Colt M16

From Gunpedia

M16 Country of origin United States of America Designer Colt Production begins 1964 Production ends February 28, 1967 Weapon type Assault Rifle Caliber 5.56 x 45 mm NATO (.223 Remington), M193 Action Gas operated, Rotating bolt Overall length 986 millimeters Barrel length 508 millimeters Weight empty 2.9 kilograms Magazine capacity 20 or 30 rounds Rate of fire 650 - 750 rounds per minute Maximum effective range 460 meters Muzzle velocity 945 meters per second Other operators Israel, Greece, others

The M16 Assault Rifle family, developed by Colt, is one of the more widely recognized assault rifles today, following the AK-47. Firing a 5.56mm round (.223 caliber), and being made mostly of plastic, along with it's distinguishing black color and long fore-grip, this weapon was prone to some severe problems.

The dust cover on the ejector port of the weapon did not seal it against dust, which got into the loading mechanism and as a result, it jammed quite often without regular cleaning. Through various versions of the weapon, attempts were made to solve this problem, with little success. Another problem was the quality of the gunpowder in the casings, causing an incredible buildup of residue unless it was cleaned often. And since Colt had promoted the weapon as 'low maintenance', the initial weapons did not have cleaning kits, and as a result, many soldiers threw away their M16s for enemy AK-47s, at the risk of being shot by their own troops.

Now, there is a cleaning kit in the buttstock of the weapon, and is lower maintenance than it's first version, but it still requires extensive cleaning for optimal performance.

[edit] See Also

• Armalite AR-10
• Armalite AR-15
• Colt M16A1
• Colt M16A2
• Colt M16A3
• Colt M16A4
• Infantry Automatic Rifle

[edit] References

• Modern Firearms - Armalite / Colt AR-15 / M16 assault rifle (USA)
• Wikipedia - M16 rifle
• XM16M2HB