The early days of the M16 rifle in Vietnam

[browningautorifle]

I have used it, as it is part of our drills with the C7

That's only because it's our drills. If we had started using the bolt catch, and just allowing the bolt forward by it's self we wouldn't cause the stoppage you speak of. We do the drills wrong for the rifle, against it's design. The actual bolt closure device can buy you into more trouble by hammering a round in instead of clearing it out and carry on.

OP needs to get the book "The Black Rifle" and read comprehensively. Otherwise we'll have the whole book posted here in forum. The questions and answers are simple, and all covered...no cleaning kits were initially issued. When Eugene Stoner went to RVN to find out what was happening, he was informed by the USMC there that no maintenance of any kind was being done. Yes, the wrong powder was used, fouling the bore until he couldn't see light.

Yes, waffle mags were steel and rusted in jungle conditions. The next mag was better, and then after teething problems the 30 rd came along...

The rifle that went around the world for demo was old #4 and hadn't had any stoppages that the rifleman demonstrator could remember...he'd shot a phenomenal amount of ammo through it by the end of the sales tour.

[Bob Womack]

Dick Culver has two very thorough papers on the saga of the M16 in Vietnam that begin with MacNamarra's cost saving efforts (using up old stores of "dirty" powder, eliminating chrome plating of the chamber). The chrome plated chamber was very important in the cycling of the firearm. Because of the weapon's timing, extraction began while the brass casing was still "obturated" or expanded from the expanding force of the gas discharge. Without the chrome lining, the coefficient of drag imposed by the chamber upon the obturated case was enough to cause a higher than acceptable failure to extract.

Dick also mentioned a derivative failure that occurred in 1968 when the chrome was reintroduced: Once it was discovered that the deletion of the chrome was causing issues, the lining was added back. However, in the production spec with the chrome deleted, the size of the chamber had been properly adjusted downwards to replace the diameter in the prototypes taken up by the prototype's chrome lining. When they reintroduced the chrome lining, it didn't seem right to pitch the already manufactured barrels so they simply chrome lined them -but they didn't re-ream them to make space for the addition of the chrome. As a result, the new chrome-lined barrels went into action and exhibited the same failure to extract, but this time, as it turned out, because the chambers were now out of spec. Talk about a bureaucratic inability to win!

Bob

[browningautorifle]

it didn't seem right to pitch the already manufactured barrels so they simply chrome lined them -but they didn't re-ream them to make space

Sounds about right...we had a similar thing with our original C8 carbines...

[green]

Regarding the forward assist in the competition between the M14 and the FN for US service rifle it was very close. The M14 bolt could be manually assisted to close whereas the FN could not. The US specs were changed to require a manual bolt close feature which gave the M14 a few more points.
IMHO when the M16A1 was adopted it appears this spec was carried over and so we have the forward assist.

[browningautorifle]

when the M16A1 was adopted it appears this spec was carried over and so we have the forward assist.

The air force wanted it gone but the army wanted a bolt closure like the M1 or M14 had. Then there was the discussion about which side... Stoner himself was against it.

[RCS]

Like the AR-10, the very early AR-15 rifles had the cocking handle on top inside the handle like an upside-down trigger, You could open the bolt carrier back or push it closed with this type of handle, but it would
have been difficult with gloves

[Ovidio]

In “Dead Center, A Marine’s Sniper Two-Year Odissey In The Vietnam War”, from Ed Kugler, he tells the story of a green company getting caught in an ambush and being beaten up pretty bad (35 KIA, if I’m not wrong). The guys were carrying M16’s, and Kugler says he found quite some fallen curled over a half-stripped rifle.
Bad enough.

[old tanker]

Has anyone ever themselves or witnessed another use the forward assist?

I have used the forward assist to close the bolt after riding it forward while trying to chamber a round as quietly as possible.

In most other circumstances, if the bolt traveling normally fails to close completely, the round is bent or some thing is interfering. If you are lucky, hitting the forward assist well let it chamber and normal firing will resume. If you are unlucky you will have jammed things to the point you can't get the round to fire nor can you get it out of the chamber. Worse, the bolt carrier will be out just enough, you will have trouble because it is partly in the buffer tube.

By July of 1969, the Army was getting the word out to the troops...

DA_Pamphlet_750-30

[Eaglelord17]

That's only because it's our drills. If we had started using the bolt catch, and just allowing the bolt forward by it's self we wouldn't cause the stoppage you speak of. We do the drills wrong for the rifle, against it's design. The actual bolt closure device can buy you into more trouble by hammering a round in instead of clearing it out and carry on.

100%, again as mentioned the one time I have seen that it would have prevented a stoppage was due to operator error the exact one mentioned by yourself. I personally am against the forward assist, extra weight which doesn't really serve much of a purpose.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

The "Ball Powder" fiasco was just one of the "edicts" that caused dramas.

"Self-Cleaning"? Yep, that'll work.......in a wet tropical region.

That "vintage" buffer was a straight, scaled-down lift from the AR-10, A rifle that the AR-15 only looked like and sort-of worked like.

Forward "assists" and reciprocating cocking handles have one BIG problem. You do NOT want to have the heel of your hand on one when the bolt slams forward and a round fires. Only did it ONCE with a questionable M-1 Garand. What followed was a quick trip to the hospital to have a dozen stitches inserted to put all the bulldozed flesh back in place.