Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/901315
SHORT M16 HISTORY History of M16 rifle begin in 1950's when Eugene Stoner de- signed .308 AR-10 rifle with groundbreaking direct gas impinge- ment where powder gas is directed through side port of the bar- rel and further without gas piston. Except distinctive carrying handle rifle was characterized by use of aluminum alloys what resulted in low weight. Another version was AR-15 adjusted to work with .223 Remington ammunition that was invented in 1957 and after many problems was adopted by… USAF as first branch of US Armed FOrces. At the beginning there were problems with re- liability but in 1964 USAF introduced AR-15 as M16 rifle and two years later US Army placed order for 840,000 of enhanced XM16E1 rifles that were adopted on 28th February 1967 under official "US Rifle, 5.56, M16A1" designation. Purchase of new weapon system was determines as "temporary and single time" but as soon as it was clear – that makeshift least to this day. In 1982 US Armed Forces adopted modified M16A1E1 devel- oped one year earlier in cooperation between Colt and USMC as M16A2. It was equipped with new heavier barrel with higher twist ratio, new hand guard, modified sights and trigger mech- anism that allowed to fire single and three round busts. In 1983 new rifles started to go into Marines hands and from 1985 also started to replace old M16A1 in US Army. M16A4 Latest iteration of M16 used by US Armed Forces is M16A4 (NSN 1005-01-383-2872) and was issued in USMC in 29th of July 1997, but in fact was presented two years earlier. First contract of total value of $6,371,568 for delivery of 32,000 rifles was awarded for Colt's Manufacturing Company Inc. (DAAE20-98-C-0119). It was fully accomplished in 2001. Next contracts for M16A4 rifles were assigned mostly to Colt's and Knight's Armament Corp. but in the wake of fi- nancial problems first one, last awards went to FN Herstal USA (now FN America). www.fragoutmag.com