We've been arguing whether the M16 actually works well since we introduced it

hmmm

no comment

It didn’t originally when we used to Nam

As with anything

It works well with maintenance

The soldiers thought it was self cleaning

I still much prefer the M4 though

Yeah, Mattel

Lol

I think changing to the M4 and not changing the ammo for such a long time created its own set of problems

was it really suitable for the evironments of vietnam?

Probably not they were fighting people with aks

It's still suitable in Philippine environments, so... I'll have to go with yes

Let me rephrase

We didn’t give our soldiers a good hand going into that conflict

Bad tactics and policy fucked Vietnam

Not the tooks

Tools*

True but having good tools does help

fair enough

The Jews beat AK's with fucken submachine guns ffs

I suppose the more relevant argument today isn't the M16/M4 itself, but rather the choice of ammo

No, for sure

Is there a current list of contenders for the replacement cartridge?

But I don't think the idea of "the M16 is a shit gun" explains away the fact that they weren't cared for properly

It's like comparing a MiG-21 to an F-15

The MiG was always low maintenance with decent enough performance

Same as the AK

I don't think those trials on a replacement cartridge ever get anywhere, so I don't think there's an official shortlist

But they "consider" almost everything that pops up that gets popular in the civilian market

I think the discussion hinges on "replacement for which context?"

And whether it’s worth replacing in the first place

Yeah P much

If it ain't broke don't fix it

There’s been some cool stuff brought to trial’s but the military always bawks at the price

So much of our logistics is built around 5.56 that deciding to replace it is going to be a huge overhaul. And they're never impressed enough by the difference to make that investment

Yeah exactly

But at least they switched over to bullets that work better out of the M4's short barrel

That NATO standardization man

Love the m4