M16 rifle

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A US Army Soldier fires an M16 rifle.

The M16, formally the United States Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16, is an assault rifle developed by Eugene Stoner. The rifle is based on the ArmaLite AR-15 series of rifles. The M16 was originally designed for US soldiers as a replacement for the M14 rifle.

Unfortunately, many problems with the M16 were exposed during the Vietnam war. Due to their cheap manufacture, M16s were prone to jamming, had notoriously bad firing consistency, and would also occasionally explode, due to two rounds entering the chamber at once. Eventually, they were phased out of use by soldiers in Vietnam, who opted for more reliable weapons. Recent remodels of the M16 has yielded the M16A2, M16A3, and the M16A4, which have corrected the many problems that their predecessor encountered.