I'm not sure what you mean by, riflemen practice. I carried the M16 not the M1. We had BFA's when we were running field ops with an aggressor force. When we were just running fireteam and squad tactics we didn't use BFA's or blanks.
Rifleman practice is range time, quals, or any live-fire event. I carried a M16 early on but then became a M60 gunner for the balance of my time in. The only time we used BFA's in-field training and war games (your field ops with an aggressor force)
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