What's Your Favorite Firearm Myth?

Some myths I put up with, because I use the single-shot specialty pistols.
You cannot safely use a rifle scope on a specialty pistol.
Short barrels are not as accurate as long barrels.
You cannot shoot small groups at Long-Range (Implied that both have scopes on them) because you don't have a cheek weld with a specialty pistol (Remington XP-100).
Short barrels 14-16 inches long don't shoot accurate because they don't have a good enough powder burn.
Short barrels cannot be chambered in magnum cartridges and be accurate.
You have to use powder that has much faster burn rates when having a specialty pistol chambered in rifle cartridge, than you do with a rifle.
 
“You cannot shoot cast bullets out of a .32 ACP Beretta 81!” Told to me almost 50 years ago by an old Wimbledon shooter....


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You have to use powder that has much faster burn rates when having a specialty pistol chambered in rifle cartridge, than you do with a rifle.
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I've heard these, and while most are BS, this one is closer to reality than the others. You don't HAVE to use faster powder, but you might WANT to...

Took me decades to figure out the (now obvious) reason Remington made the .221 Fireball for the XP-100 pistol. Beyond having us buy another Rem product, why not just make it in .222 or even .223??

It's about efficiency. The .221 case holds all the powder you can burn in the guns' 10" barrel. The larger .222 and .223 cases hold more powder than you can use, and don't get significantly better velocity, so that extra powder (and the space it takes up) is simply going to waste.

If you're shooting a rifle caliber handgun (say .308 Win) or something like that, you might want to use a faster powder than what the factory puts in them, for improved efficiency in your gun.
 
My M-16 in basic absolutely was stamped "Mattel" on the side of the lpwer receiver with the Mattel logo. Asked my drill Sgt about it and he explained the whole government contract thing and finished with 'It's still no damn toy'.

The Mattel M-16 is a fact. Basic March-April of 1988 Ft. Jackson, SC.
 
The sound of a shotgun being racked in the dark, unexpectedly, was all it took to stop me doing anything further other than what the man holding the shotgun told me to do. And I did exactly what he said to do. :D
 
reynolds357 said:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/m-16-made-mattel/


We had some old A1s loaned to us from DOD yhrough some kind of grant program. They had Mattel plainly stamped on them.
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Stamped on them where? Because the link you posted seems to contradict your claim...

The Mattel legend was undoubtedly fed by the fact that Mattel really did sell an M-16 Marauder toy gun in the mid-1960s, a quite good reproduction of the actual weapon, complete with “realistic” sound effects:
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To the troops in the field, the original M-16 was new, it was small, it was light, it was made of plastic rather than wood, and it often performed poorly to boot. It was no surprise that many of them started expressing their dissatisfaction by referring to it derisively as a cheaply-made “toy,” and that they associated it with the most prominent toy company of the time: Mattel, the Hawthorne, California, toy manufacturer famous for introducing the Barbie doll to the world:
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The only reference was that Mattel might have made the pistol grip... and yet no pictures or proof seem to exist.

Mattel never made real firearms. However, memories can fade.

Jim
 
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Did a small search here and there has been a lot of discussion about Mattel and the M16, including one thread from 2001 where individuals clamed, they had one, that the word "Mattel" was without the Mattel logo, and one that claimed that Mattel made the first molds for Armalite's plastic furniture.

Sadly a photo is no longer conclusive proof, though as far as I know no one has yet provided one of a stock, pistol grip or forearm with the word "Mattel" on it.

As far as I'm concerned, until a see a verifiably "undoctored" picture of a pistol grip saying Mattel in a package with the FSN, I'll have my doubts.

The military has had a LOT of gun parts, and some entire guns made by companies who are not usually gun makers. M16s (lowers anyway) from GM, 4.2" mortar tubes from Whirlpool, Rock-o-la M1 carbines, Singer .45s to name just a few.

IF, by "favorite myth" you mean the one I feel is most untrue yet constantly repeated, then it would be the myth that stopping power is a quantifiable thing that can be placed on a numeric scale and consistently applied to every shot from a given load and caliber.
 
There may have been some plastic parts with "Mattel" stamped on them, but Mattel didn't do it. Letter stamps are a common tool in armories, and it wouldn't be surprising that some armorers had some fun with them. But there is not one single shred of proof anywhere that Mattel made M-16 parts. No factory workers, designers, no contracts, no build sheets, not even a single part on gunbroker or ebay EVER.
 
Another favorite.....

Fluting barrels makes them stiffer.

Why?

Metal has been removed that resisted bending.

However, they will cool down a few percent faster.
 
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bipe215 said:
There may have been some plastic parts with "Mattel" stamped on them, but Mattel didn't do it. Letter stamps are a common tool in armories, and it wouldn't be surprising that some armorers had some fun with them. But there is not one single shred of proof anywhere that Mattel made M-16 parts. No factory workers, designers, no contracts, no build sheets, not even a single part on gunbroker or ebay EVER.
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Technically, it would be illegal to sell parts from a Govt M-16 on gunbroker or e-bay unless it was first sold surplus. Were any sold surplus to the public? I doubt it. Any that went to L.E. cant be sold.
 
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