Ok Eric, did you know the carrier was designed as bore guide for cleaning? just remove bolt and firing pin then reinsert the carrier and run the cleaning rod thru the firing pin hole! Eugene Stoner was a genius indeed!
@@thepyrodude The FACT is it is a AR so it don't need cleaned. I can't count how many thousand rounds through my AR-10 in the last 10 years and I will never clean it. The most it gets is some gun lube added to it ever few cases of ammo.
Here’s a fact that most of your viewers probably know, but a lot of others don’t including politicians and judges. The AR15 is protected by the Constitution.
Fact, the army ordnance corps actively sabotaged the development of the AR and that's why it had such a rough start in vietnam. They did this because it came from an outside private company and thus threatened their jobs. A congressional investigation later called the ordnance corps criminally negligent.
Wasn’t one of the big issues related to the powder the government contracted? Something about it not being the powder that was called for proper operation? There were several rounds of negligence and our fighting people died because of it.
I've heard that McNamara stopped the chroming of the chamber & barrel as too expensive. This caused corrosion in the jungle and was later corrected. The "Toy gun" came from Mattel, but also cause it was a small rifle that shot cute little "Toy" bullets?!?! GI's didn't like the "Toy" gun and elected for the new M14 as the action was already tried and true from the Garand and M1 Carbine. They also didn't like that cute little bullet and opted for the 30-06 or the 06 looking .308!!! Spent time at Fort Ord in 72 - 75 ROTC! Talked with lots of training warriors!!!
@davemo04 yes the powder used was "ball powder" used in the older bolt action rifles. This was not the kind of powder specified for this rifle. Because the war in Nam needed so many millions of rounds, the correct ammo had run out and they switched the powder which caused the first issues and that was fouling. Since the rifles were sold as "self cleaning" the soldiers were not issued cleaning kits until after. The humid tropical environment exacerbated the problem even more. Chrome lining was eventually added to stop the corrosion issue and the men were issued cleaning kits and instructions.
@@jpcolbert357yea I really believe that the Army Ordinance tried their best to mess up the Armalite image and push their agenda with the M14. The good ole boy "larger is better" in bullet size. It's true to a point but now we see that in hind sight. I wouldn't buy an AR until just 8 years ago knowing our guys died in that jungle with their rifles jammed. I swore to never own one after hearing friends who fought over there had an inferior weapon issued by the gov. Thanks to learning more, I love the platform and swear by it not at it. Thanks for your service by the way. I was too young to go but knew guys who did serve.
I qualified with an M16A1 last century. TBH, I knew most of these, but this was still a good video. Many years ago I saw a special on TV about the change in gunpowder that caused the problems with it initially in Nam.
Worth mentioning, John Browning's .30 cal Model of 1917 water cooled machine gun was designed so that it could be disassembled with a 30-06 cartridge as well. This feature remained part of all successive models through the 1919A6. Good on Stoner for recognizing the same convenient simplicity.
Similar with a *TRUE* 1911 (not so much the modern copies) - The gun itself IS the "toolkit" - I've forgotten most of the details, but you pull one piece off, and it's the tool to take the next piece off, and each time you come to a point where you're thinking "I need a tool to get this part off", one of the parts you've already removed (usually, but not always, the last part you removed before hitting the "I need a tool" part) is the tool you need to remove the part you're "stuck" on. Even the mainspring is a tool for messing with another part of the weapon. No coincidence that Browning was the brains behind that one, too...
Cmmg also has really great customer service. I bought a 22lr conversion kit 5-6 years ago. Part of the bolt broke not long ago after thousands of rounds. I reached out trying to buy a replacement part. They replied back asking for a picture of the piece that broke and my mailing address. Didn’t ask another question a few days later the part was in my mailbox. They definitely stand by their products
I was first handed a M16A1 in the mid 70s. I was told be very careful with it as it cost your government $65. The very first ones had a 1/14 twist barrel. Good video I knew all 5. The reason for going to the birdcage flash hider over the 3 pronged was troops were using it to break metal bands on shipping pallets. Yes the 3pronged got folage in them but troops could learn to be careful. Good video.
Eric, good video. U.S. Army 1984 thru 1991. Had several M16A1's issued to me at various duty stations. Shot 40 out of 40 most of the time. Carried it through Desert Shield/Storm. I never had an issue. As a range NCO, I did see alot of issues. Some were the weapons fault and some the soldiers. Most of the time our armors would come to the range with us and resolve most of the weapons issues. Great weapons platform!
@@davidschaadt3460 The Army wanted it. Why? Because previous rifles had a way of forcing the bolt into battery. Never ever had to use the forward assist.
1:44 1 Hybrid Direct Impingement 4:00 2 No Forward Assist Initially 5:59 3 Drainage Grommets 7:12 4 Cartridge Disassembly Tool 9:31 5 Unreliable Function Myth 11:12 🃏 Mattel Toy Company 327 Fed Mag is the best Snub Nose Revolver Cartridge. It fires 32 S&W which has zero recoil. It also shoots 32 H&R and 32 ACP. Plus you get Six Shots instead of Five!
My father was in Vietnam in 66-67. He trained with the m14. He told me when they got to Vietnam they we're issued the m16 and he hated it because it was always jamming. He said alot of guys would tape cleaning rods to the forearm so they could un jam it thru the bore. He always told me how much he liked the m14. I bought a m1a clone of the m14 and handed it to him, he was 75 at the time. After a few minutes he told me to get that heavy son of bitch of him.😂😂
I think a lot of the issues with the early M16 was the magazines did not have anti-tilt followers which is awful, and also the cleaning schedule I don't think was correctly understood. I actually heard the gun was initially pitched as "self cleaning" because of the DI system gas blast that went back into the chamber that - theoretically - should clear out any muck.
I was in the 101st airborne with 2/327th infantry regiment in year 2000. I didn't like the M4 rifle due to it jamming a lot. The problem was the magazines giving me double feeds most of the time. One time I had a round fly backwards and get stuck between the upper side of the bolt and the frame. It took a pair of pliers to get rip it out of there. I trust a semi-auto 12 gauge shotgun more than a M4. Of course all the AR15 fans will have a million excuses for my experience to downplay it so they can lift up the AR15 as the god of guns. I wouldn't trust an M4 with my life no matter what enhancements its been given over the last 20 years. That forward assist is a stupid thing to be needed on a gun too.
The biggest problem was the lack of chromo bore. The jungle environment caused significant corrosion, and pitting in the bore will cause stuck casings on every shot regardless of how clean the gun is. This problem is true for every gun, not just the AR. The US knew this problem existed since the pacific theater in ww2, but the ordnance corps purposely did not chromo line the M16s because they want it to fail. The jamming was by design and people died because of it.
The video you and Chad had on AR assembly from way back when was the best tutorial I’ve ever come across. I assembled my first AR Using that as a resource, before I’d ever even shot one. Just wanted to say thanks, nearly a decade or more later
In boot camp, we were told that the notch on the side of the bolt carrier could be used a bolt forward assist. If needed, using your thumb, you could push the bolt carrier forward and the bolt into battery.
I trained on the M-16 while in USAF basic training in 1967. The rifles we used had a forward assist and as I remember, did not say Mattel on the furniture. With my warped sense of humor, I would have certainly picked up on that.
@@User5_ according to several sources. There is known source, that Mattel was ever a sub contractor for any M16 part, however the Mattel Marauder was apparently used by the Militarry as training or exersise stand in
@@brandonknopff1260 very specific situation, the rifle bumped the ground with the butstock, which caused to open up the bolt slightly and the action spring seemed not to have enough force to push the bolt home. Some say, with a propper AR-15 that wouldn't have happen. But, yes, anything thta can happen, will eventualle happen atleast once. In exactly that situation, the FWD Assist is actually helpfull but that is next to beeing the only situation.
Back in the day, I remember being told as a young Marine that the 5.56 ball ammo we were issued had a projectile that was weighted slightly off center. This was what caused the legendary "travel throughout the target" capability of the round. Knowing what I know now about ballistics, I look back on what I was told about the M-16 when I was in the Corps and marvel. Man, was I gullible!
Great video, Great content. My grandfather was an MP for McArthur and was issued a Singer 1911. He also wound up with an M1928A1 Thompson, don't know how he got that! Thank you. God Bless and stay safe.
If only Connecticut didn’t ban it. SCOTUS needs to do the right thing, and declare gun bans unconstitutional. I didn’t know the cartridge could be used as a tool. Thanks, Eric.
Legal work around is to buy a stripped lower and build it out. As long as it's a fixed 10rd mag for .223/5.56/ect or detachable 10rd .22, you are okay. The .22 lr conversion kit in a .223/5.56 is kind of grey area though. The hardest part is finding a store that sells lowers. Hit me up if you have some questions, I'll do my best to answer.
The courts will never restore constitutional government to the US. We need police to stop colluding with the tyrants by enforcing unconstitutional laws, and we need juries to stop convicting people of violating them.
As a matter of fact,, my Drill instructor explained every one of these on my M-16. I have been down that road a truly misunderstood firearm that has proven it's self through these years since it's reality of the 1950's.
In the 70s I bought Colt SP1 AR-15 for70 to 90 dollars I had no military experience with the M16s being in the Coast Guard. We had Garrands and Thompson. I wasn’t up on the system for awhile but you got me with the drain hole. Good video and info. Like the change and keep up the good A2 life. Richard
1-knew,2-knew,3-knew, 4-knew, knew, knew, 5-knew. Guess my time as a unit armorer shows still! My basic training M16 was built by the GM hydra matic corporation.
A Singer 1911A1 and a Bren Ten are my two dream guns to own. Great video. I think it is a great idea to continue with these type. I am a bit older so sometimes the info is not new but sharing this kind of information to pass to the next generation is so important.
The issue wasn’t the lack of cleaning kits alone but also the wrong powder they used. It raised the pressure at the gas port by like 10,000 psi or something resulting in an increase in rate of fire which bartered the guns till they had catastrophic failures that seized the gun completely.
My favorite is the best gun ever made the new MDRX in .308 with the 20in barrel. The trigger is amazing right out the box and the controls work great with me being a lefty. @@awsomedude9111
I loved the cartridge-tool thing! Takes me back to my days in the military. Literally all we had was that skimpy cleaning kit in the buttstock and some cartridges. It cracks me up that some people are aghast at the idea of using a live cartridge as a tool for disassembly or adjusting the sights! 30 years later, as an LE rifle instructor, I still do it, and students often look at me like I'm either crazy or like I just somehow spontaneously reinvented the wheel. It's literally part of the design, folks! It ain't magic.
During Basic Training at Ft. Benning we never used dummy cartridges during rifle disassembly class but it was illustrated on the boards along with adjusting the rear and front sight and yes our Drill Sergeants did mention this when explaining. They said that only use a round to adjust your sights or field strip your rifle in combat, our Drill Sergeants discouraged us from damaging rounds. Instead carpenter nails were provided on the qualification ranges to move our rear and front post. Our Drill Sergeants told us to use our cleaning rods to punch out the retaining pins on the receiver and the threaded end to punch out the firing pin retainer. We also were given smoking pipe cleaners the issued ones to clean the drainage hole on the butt stock. Our Drill Sergeants would always inspect our rifles before turn in to the arms room.
there's only 1 problem with the ar15... those corncob foregrips. you can have function or fashion, those are neither. the triangular foregrips are at least fashionable. or you can get the magpul foregrips that are functional.
Did you know that the "carry handle" is not a carry handle? It was designed to double as both protection for the charging handle, which originally projected out the top of the upper receiver and looked like an upside down trigger, and because the charging handle was in the way of putting standard sights on top of the gun it also served as a mount for the rear sight. Only later, when the charging handle was relocated to the rear of the upper receiver, did soldiers assume that the design was made for "carrying" the gun.
Ian from forgotten weapons actually addressed the Mattel myth. It is in fact an urban legend or myth. Mattel never had any contracts from the military to make any gun parts according to his research.
I heard the same thing about the furniture on the M16 being made by Mattel way back in the early 90's when I served. I seem to remember a Mattel logo somewhere on the stock, but I am probably wrong, it's been a long time. Back then, we were issued a lot of Vietnam era gear, radios and weapons, including the M7 with the M8 scabbard and old school flak vest and pistol belt & suspenders in Germany.
In 1974, when I learned about the M16, we were all given a dummy round, and taught how to field strip the rifle using the tip of a cartridge. And when we were on the range, we again used a cartridge to adjust the front and rear sights.
We were calling the A2 made by Mattel in 1970 in Army Basic because the buttstocks breaking off when we were practicing "Butstrokes" on dummies. Never seen it written on anything.
My father is a Vietnam Vet 1968-1969. He really hated the M16, to this day he has no use for one. He trained with the M14, got to 'Nam and they handed him a M16. That lasted till it jammed badly in a fire fight . He literally threw the damn thing away grabbed a M79 and never fired a M16 again.
At Ft. Dix NJ in 1987 for Basic Training. My very "loose" AR had furniture stamped Mattel. Very strong "WTF" memory, along with them demonstrating how to use the cartridge and beating an obsession with cleaning into us.
We can thank former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara for many of the early problems with the AR-15 rifles. He cared far more about saving money than the lives of our troops!!!
I had the original version of the M-16 in the 1980s with no forward assist. One issued to me had "Colt AR-15" stamped on the lower. Some issued to me had the 3-prong flash hider and others had the birdcage.
I knew all of these, having been handed an M16A1 to replace an M14. The A2 stock is 5/8" longer. The hole in the base of the pistol grip was for a sling swivel, which was eliminated very early on, but the molding for the A1 pistol grip was never changed/replaced to eliminate the hole in it. Attaching a sling there was awkward and cumbersome and a swivel was part of the A1 buttstock. Some very old, original USAF will have that sling swivel if it hasn't been removed by someone. Original A1 rear sight windage adjustment was deliberately designed to require a tool to change it. Stoner was upset with the A2 redesign and knurled knob. He felt that soldiers would get bored and twiddle with the knob, turning it back and forth, ruining the rifle's battle zero.
@@robertsears8323 Some people like a guide to prevent marring the locking lugs or other internals when using a steel cleaning rod. Also prevents breaking aluminum/bronze rods. Also cleans the inside of the carrier when cleaning the bore.
When going through basic at Happy Valley, Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas, I remember Mattel being mentioned as we were being trained on the M-16. Not everyone in the AF is armed and I didn't think I would be, though they roped me into being in Security Police during alerts at Spangdahlem AB, so there was an M-16 in the armory that I took out on post with me. Anyway after observing it for endless hours, yes, parts of it could very well have been made by Mattel.
I started training with the M-16 in June '72 and qualified expert for 22 years in the AF. I carried it regularly during exercises running nuc convoys from the WSA and the flight line and back. Heard about the made by Mattel remark but only as a joke. Always had the forward assist.
I am an Industrial Electrician and Maintenance Technician. I always find it to be quite disturbing when I hear that grown men don't understand manufacturing is manufacturing. It doesn't matter if you're making toys or rockets. The process literally contains the same steps. The only change is the outcome of the parts manufactured. Plastic is plastic. Metal is metal, etc. It doesn't matter who turns it into a part for something more complex.
*Mattel did indeed manufacture the M16-A1* - I know because I had one... My mom bought it for me from Rose's department store in Burlington, NC when I was six or seven years old! Lol! ----- FYI, by the time I made it to basic in '86, the A1 I was issued was actually a "rode hard and put up wet," Nam-issued AR-15 converted by Colt (to full-auto, M-16 status.) Sadly, though, there were zero "Mattel" roll marks present... *smirk😏
I did not know about the drain hole and I have the A2 and M4 manuals as pdf and have read them. There used to be a web site up that had the history of the rifle and carbine up to 2009 but I can't find it anymore. It had a great deal of information from the Black Rifle books, Congressional testimony at times, Army testing and such.
I was totally distracted by the Whataburger cap and heard the jingle of my childhood “Whataburger is what a burger should be.” I’ll rewatch the video after I go get a 🍔. TIA for the info. OK, went 4/5, I did not know the drainage hole.
I knew them all but the first one. You missed using the bullet tip for rear sight windage adjustments so that makes us even. Thank you for another fine video.
My father-in-law was in the National guard from 1962 to 1968. Most of the time he carried an M1 Garand or M1 Carbine. However, for a short time he carried the M14. He complained that the M14 jammed a lot, and didn't like it. I was issued the M16A1 and M16A2 in the military. I think they are great battle rifles. You just have to clean them. Just like any other weapon that you are issued.
The twist rate wasn't that big of an issue. A much larger issue was the chrome plating stripping out in the barrels. Colt cheapened out and used a very ineffective much cheaper chrome plating process that Eugene Stoner did not specify in the barrels. A very specific, hard Chrome plating, that was a proprietary process was specified for the barrels originally but Colt subcontracted with the much cheaper company and a much cheaper process and it bit them in the ass.
I worked on Air Force M16's from the early 80's to the mid 90's (Retired USAF Combat Arms). Most were made in the 60's and 70's. None had forward assists (including our GAU-15 short, barreled versions) and I don't remember any situation, including the infamous dirty chamber that everyone talks about, that required a forward assist. If your gun got so bad, so dirty, and so full of mud etc. Then you needed to clean it, not jam it into the chamber so it was almost impossible to remove in the field or cause an out of battery detonation. Jamming the round into the chamber in those conditions could result in an out of battery detonation by the bolt being almost not quite in battery (but off by a couple thousands of an inch), but still able to fire causing the shell casing to fragment or possibly blow out the receiver. Remember military guns are usually the lowest bidder and Colt made decent guns, but M16 receivers can only take so much abuse. One of my relatives in the Army did witness that situation a couple of times during his career when soldiers used the forward assist to jam a round into a muddy or dirty gun causing an out of battery detonation or required the armorer to remove a live round from the chamber. I never saw a need for forward assists, but truthfully I never slogged thru mud, muck, and dirt trying to use my M16 in combat against someone shooting back at me.
Same here. Not the Air Force. The drain hole was a new one for me. I thank Curtis LeMay for his courage and forward thinking to be the first to adopt the AR. The Army didn't like that....Good! 🤣
I was a navy Seabee in the 80’s and we always got the old hand me downs so I can confirm that some of the M16a1 rifles did in fact say Mattel on the furniture.
I've been raising the direct impingement myth for YEARS on Ian McCollum's Utreon page. After he finally addressed it, we have a plethora of RUclipsrs come out with videos in just the last few months finally acknowledging it has a piston inside the bolt. There is nothing "direct impingement" about the design, it has a gas tube to bring the gas back to the bolt where it acts on the enclosed piston.
You were right all this time , I’ve been there myself for decades getting into endless discussions with gun “experts” and they always failed to understand that when you have a cylinder with a reciprocating metal stud with three sealing compression rings it’s called a piston .🤷🏻♂️
I actually watched an interview series today. Stoner and Kalichicov at a range together talking about their creations with one another. Very interesting watch.
A Marine I talked to was at khe sahn. He said that once the ammunition was fixed they liked the rifle a lot better but at first they were inclined to hang onto the M14 as long as they could
the ar-15 was tested with a certain load and powder, when sent to vietnam they sent a different load with different powder that didint work out so well.
@iv8888 Eric, Mattel did make a batch of pistol grips and I understand that some of the troops were inclined to spread the rumor that the whole gun was made by Mattel. Also, the Army Ordinance Bureau insisted that the guns did not need chrome lined barrels or carriers and in combination with powder issues and the climate there were a lot of stoppages. As soon as the cleaning kits arrived were issued and unit armorers swapped out parts & whole rifles the issues disappeared. This was all within a year of the weapons arriving in Vietnam. Now 2 caveats, as best as I can remember, this was how it all went down. So I may have a flub or two in there, secondly all this came directly from the man himself, Eugene Stoner, in an interview that he did, which is available, so I suggest that if anyone wants to know more about the development of the M-16/AR-15 that they start there.
It's not that our servicemen weren't cleaning their weapons properly, it's that they were told they didn't need to. Then the government switched powders and the guns got DIRTY fast. And the 1:12 twist barrels weren't super accurate at 600 meters because the bullets weren't super stable BUT, that also caused the bullet to tumble on impact and cause a real nasty wound channel. The reduction to 1:10 and finally 1:7 helped accuracy but destroyed terminal ballistics. Mine is 1:9.
One thing no one ever mentions. Eugene Stoner did not design the AR system as a weapon of war. It was to be a ranch rifle ...to be used on predators and varmints, much like the lever actions of the old west ranches. The AR-10 first came in .308 and the AR-15 was in a .222 Remington He wasn't going to put in a bid for the AR-15 cause the army wanted something in 5.56 Nato. The head of marketing came to him and said " let's make an upper in 5.56 and see if they like it". The army originally didn't like it, but the USAF did...a lot enough to buy a few million units and parts. That was the only time that the AR-15 was used as a weapon of war. They redesigned the lower to be select fire and the M16 was born.
I carried the M16 rifle for over 25 years in the US Army. I carried. 38 cal. Revolvers, M9 Berettas, and the A1, but mostly the A2. The only item that had forgotten was the drain hole in the buttstock. Everything else was common knowledge things.
It’s not a gas piston driven system at all due to the fact that the gas flows freely into a chamber that expands (like a piston in a CAR) instead of slamming into a rod (a piston in a gun) that actuates a bolt moving rear word with other means of unlocking like, tilting fn, rotating with force Ak, or a roller locking system like the hk.
I just purchased my first AR-15 on 04152924, i know a lot about Firearms, but like i said, this is my first. More like an amateur, with it. Thats why i watch your videos. Been thinking about one for years, now i have one to start my AR-15 safety, and takedown, by warching and learning from you. Thanks for everything
Eric, it is a complete MYTH that Mattel made the furniture for M16's. I have an uncle who is a Marine Vietnam veteran and was there before and after the adoption of the M16 and during all the variant trials. There was a running joke among some soldiers and Marines who made fun of the early AR's and M16's because the guns were so light compared to the M1's and M14's or even the M1 carbines that they felt like toys. Hence the joke that they seemed like toys made by Mattel. Some soldiers or Marines scribed or painted Mattel on the buttstock as part of the joke. The fact is, Mattel NEVER made a single piece of furniture for Armalite rifles.
Would you care to explain to me what it was I actually saw (many times over the years that he lived next door to us) in the M-16 that my step-dad's sister's husband (I believe that makes him my step-uncle, as well as next-door neighbor?) brought home when he came back from the 'Nam in '72? Over the years between when he brought it home, and the time I finally moved out of the family home to start a life of my own, I personally held (and sometimes got to fire) that rifle and/or handled those handguards using my very own grubby little paws more times than I can even guess at, both on and off the rifle, and saw, with my very own set of "Eyeballs, MK I, QTY:2" the unmistakable Mattel logo molded into the inside of each piece. Granted, the logo wasn't visible unless the handguards were removed and the heat-shields pulled out of them, but once you got that far, it was plainly visible, and identical, other than size, to the Mattel logo on my Hot-Wheels cars, or my sister's Barbie dolls. Not a logo that was drawn or painted on, or scratched/carved into the plastic, however skillfully, but raised above the surface, and quite obviously part of the mold that they were formed in. You state with such authority that Mattel never made any such thing, so I trust you can give me some idea of what it was I actually saw pretty much anytime he had the handguards off it for some reason?
The AR I was issued in basic training had the Matel lable. That was January of 1969 at Fort Jackson. We were schooled that the wepon needed to be kept clean, however I do not recall, during in basic training, how to disasamble and clean the bolt assembly.
11:40 about the Matel myth, there where several videos just in the last few weeks about that and write ups float around since a long time. Matel is not known to have been suncontracted to produce ANY parts for the M16. However, they made the toy Marauder, whcih apparently was even used by the militaray for parade oder excersise guns, which might have started that rumor.
Early M16's did not have take-down and pivot pins. They had machine screws made for a flat screwdriver. I made a suggestion they switch to push pins held by detents and springs. That was in 1978. Now I don't know that I had anything to do with the change, I don't think I was the only one to think of it but I hope I did.
Entered the Marines in 1969. The weapons training was very complete. And yes....my M-16 had Made by Mattel stamped on the buttstock. I saw that and laughed. But after training with and shooting the weapon was impressed. My biggest enjoyable thing about the weapon was weight. After carrying the M-14 in bootcamp, the M-16 was much lighter.
Had to pause the video at the mattel plastics part. I enlisted in the US Army back in December 1983, during basic we trained and qualified with an M16A1. I can honestly say the weapon I was issued did in fact have the mattel logo on both the forearm sections and the buttstock. In hindsight, wish I'd taken photos if I'd known that topic would be debated decades later. The topic is debated mainly because when you mention mattel and M16A1, some think the entire weapon was produced by mattel. It was only the plastics, clam shell forearm and buttstock pieces that were produced by mattel.
In the late 1980s Eugene did Some sit down interviews and they asked him about the forward assist and he said the gun did not need it...an they basically put it on anyway.....
I still posses the OPERATOR'S MANUAL for my M16A1 RIFLE issued to me in Basic Training back in 1983 and YES, the illustrations show using a bullet just as you describe....
My dad said the his actual gun said Mattel on it, not just the furniture. The drill Sargent took his gun asked if it was zeroed, cleared it, threw it as high as he could, picked up up loaded it and made good hits and said “this is one of the finest implements in modern war. Trust your rifle.”
Ok Eric, did you know the carrier was designed as bore guide for cleaning? just remove bolt and firing pin then reinsert the carrier and run the cleaning rod thru the firing pin hole! Eugene Stoner was a genius indeed!
Why would you want or need to do that.
@@robertsears8323the answer is in the man's 1st sentence
wait wtf really?
@@thepyrodude The FACT is it is a AR so it don't need cleaned. I can't count how many thousand rounds through my AR-10 in the last 10 years and I will never clean it.
The most it gets is some gun lube added to it ever few cases of ammo.
@@robertsears46 alrighty then👍
Here’s a fact that most of your viewers probably know, but a lot of others don’t including politicians and judges. The AR15 is protected by the Constitution.
In fact ALL ARMS are. NBC IS excluded because they are both dangerous AND UNUSUAL. So that argument is stupid.
Looks like your illegitimate government also is
So are nukes
The Constitution is also protected by Ar-15s.
Just as long as you are part of a well regulated militia. Which I'm guessing you ain't.
Fact, the army ordnance corps actively sabotaged the development of the AR and that's why it had such a rough start in vietnam. They did this because it came from an outside private company and thus threatened their jobs. A congressional investigation later called the ordnance corps criminally negligent.
Wasn’t one of the big issues related to the powder the government contracted? Something about it not being the powder that was called for proper operation? There were several rounds of negligence and our fighting people died because of it.
I've heard that McNamara stopped the chroming of the chamber & barrel as too expensive. This caused corrosion in the jungle and was later corrected. The "Toy gun" came from Mattel, but also cause it was a small rifle that shot cute little "Toy" bullets?!?! GI's didn't like the "Toy" gun and elected for the new M14 as the action was already tried and true from the Garand and M1 Carbine. They also didn't like that cute little bullet and opted for the 30-06 or the 06 looking .308!!!
Spent time at Fort Ord in 72 - 75 ROTC!
Talked with lots of training warriors!!!
@davemo04 yes the powder used was "ball powder" used in the older bolt action rifles. This was not the kind of powder specified for this rifle. Because the war in Nam needed so many millions of rounds, the correct ammo had run out and they switched the powder which caused the first issues and that was fouling. Since the rifles were sold as "self cleaning" the soldiers were not issued cleaning kits until after. The humid tropical environment exacerbated the problem even more. Chrome lining was eventually added to stop the corrosion issue and the men were issued cleaning kits and instructions.
@@jpcolbert357yea I really believe that the Army Ordinance tried their best to mess up the Armalite image and push their agenda with the M14. The good ole boy "larger is better" in bullet size. It's true to a point but now we see that in hind sight. I wouldn't buy an AR until just 8 years ago knowing our guys died in that jungle with their rifles jammed. I swore to never own one after hearing friends who fought over there had an inferior weapon issued by the gov. Thanks to learning more, I love the platform and swear by it not at it. Thanks for your service by the way. I was too young to go but knew guys who did serve.
How many people were prosecuted for that. Men died because of thier foolish agenda.
Another use for a bullet tip is to open up the trigger guard to allow for heavy gloves in the winter.
I qualified with an M16A1 last century. TBH, I knew most of these, but this was still a good video. Many years ago I saw a special on TV about the change in gunpowder that caused the problems with it initially in Nam.
i heard soldiers werent told to clean them as often as they needed to be cleaned, as well
Worth mentioning, John Browning's .30 cal Model of 1917 water cooled machine gun was designed so that it could be disassembled with a 30-06 cartridge as well. This feature remained part of all successive models through the 1919A6. Good on Stoner for recognizing the same convenient simplicity.
Similar with a *TRUE* 1911 (not so much the modern copies) - The gun itself IS the "toolkit" - I've forgotten most of the details, but you pull one piece off, and it's the tool to take the next piece off, and each time you come to a point where you're thinking "I need a tool to get this part off", one of the parts you've already removed (usually, but not always, the last part you removed before hitting the "I need a tool" part) is the tool you need to remove the part you're "stuck" on. Even the mainspring is a tool for messing with another part of the weapon. No coincidence that Browning was the brains behind that one, too...
The best gun maker of all time imo
Cmmg also has really great customer service. I bought a 22lr conversion kit 5-6 years ago. Part of the bolt broke not long ago after thousands of rounds. I reached out trying to buy a replacement part. They replied back asking for a picture of the piece that broke and my mailing address. Didn’t ask another question a few days later the part was in my mailbox. They definitely stand by their products
They sure do, awesome products awesome service imo
I was first handed a M16A1 in the mid 70s. I was told be very careful with it as it cost your government $65. The very first ones had a 1/14 twist barrel. Good video I knew all 5. The reason for going to the birdcage flash hider over the 3 pronged was troops were using it to break metal bands on shipping pallets. Yes the 3pronged got folage in them but troops could learn to be careful. Good video.
You forgot to mention that adding an adjustable stock turns the gun into a fully semi automatic 50 caliber clip sniper machine gun.
Shoots straighter than the road to hell and blows a hole twice as broad.
Something about deer and Kevlar vests…. Chocolate chocolate chip… MAGA extremists
🤣🤣🤣
Scary - huh ? O dear .
Eric, good video. U.S. Army 1984 thru 1991. Had several M16A1's issued to me at various duty stations. Shot 40 out of 40 most of the time. Carried it through Desert Shield/Storm. I never had an issue. As a range NCO, I did see alot of issues. Some were the weapons fault and some the soldiers. Most of the time our armors would come to the range with us and resolve most of the weapons issues. Great weapons platform!
Internal piston vs external piston. It's better to extract a malfunction than to force a defective round back into the chamber.
Stoner referred to it as a _stationary piston,_ which makes sense as no piston can function external a cylinder
If a round doesn't chamber ,extract it and try again.Why force it into the chamber?
@@davidschaadt3460
The Army wanted it. Why? Because previous rifles had a way of forcing the bolt into battery. Never ever had to use the forward assist.
1:44 1 Hybrid Direct Impingement
4:00 2 No Forward Assist Initially
5:59 3 Drainage Grommets
7:12 4 Cartridge Disassembly Tool
9:31 5 Unreliable Function Myth
11:12 🃏 Mattel Toy Company
327 Fed Mag is the best Snub Nose Revolver Cartridge. It fires 32 S&W which has zero recoil. It also shoots 32 H&R and 32 ACP. Plus you get Six Shots instead of Five!
My father was in Vietnam in 66-67. He trained with the m14. He told me when they got to Vietnam they we're issued the m16 and he hated it because it was always jamming. He said alot of guys would tape cleaning rods to the forearm so they could un jam it thru the bore. He always told me how much he liked the m14. I bought a m1a clone of the m14 and handed it to him, he was 75 at the time. After a few minutes he told me to get that heavy son of bitch of him.😂😂
I think a lot of the issues with the early M16 was the magazines did not have anti-tilt followers which is awful, and also the cleaning schedule I don't think was correctly understood. I actually heard the gun was initially pitched as "self cleaning" because of the DI system gas blast that went back into the chamber that - theoretically - should clear out any muck.
@@Sophistry0001 yep and the powder used at the time was terrible. Fouled up real fast
I was in the 101st airborne with 2/327th infantry regiment in year 2000. I didn't like the M4 rifle due to it jamming a lot. The problem was the magazines giving me double feeds most of the time. One time I had a round fly backwards and get stuck between the upper side of the bolt and the frame. It took a pair of pliers to get rip it out of there. I trust a semi-auto 12 gauge shotgun more than a M4. Of course all the AR15 fans will have a million excuses for my experience to downplay it so they can lift up the AR15 as the god of guns. I wouldn't trust an M4 with my life no matter what enhancements its been given over the last 20 years. That forward assist is a stupid thing to be needed on a gun too.
@@D41Michigan It makes one wonder how many troops died because they had a jam in their rifle at the wrong time.
The biggest problem was the lack of chromo bore. The jungle environment caused significant corrosion, and pitting in the bore will cause stuck casings on every shot regardless of how clean the gun is. This problem is true for every gun, not just the AR. The US knew this problem existed since the pacific theater in ww2, but the ordnance corps purposely did not chromo line the M16s because they want it to fail. The jamming was by design and people died because of it.
The video you and Chad had on AR assembly from way back when was the best tutorial I’ve ever come across. I assembled my first AR Using that as a resource, before I’d ever even shot one. Just wanted to say thanks, nearly a decade or more later
In boot camp, we were told that the notch on the side of the bolt carrier could be used a bolt forward assist. If needed, using your thumb, you could push the bolt carrier forward and the bolt into battery.
I trained on the M-16 while in USAF basic training in 1967. The rifles we used had a forward assist and as I remember, did not say Mattel on the furniture. With my warped sense of humor, I would have certainly picked up on that.
Yeah as great as Eric is, I'm pretty unsure he's wrong on the Mattel thing...
@@todddelevan9488 I think they made A1 handguards and the logo was on the inside - everything other than that is spoof
I was right behind you. We trained with the forward assist. Don't you just miss those old wooden barracks.
@@User5_ Zero examples, zero evidence, zero sources
@@User5_ according to several sources.
There is known source, that Mattel was ever a sub contractor for any M16 part, however the Mattel Marauder was apparently used by the Militarry as training or exersise stand in
I had always heard Stoner did not like the idea of having a forward assist, and that it was added only by requirement of US military...
Sometimes in the melt down videos, the forward assist has caused problems if broken.
He didn't like it nor want it. It's not needed.
Kyle Rittenhouse used his foward assist. Just saying.
@@brandonknopff1260 very specific situation, the rifle bumped the ground with the butstock, which caused to open up the bolt slightly and the action spring seemed not to have enough force to push the bolt home.
Some say, with a propper AR-15 that wouldn't have happen.
But, yes, anything thta can happen, will eventualle happen atleast once.
In exactly that situation, the FWD Assist is actually helpfull but that is next to beeing the only situation.
@Mr79dream Saved his life though.
Back in the day, I remember being told as a young Marine that the 5.56 ball ammo we were issued had a projectile that was weighted slightly off center. This was what caused the legendary "travel throughout the target" capability of the round. Knowing what I know now about ballistics, I look back on what I was told about the M-16 when I was in the Corps and marvel. Man, was I gullible!
Great video, Great content. My grandfather was an MP for McArthur and was issued a Singer 1911. He also wound up with an M1928A1 Thompson, don't know how he got that! Thank you. God Bless and stay safe.
If only Connecticut didn’t ban it. SCOTUS needs to do the right thing, and declare gun bans unconstitutional. I didn’t know the cartridge could be used as a tool. Thanks, Eric.
Legal work around is to buy a stripped lower and build it out. As long as it's a fixed 10rd mag for .223/5.56/ect or detachable 10rd .22, you are okay. The .22 lr conversion kit in a .223/5.56 is kind of grey area though. The hardest part is finding a store that sells lowers. Hit me up if you have some questions, I'll do my best to answer.
The courts will never restore constitutional government to the US. We need police to stop colluding with the tyrants by enforcing unconstitutional laws, and we need juries to stop convicting people of violating them.
That would also make the NFA unconstitutional which it is
As a matter of fact,, my Drill instructor explained every one of these on my M-16. I have been down that road a truly misunderstood firearm that has proven it's self through these years since it's reality of the 1950's.
In the 70s I bought Colt SP1 AR-15 for70 to 90 dollars I had no military experience with the M16s being in the Coast Guard. We had Garrands and Thompson. I wasn’t up on the system for awhile but you got me with the drain hole. Good video and info. Like the change and keep up the good A2 life. Richard
Fun Fact about AR15 family:
The M16A2 is one Meter long. You now how a visual representation and the perfect Metric conversion. *A M E R I C A*
1-knew,2-knew,3-knew, 4-knew, knew, knew, 5-knew. Guess my time as a unit armorer shows still! My basic training M16 was built by the GM hydra matic corporation.
A Singer 1911A1 and a Bren Ten are my two dream guns to own.
Great video. I think it is a great idea to continue with these type. I am a bit older so sometimes the info is not new but sharing this kind of information to pass to the next generation is so important.
The issue wasn’t the lack of cleaning kits alone but also the wrong powder they used. It raised the pressure at the gas port by like 10,000 psi or something resulting in an increase in rate of fire which bartered the guns till they had catastrophic failures that seized the gun completely.
Knew all 5. The cartridge is also used to open the trigger guard for a gloved finger.
What's not to love about the most versatile gun ever made?
The fact it is a garbage guy because it is NOT a bullpup rifle.
Any rifle that is not a bullpup is total garbage.
@@robertsears8323 Whoa dude, really?
@@robertsears8323 what’s your favorite bullpup? I think the Hellion and Tavor are great options. Geissele has a trigger pack for the Tavor.
My favorite is the best gun ever made the new MDRX in .308 with the 20in barrel. The trigger is amazing right out the box and the controls work great with me being a lefty. @@awsomedude9111
@MrHeavy466 he's just here to troll. See other comments. Troll in return. He likes it.
I loved the cartridge-tool thing! Takes me back to my days in the military. Literally all we had was that skimpy cleaning kit in the buttstock and some cartridges. It cracks me up that some people are aghast at the idea of using a live cartridge as a tool for disassembly or adjusting the sights! 30 years later, as an LE rifle instructor, I still do it, and students often look at me like I'm either crazy or like I just somehow spontaneously reinvented the wheel. It's literally part of the design, folks! It ain't magic.
Haha, Eric with his polite southern way of saying RTFM.. 😀👍🏻
During Basic Training at Ft. Benning we never used dummy cartridges during rifle disassembly class but it was illustrated on the boards along with adjusting the rear and front sight and yes our Drill Sergeants did mention this when explaining. They said that only use a round to adjust your sights or field strip your rifle in combat, our Drill Sergeants discouraged us from damaging rounds. Instead carpenter nails were provided on the qualification ranges to move our rear and front post. Our Drill Sergeants told us to use our cleaning rods to punch out the retaining pins on the receiver and the threaded end to punch out the firing pin retainer. We also were given smoking pipe cleaners the issued ones to clean the drainage hole on the butt stock. Our Drill Sergeants would always inspect our rifles before turn in to the arms room.
there's only 1 problem with the ar15... those corncob foregrips. you can have function or fashion, those are neither. the triangular foregrips are at least fashionable. or you can get the magpul foregrips that are functional.
Did you know that the "carry handle" is not a carry handle? It was designed to double as both protection for the charging handle, which originally projected out the top of the upper receiver and looked like an upside down trigger, and because the charging handle was in the way of putting standard sights on top of the gun it also served as a mount for the rear sight. Only later, when the charging handle was relocated to the rear of the upper receiver, did soldiers assume that the design was made for "carrying" the gun.
#6 I did not sign any treaty so can use better ammo than the military issues.
Ian from forgotten weapons actually addressed the Mattel myth. It is in fact an urban legend or myth. Mattel never had any contracts from the military to make any gun parts according to his research.
Fun fact,the gas rings need not be staggered. Also a spent cartridge can be used to clean the carbon off the tail of the bolt.
I heard the same thing about the furniture on the M16 being made by Mattel way back in the early 90's when I served. I seem to remember a Mattel logo somewhere on the stock, but I am probably wrong, it's been a long time. Back then, we were issued a lot of Vietnam era gear, radios and weapons, including the M7 with the M8 scabbard and old school flak vest and pistol belt & suspenders in Germany.
In 1974, when I learned about the M16, we were all given a dummy round, and taught how to field strip the rifle using the tip of a cartridge. And when we were on the range, we again used a cartridge to adjust the front and rear sights.
I knew 4 of them, pretty pleased about this since I've only been training/competing for 2years.
Keep up the great work Eric!
We were calling the A2 made by Mattel in 1970 in Army Basic because the buttstocks breaking off when we were practicing "Butstrokes" on dummies. Never seen it written on anything.
My father is a Vietnam Vet 1968-1969. He really hated the M16, to this day he has no use for one. He trained with the M14, got to 'Nam and they handed him a M16. That lasted till it jammed badly in a fire fight . He literally threw the damn thing away grabbed a M79 and never fired a M16 again.
At Ft. Dix NJ in 1987 for Basic Training. My very "loose" AR had furniture stamped Mattel. Very strong "WTF" memory, along with them demonstrating how to use the cartridge and beating an obsession with cleaning into us.
We can thank former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara for many of the early problems with the AR-15 rifles.
He cared far more about saving money than the lives of our troops!!!
you got that right
I had the original version of the M-16 in the 1980s with no forward assist. One issued to me had "Colt AR-15" stamped on the lower. Some issued to me had the 3-prong flash hider and others had the birdcage.
What you had might have been a Colt 604 from the mid 1960's
@@TheSundayShooter Most likely.
Strange, I guess the old M16 USAF and XM16E1 are stale.
I knew all of these, having been handed an M16A1 to replace an M14. The A2 stock is 5/8" longer. The hole in the base of the pistol grip was for a sling swivel, which was eliminated very early on, but the molding for the A1 pistol grip was never changed/replaced to eliminate the hole in it. Attaching a sling there was awkward and cumbersome and a swivel was part of the A1 buttstock. Some very old, original USAF will have that sling swivel if it hasn't been removed by someone. Original A1 rear sight windage adjustment was deliberately designed to require a tool to change it. Stoner was upset with the A2 redesign and knurled knob. He felt that soldiers would get bored and twiddle with the knob, turning it back and forth, ruining the rifle's battle zero.
The carrier (with the bolt removed) can also be used as a cleaning rod guide.
Why?
@@robertsears8323 Some people like a guide to prevent marring the locking lugs or other internals when using a steel cleaning rod. Also prevents breaking aluminum/bronze rods. Also cleans the inside of the carrier when cleaning the bore.
When going through basic at Happy Valley, Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas, I remember Mattel being mentioned as we were being trained on the M-16. Not everyone in the AF is armed and I didn't think I would be, though they roped me into being in Security Police during alerts at Spangdahlem AB, so there was an M-16 in the armory that I took out on post with me. Anyway after observing it for endless hours, yes, parts of it could very well have been made by Mattel.
I started training with the M-16 in June '72 and qualified expert for 22 years in the AF. I carried it regularly during exercises running nuc convoys from the WSA and the flight line and back. Heard about the made by Mattel remark but only as a joke. Always had the forward assist.
I am an Industrial Electrician and Maintenance Technician. I always find it to be quite disturbing when I hear that grown men don't understand manufacturing is manufacturing. It doesn't matter if you're making toys or rockets. The process literally contains the same steps. The only change is the outcome of the parts manufactured. Plastic is plastic. Metal is metal, etc.
It doesn't matter who turns it into a part for something more complex.
*Mattel did indeed manufacture the M16-A1* - I know because I had one...
My mom bought it for me from Rose's department store in Burlington, NC when I was six or seven years old! Lol!
-----
FYI, by the time I made it to basic in '86, the A1 I was issued was actually a "rode hard and put up wet," Nam-issued AR-15 converted by Colt (to full-auto, M-16 status.) Sadly, though, there were zero "Mattel" roll marks present...
*smirk😏
As a first time AR-15 owner, i really like this video, it teaches me so much.
I did not know about the drain hole and I have the A2 and M4 manuals as pdf and have read them. There used to be a web site up that had the history of the rifle and carbine up to 2009 but I can't find it anymore. It had a great deal of information from the Black Rifle books, Congressional testimony at times, Army testing and such.
I was totally distracted by the Whataburger cap and heard the jingle of my childhood “Whataburger is what a burger should be.” I’ll rewatch the video after I go get a 🍔. TIA for the info.
OK, went 4/5, I did not know the drainage hole.
6:13 My AR didn't come with a manual, I put it together piece by piece.
I knew them all but the first one. You missed using the bullet tip for rear sight windage adjustments so that makes us even. Thank you for another fine video.
Love that this channel still uploads.
My father-in-law was in the National guard from 1962 to 1968. Most of the time he carried an M1 Garand or M1 Carbine. However, for a short time he carried the M14. He complained that the M14 jammed a lot, and didn't like it. I was issued the M16A1 and M16A2 in the military. I think they are great battle rifles. You just have to clean them. Just like any other weapon that you are issued.
The twist rate wasn't that big of an issue. A much larger issue was the chrome plating stripping out in the barrels. Colt cheapened out and used a very ineffective much cheaper chrome plating process that Eugene Stoner did not specify in the barrels.
A very specific, hard Chrome plating, that was a proprietary process was specified for the barrels originally but Colt subcontracted with the much cheaper company and a much cheaper process and it bit them in the ass.
I worked on Air Force M16's from the early 80's to the mid 90's (Retired USAF Combat Arms). Most were made in the 60's and 70's. None had forward assists (including our GAU-15 short, barreled versions) and I don't remember any situation, including the infamous dirty chamber that everyone talks about, that required a forward assist. If your gun got so bad, so dirty, and so full of mud etc. Then you needed to clean it, not jam it into the chamber so it was almost impossible to remove in the field or cause an out of battery detonation. Jamming the round into the chamber in those conditions could result in an out of battery detonation by the bolt being almost not quite in battery (but off by a couple thousands of an inch), but still able to fire causing the shell casing to fragment or possibly blow out the receiver. Remember military guns are usually the lowest bidder and Colt made decent guns, but M16 receivers can only take so much abuse. One of my relatives in the Army did witness that situation a couple of times during his career when soldiers used the forward assist to jam a round into a muddy or dirty gun causing an out of battery detonation or required the armorer to remove a live round from the chamber. I never saw a need for forward assists, but truthfully I never slogged thru mud, muck, and dirt trying to use my M16 in combat against someone shooting back at me.
The Egyptian Hakim rifle is a good example of a true DI system. Nice looking classic A2 AR15.
Thanks for the content. The only thing I didn't know was the drainage. I'm retired Airforce and own an A2.
Same here. Not the Air Force. The drain hole was a new one for me. I thank Curtis LeMay for his courage and forward thinking to be the first to adopt the AR. The Army didn't like that....Good! 🤣
I was a navy Seabee in the 80’s and we always got the old hand me downs so I can confirm that some of the M16a1 rifles did in fact say Mattel on the furniture.
I've been raising the direct impingement myth for YEARS on Ian McCollum's Utreon page. After he finally addressed it, we have a plethora of RUclipsrs come out with videos in just the last few months finally acknowledging it has a piston inside the bolt. There is nothing "direct impingement" about the design, it has a gas tube to bring the gas back to the bolt where it acts on the enclosed piston.
You were right all this time , I’ve been there myself for decades getting into endless discussions with gun “experts” and they always failed to understand that when you have a cylinder with a reciprocating metal stud with three sealing compression rings it’s called a piston .🤷🏻♂️
I actually watched an interview series today. Stoner and Kalichicov at a range together talking about their creations with one another. Very interesting watch.
A Marine I talked to was at khe sahn. He said that once the ammunition was fixed they liked the rifle a lot better but at first they were inclined to hang onto the M14 as long as they could
the ar-15 was tested with a certain load and powder, when sent to vietnam they sent a different load with different powder that didint work out so well.
@iv8888 Eric, Mattel did make a batch of pistol grips and I understand that some of the troops were inclined to spread the rumor that the whole gun was made by Mattel. Also, the Army Ordinance Bureau insisted that the guns did not need chrome lined barrels or carriers and in combination with powder issues and the climate there were a lot of stoppages. As soon as the cleaning kits arrived were issued and unit armorers swapped out parts & whole rifles the issues disappeared. This was all within a year of the weapons arriving in Vietnam. Now 2 caveats, as best as I can remember, this was how it all went down. So I may have a flub or two in there, secondly all this came directly from the man himself, Eugene Stoner, in an interview that he did, which is available, so I suggest that if anyone wants to know more about the development of the M-16/AR-15 that they start there.
It's not that our servicemen weren't cleaning their weapons properly, it's that they were told they didn't need to. Then the government switched powders and the guns got DIRTY fast. And the 1:12 twist barrels weren't super accurate at 600 meters because the bullets weren't super stable BUT, that also caused the bullet to tumble on impact and cause a real nasty wound channel. The reduction to 1:10 and finally 1:7 helped accuracy but destroyed terminal ballistics. Mine is 1:9.
The Buttstock Being A Storage Device For Cleaning Rods, And The Left Side Forward Assist Are The Only 2 That I Did Not Know About.
One thing no one ever mentions.
Eugene Stoner did not design the AR system as a weapon of war.
It was to be a ranch rifle ...to be used on predators and varmints, much like the lever actions of the old west ranches.
The AR-10 first came in .308 and the AR-15 was in a .222 Remington
He wasn't going to put in a bid for the AR-15 cause the army wanted something in 5.56 Nato.
The head of marketing came to him and said " let's make an upper in 5.56 and see if they like it".
The army originally didn't like it, but the USAF did...a lot enough to buy a few million units and parts.
That was the only time that the AR-15 was used as a weapon of war.
They redesigned the lower to be select fire and the M16 was born.
I carried the M16 rifle for over 25 years in the US Army. I carried. 38 cal. Revolvers, M9 Berettas, and the A1, but mostly the A2. The only item that had forgotten was the drain hole in the buttstock. Everything else was common knowledge things.
The only fact you need to know: YOU NEED ONE! ACTUALLY MORE THAN ONE!
Back in basic training during the mid eighties my m16 hand guards were stamped with "Mattel" logo. You could see it when the hand guards were removed.
When I went through Basic Training at Ft. Dix back in the mid 70's we were told much of what you have said.
It’s not a gas piston driven system at all due to the fact that the gas flows freely into a chamber that expands (like a piston in a CAR) instead of slamming into a rod (a piston in a gun) that actuates a bolt moving rear word with other means of unlocking like, tilting fn, rotating with force Ak, or a roller locking system like the hk.
I just purchased my first AR-15 on 04152924, i know a lot about Firearms, but like i said, this is my first. More like an amateur, with it. Thats why i watch your videos. Been thinking about one for years, now i have one to start my AR-15 safety, and takedown, by warching and learning from you. Thanks for everything
Another fun fact “It shoots a 50 cal bullet 5 times faster then any other gun” MSNBC 2023
Eric, it is a complete MYTH that Mattel made the furniture for M16's. I have an uncle who is a Marine Vietnam veteran and was there before and after the adoption of the M16 and during all the variant trials. There was a running joke among some soldiers and Marines who made fun of the early AR's and M16's because the guns were so light compared to the M1's and M14's or even the M1 carbines that they felt like toys. Hence the joke that they seemed like toys made by Mattel. Some soldiers or Marines scribed or painted Mattel on the buttstock as part of the joke. The fact is, Mattel NEVER made a single piece of furniture for Armalite rifles.
Would you care to explain to me what it was I actually saw (many times over the years that he lived next door to us) in the M-16 that my step-dad's sister's husband (I believe that makes him my step-uncle, as well as next-door neighbor?) brought home when he came back from the 'Nam in '72? Over the years between when he brought it home, and the time I finally moved out of the family home to start a life of my own, I personally held (and sometimes got to fire) that rifle and/or handled those handguards using my very own grubby little paws more times than I can even guess at, both on and off the rifle, and saw, with my very own set of "Eyeballs, MK I, QTY:2" the unmistakable Mattel logo molded into the inside of each piece. Granted, the logo wasn't visible unless the handguards were removed and the heat-shields pulled out of them, but once you got that far, it was plainly visible, and identical, other than size, to the Mattel logo on my Hot-Wheels cars, or my sister's Barbie dolls. Not a logo that was drawn or painted on, or scratched/carved into the plastic, however skillfully, but raised above the surface, and quite obviously part of the mold that they were formed in. You state with such authority that Mattel never made any such thing, so I trust you can give me some idea of what it was I actually saw pretty much anytime he had the handguards off it for some reason?
A loaded round can be used to adjust the front *and rear* sights on the M16 and M16A1.
Everything you talked about I learned in basic training in April of 1985 we had the M16 A1
The .22 conversion kit from CMMG is pretty cool. just slapped in in my AR and my daughter was having a blast in minutes.
The AR I was issued in basic training had the Matel lable. That was January of 1969 at Fort Jackson. We were schooled that the wepon needed to be kept clean, however I do not recall, during in basic training, how to disasamble and clean the bolt assembly.
Good video. You can use the ral of the shell to scrape the bolt carbon. (Something people usually do with a tool)
On a reserve "drill" weekend at Fort Ord, CA, a friend of mine was issued an M-16 that actually had the Mattel emblem on the side of the stock.
Got a good chuckle on the grunt proof haven’t heard that in a whole lot of years. Thank you for the chuckle.
11:40 about the Matel myth, there where several videos just in the last few weeks about that and write ups float around since a long time.
Matel is not known to have been suncontracted to produce ANY parts for the M16.
However, they made the toy Marauder, whcih apparently was even used by the militaray for parade oder excersise guns, which might have started that rumor.
Early M16's did not have take-down and pivot pins. They had machine screws made for a flat screwdriver. I made a suggestion they switch to push pins held by detents and springs. That was in 1978. Now I don't know that I had anything to do with the change, I don't think I was the only one to think of it but I hope I did.
My father was a Special forces operator in Vietnam and he always said that the M16 was his favorite gun
Cool video, 23 years in the Army, Airborne Ranger, LRSD, etc... new most, but had forgot some!
Could you make a video to explain the different AR Operating System?
Finally back to some of your original content. I've been missing this man. Get Chad on out there too now y'hear.
Entered the Marines in 1969. The weapons training was very complete. And yes....my M-16 had Made by Mattel stamped on the buttstock. I saw that and laughed. But after training with and shooting the weapon was impressed. My biggest enjoyable thing about the weapon was weight. After carrying the M-14 in bootcamp, the M-16 was much lighter.
11:30 Mattel never made any parts or furniture for the AR-15
Had to pause the video at the mattel plastics part. I enlisted in the US Army back in December 1983, during basic we trained and qualified with an M16A1. I can honestly say the weapon I was issued did in fact have the mattel logo on both the forearm sections and the buttstock. In hindsight, wish I'd taken photos if I'd known that topic would be debated decades later.
The topic is debated mainly because when you mention mattel and M16A1, some think the entire weapon was produced by mattel. It was only the plastics, clam shell forearm and buttstock pieces that were produced by mattel.
I never noticed the completely annihilated uppers from the meltdown videos on the wall. Nice touch.
In the A1Z26 cypher 88 is HH and I don’t have to say what HH stands for just wanted to point that out😅
My very first M16A1 in basic training at Ft Knox was in fact made by Mattel and was so stamped on the outside of the magazine well. That was 1980!
In the late 1980s Eugene did Some sit down interviews and they asked him about the forward assist and he said the gun did not need it...an they basically put it on anyway.....
Army, I think, insisted
I still posses the OPERATOR'S MANUAL for my M16A1 RIFLE issued to me in Basic Training back in 1983 and YES, the illustrations show using a bullet just as you describe....
It was the 15th version of itself as well , I believe. Your spot on about the Mattel stocks n grips. The 10 n the 18 had them too!
My dad said the his actual gun said Mattel on it, not just the furniture. The drill Sargent took his gun asked if it was zeroed, cleared it, threw it as high as he could, picked up up loaded it and made good hits and said “this is one of the finest implements in modern war. Trust your rifle.”
I like it when you find a lower that was made by the Hydramatic division of the GM corp.