Fixes and Aftermath
The growing intensity of the war in Vietnam was accompanied by a growth in the notoriety of the M16 as an unreliable weapon. The first step in addressing the problem was to walk back the claims that the M16 did not need cleaning, let alone the bonkers notion that it was a self cleaning rifle. Along with cleaning kits, which were belatedly issued to the troops, training manuals were hurriedly printed and distributed, instructing users on how to go about cleaning, maintaining, and troubleshooting problems with their M16s.
Design defects with the rifle and its ammunition were also addressed. Cartridges using cleaner firing powder – for which the M16 had been designed in the first place – replaced the dirtier ones that had been initially issued to the troops. The rifle itself was redesigned, resulting in an improved model, the M16A1, whose firing chamber was coated with chrome, drastically cutting down on the corrosion problems of the original version. The redesigned rifle also featured a forward assist, allowing troops to manually tap the bolt forward when necessary.
Between the new emphasis on training and instructing the troops on the proper cleaning and maintenance of their rifles, the cleaner firing cartridges, and the redesigned M16A1, the problems plaguing the original M16 were largely gone by 1968. For many front line combat troops, being in Vietnam might have still sucked, but being stuck in a war with an unreliable rifle was no longer among the reasons that made Vietnam an especially unpleasant experience.
The M16 is a great rifle in the hands of professionals who are trained to maintain and get the most out of it. It is not as forgiving a weapon as the AK-47, but for those who know how to take care of it, the M16 is a significantly better and higher performing firearm than its Russian counterpart. Unlike the AK-47, the M16 is not a rifle well suited for irregulars, peasant insurgents, and poorly trained guerrillas. It can not be buried in a swamp, then taken out and be expected to fire without mishap. M16 users are expected to maintain their weapon by cleaning and inspecting it on a daily basis, which makes it a, literally, higher maintenance weapon than the AK.
However, that higher maintenance is counterbalanced by higher performance. Professional soldiers – and the American military establishment is as highly professional a military organization as exists anywhere – are trained to maintain and clean their weapons as a matter of daily routine. It is not an onerous chore, but simply part of the job for professionals. In exchange, they can expect – and have gotten for decades now – higher performance from their M16 rifle family than their opponents who wield the AK-47 and its derivatives.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
American Rifleman – US M16: A Half Century of America’s Combat Rifle
Gunivore – History of the M16 Rifle
Pew Pew Tactical – A (Not So) Brief History of the M16
National Interest, The, October 1st, 2018 – Did the M16 Rifle Totally Fail During the Vietnam War?