From The Atlantic magazine June 1981.
Some of of us seasoned citizens might recall the really bad initial problems with fielding the M-16 in Vietnam. I recall arriving in-country to join the 5th Marines, 1s Marine Division in 1967 and told very clearly not to say anything bad about the rifle as a new platoon leader. We had not heard of any problems with the rifle before leaving for Vietnam as for the most part we still used the M-14 in stateside units from 1965-67. At one point early in my training I used the M-1 Grand. After a few months my initial M-16 issue was replaced with a model with chrome chamber and bird-cage flash suppressor. My platoons did not experience the jamming problems explained in the article as cleaning supplies and attention to cleaning the rifle often took care of it before it became a problem.
And from YouTube channel 'Forgotten Weapons';
Some of of us seasoned citizens might recall the really bad initial problems with fielding the M-16 in Vietnam. I recall arriving in-country to join the 5th Marines, 1s Marine Division in 1967 and told very clearly not to say anything bad about the rifle as a new platoon leader. We had not heard of any problems with the rifle before leaving for Vietnam as for the most part we still used the M-14 in stateside units from 1965-67. At one point early in my training I used the M-1 Grand. After a few months my initial M-16 issue was replaced with a model with chrome chamber and bird-cage flash suppressor. My platoons did not experience the jamming problems explained in the article as cleaning supplies and attention to cleaning the rifle often took care of it before it became a problem.
And from YouTube channel 'Forgotten Weapons';
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