a$$ to clean than an M16 with blank residue in it). Sold on the civilian market, and AR-15 of comperable condition wouldnt' be worth three hundred bucks, if I might say. The basic training rifles had probably had hundreds of thousands of rounds put through them, and weren't the best. My A1 that I use in the Guards, though, is in great conditon. We only get to fire them live once a year, and we only go on FTX's where you'd use blanks two or three times a year, so, although it's old, it's pretty pristine.
Many people seem to think "mil-spec" means it's the pinnacle of efficency and is battle proven. WRONG-O! Mil-spec means it was built by a government contractor at the lowest available price. Quality oftentimes suffers in favor of quantity, especially with something as needed in mass numbers as a rifle. It's just the way it is. It's that way with any manufactured good in the world. You get good ones and you get bad ones. Eugene Stoner's AR is not a bad design, BUT, there are better ones out there, and I think it's time for the US Armed Forces to tighten their belts, buy one less thirty billion dollar aircraft carrier or one less billion dollar stealth bomber and supply us grunts with some new rifles.