Vietnam era M16... Very cool firearm.

[#1bcshooter]

Technically, actual "M16" rifles do not ever have the forward assist, regardless of when they were made. The M16 was the official rifle of the Air Force, and they insisted on having no forward assist. They only changed this attitude with the adoption of the M16A2 in the mid 80's.

Conversely the Army insisted their rifles must have the forward assist. The rifles made under contract for them were designated XM16E1 or M16A1. And yes, they had the forward assist from day one, before the first US combat troops ever officially entered Vietnam.

Of course the US had all kinds of unofficial involvement in Vietnam before they officially sent in combat troops, and there was lots of use of commercial AR-15 rifles by special forces, military advisors, and the CIA, and these did not have the forward assist.

The Marines and Navy didn't much care one way or the other about the forward assist issue, and when they needed rifles they bought whatever was coming off the line that day, which of course was usually Army rifles, but not always.

Wrong
The Air Force was the first to adopt the AR platform but it was the AR15 NOT the M16 .
The M16 was a modification of the AR15 that the US Army adopted .
Neither the AR15 or M16 had a forward assist .
The forward assist came about as a result of the Army changing to ball powder in the 5.56 cartage .
Ball powder burned dirtier than the powder the cartage was originally loaded with & what Stoner designed the rifle around .
Not to mention the Army never issued cleaning kits with the M16 in Vietnam

[BattleRife]

Wrong

I stand by my post. Yours is rife with obvious errors.

When a US service type classifies a weapon it gets an 'M' number. The Air Force could not adopt a rifle under the code "AR15", it had to get an "M" number, and that number was M16.

The US Army never, ever adopted the M16. They bought 601, 602, XM16E1 and M16A1 rifles, but never the M16. Specifically because they wanted a forward assist on all issue rifles, based on experience with the Garand.

The US Army took delivery of 85,000 XM16E1 rifles, with forward assist, in 1964. The US 173rd Airborne entered combat in Vietnam in March 1965 armed with brand new XM16E1s. They all had forward assists. This was months before the first batch of ball powder loaded ammunition was delivered, and almost 2 years before the negative jamming publicity of the winter of 1966.

All of this is easily researched.

[#1bcshooter]

I stand by my post. Yours is rife with obvious errors.

When a US service type classifies a weapon it gets an 'M' number. The Air Force could not adopt a rifle under the code "AR15", it had to get an "M" number, and that number was M16.

The US Army never, ever adopted the M16. They bought 601, 602, XM16E1 and M16A1 rifles, but never the M16. Specifically because they wanted a forward assist on all issue rifles, based on experience with the Garand.

The US Army took delivery of 85,000 XM16E1 rifles, with forward assist, in 1964. The US 173rd Airborne entered combat in Vietnam in March 1965 armed with brand new XM16E1s. They all had forward assists. This was months before the first batch of ball powder loaded ammunition was delivered, and almost 2 years before the negative jamming publicity of the winter of 1966.

All of this is easily researched.

Time to redo your research .
Mine came from Eugene Morrison Stoner & several documenters & books on history of US weapons

[caramel]

My DA556 is very light.

[Dietz]

My god the amount pseudo-facts bouncing around....


Just watch this video before posting any statement about the M16:

[caramel]

I have found stuff to mount a scope on my DA556.

The loose stuff box is a magical box, i found a Burris 3X9X40 BDC, i found a mount for a carry handle that i cut, i found rings… Et voila

[HK41]

Pre-ordered this book from Amazon months ago. Only two more weeks to go:

Misfire: The Tragic Failure of the M16 in Vietnam Hardcover – Jul 26 2019
by Bob Orkand (Author), Lyman Duryea (Author)

[BattleRife]

From Stars & Stripes magazine (https://www.stripes.com/news/vietnam...277008#gallery)

[wrxs]

My early SP1 does not have a forward assist.

[can14]

I have an original xm16el and it has forward assist