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Category: All About Guns
Much has changed since 1958. Back then the average cost of a new house in America was $12,750, and a gallon of gasoline would set you back 25 cents. Eisenhower was President, and Elvis had just joined the Army.
Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce invented the microchip, and the whole earth moved just a little bit as a result. What a difference fifty years can make.
Today’s latest M4A1 Carbine is the end result of more than half a century of martial evolution. From morphology to metallurgy, the Carbines our boys and girls carry into combat today bear little semblance to those primitive M16 rifles their grandfathers wielded in the early stages of the Vietnam War. While forearm rails and electronic optics are de rigueur these days, it can be a fascinating exercise to look backward and see where it all came from.
In the Beginning…
The origin story is foundational dogma for gun nerds like us. George Sullivan incorporated the ArmaLite Corporation in 1954 as a tiny little subsidiary of the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. Operating out of a modest machine shop in Hollywood, California, Sullivan envisioned ArmaLite as a think tank to explore cutting-edge concepts in small arms. Their first serious effort was a small takedown survival rifle intended for use by downed military aircrew.
While out test firing this prototype rifle on a local firing range Sullivan bumped into Gene Stoner. A World War 2 Marine veteran, Stoner had a vision to incorporate aviation technology into the field of small arms. A friendship was born and Sullivan hired Stoner as his chief design engineer. As of 1956, ArmaLite had a grand total of nine employees.
The resulting guns were indeed radical. Employing aircraft aluminum receivers and phenolic synthetic furniture, these early ArmaLite rifles were justifiably compared to the science fiction weapons of the day. Employing a gas-operated, magazine-fed action and inline architecture to help manage recoil, these earliest black rifles were shadows of the great things that were to come.
This modern retro replica of a Model 602 M16 is almost but not quite perfect. It is amazing how lightweight these old guns were before we started hanging so much stuff off of them.
The AR10 fired 7.62x51mm ammunition and was exceptionally lightweight. That earliest prototype weighed a mere 6.86 pounds empty. This radical rifle was briefly pitted against the T44 and T48 in the contest to select the US military’s new Infantry arm. The T44 became the M14, and the T48 was an Americanized version of the FN FAL. While the AR10 fizzled in 1957, events were unfolding in both Washington DC and Southeast Asia that were destined to tie the ArmaLite design to the United States Military for generations to come.
The AR10 was built under license in the Netherlands for a time and saw action with Portuguese Special Forces in Africa. Eventually, the basic AR10 action was scaled down to accept a .223 cartridge for what was called the CONARC trials. CONARC stood for Continental Army Command, and these tests sought to select a new lightweight combat rifle that would be both easy to carry and controllable on fully automatic. In 1958 ArmaLite submitted ten rifles and one hundred 25-round magazines for the tests. Though the compact bantamweight weapons performed well, internecine political squabbles conspired to torpedo the lithe little gun. Frustrated with the lack of progress, ArmaLite sold the rights to the AR10 and AR15 off to Colt.
A lot of fairly tedious political stuff happened at this point that we will ignore in the interest of brevity. Ultimately the new type-classified M16 made its way to Vietnam for troop trials. Those earliest M16’s fell into several broad developmental categories based upon various arcane technical details. With the recent interest in everything retro, a cottage industry has arisen around sourcing parts to build modern-day replicas of these exceptionally rare guns. The rifle we will dissect today is most closely described as a semi-auto replica of a Model 602 M16. Some of the details are not quite perfect, but it is awfully close.
Early Morphology
From nose to butt our replica Model 602 M16 sports a three-prong duckbill flash suppressor. There were two major variants, and the one on my rifle is the first. Early barrels sported a 1-in-12-inch twist rate and were not chrome lined. Front sights had a round cross-section and could technically be adjusted for elevation using the nose of a bullet. There were tiny variations in gas block markings, but I cannot dredge up enough enthusiasm to care.
This first model duckbill flash suppressor sports open prongs that were notorious for catching on stuff in the jungle.
The triangular synthetic handguards were initially painted green before being ultimately left black. They came in dedicated left and right-hand versions and included pressed steel heat shields. The furniture on my rifle is original early Colt and was painstakingly sourced. Those early slip rings were straight-walled and fairly difficult to manage.
These original early Colt triangular handguards include steel heat shields and are secured via a straight slip ring.
Early upper receivers lacked a forward assist device and included a simple flip-adjustable peep sight. This sight was adjustable for windage via a bullet tip. An aluminum carrying handle was formed as an integral part of the upper receiver assembly.
The original slab side M16 receivers lacked a raised fence around the magazine release catch. The forward pushpin was also not captive.
The lower receiver was flat on both sides, lacking the elevated fencing around the magazine release with which we are familiar today. The forward pivot pin included a detent in the pin itself but was not positively retained, so it could be easily lost. The charging handle had a fairly small triangular gripping surface. The bolt and bolt carrier were hard chrome plated, and the firing pin retaining pin was a specifically manufactured component rather than a standard cotter pin.
Very early charging handles had a small-ish triangular serrated gripping surface. Later versions are much easier to use.
The buttstock was solid and lacked a trap for cleaning gear. The earliest rear sling swivels pivoted, while later versions were rigid. The earliest Edgewater buffers included a series of washers not found on subsequent designs.
The first M16 buttstocks lacked a trap compartment for cleaning supplies and sported a freely mobile rear sling swivel.
While those earliest M16 magazines were straight-walled and carried twenty-five rounds, the first general-issue mags were imbued with a waffle pattern and took twenty. Early AR10 magazines sported a similar design. Followers were short and prone to tilt.
The singular best improvement to the M16 over the years has been in its magazine. From left to right, an early 1950’s-era 20-round AR10 waffle mag, a later AR15 20-round waffle magazine, a Vietnam-era Colt 20-round M16 box, and an Information Age 30-round P-Mag.
Trigger Time on the 602
It is amazing how lightweight these old rifles were before we started hanging stuff all over them. This primitive M16 clone weighs just a hair over what an M1 Carbine might while throwing a much more effective round. Recoil is mild, and follow up shots are fast. While my retro clone is semiauto only, I have run a few zillion rounds through similar GI full auto M16A1 rifles back when I was young, bulletproof, and immortal. Those guns do not well suffer sloth when the Happy Switch is set to the Hallelujah position. However, if you lean into the rifle, use proper technique, and keep your bursts to a reasonable length the gun remains a formidable close combat tool.
The earliest model M16 rifles used in Vietnam sported three-pronged open flash suppressors and lacked a forward assist device.
The simple flip-adjustable peep sights seem crude compared to modern electronic optics, but they were light years ahead of most World War 2 designs. Adjusting the sights while zeroing the rifle was a chore without a dedicated aftermarket sight adjustment tool, but I kept one in my LBE (Load Bearing Equipment) that I was always willing to share. The general layout of the M16 interfaces unnaturally well with the human form. While much about the gun has changed, the basic switchology remains the same.
Men of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, fire from old Viet Cong trenches
Back when I had good eyes I could consistently shoot expert out to nearly half a kilometer with a rifle very similar to this one. Running a few rounds through this nifty little gun brings back lots of memories. The distinctive twang sound as the buffer cycles millimeters from your face is like the voice of an old friend.
So Why Did They Change Everything?
The three-prong open-ended flash suppressor was great for prying open the wire around ammo crates, but it was notorious for catching on vines and such when moving through thick brush. If you’ve never had the pleasure of humping the boonies with a weapon for real you develop a oneness with the environment that really has no civilian parallel. I once saw a young man unwittingly carry a dead lizard that was nearly twelve inches long around in his BDU shirt for half a day. It was simply that he was so filthy he did not realize the unfortunate creature had crawled down his shirt and then been crushed to death by his rucksack. That poor guy looked like he was having a seizure when first he realized he had been walking around all night with a foot-long dead reptile curled up in his armpit. I don’t know about anybody else, but I first joined the Army for the glamor.
Early M16 rifles were by all accounts very successful in the hands of Special Forces and indigenous troops in Vietnam. Subsequent changes to ammunition propellant and the lack of proper maintenance gear and training precipitated a disaster.
Those thin raw steel barrels have been beefed up, chrome-lined, and had their rate of twist tightened. The many-splendored impact this has had on lethality would fill a textbook. Bullet design has evolved substantially since then as well, but nobody will ever be happy with it all.
The triangular handguards were slippery when wet and prone to breakage. The newer round versions we used before everybody bought forearm rails were tougher and interchangeable, so it was easier on the supply guys. The straight slip ring grew a taper, so it was easier to manage.
US Army Special Forces serving in Vietnam were some of the first American troops to use the M16 operationally. Note the three-pronged flash suppressor and slab-sided upper receiver.
Modern M4 rifles traded their carrying handles for Picatinny rails, so our current crop of kids serving downrange can see farther and shoot faster than old geezers like me ever could. Modern iron sights are much easier to adjust without tools, though I have not personally ever seen anybody use them as intended at long ranges. Today’s bolt carriers are not so shiny as was once the case, and stepped-up extractor springs are hugely better than they used to be. Today’s charging handles are much grippier than those earlier sorts, and the rigid rear sling swivel always looked to me like it would carve somebody’s face off if you used it for a proper butt stroke.
Once the M16 rifle had matured somewhat and was subjected to proper maintenance it became a reliable and effective combat tool.
I have had an errant tree branch center punch my mag release while crawling through brush and drop my magazine, but the raised fencing makes that unfortunate event much less likely.
Anything that comes off the rifle is something you can lose. Today’s captive takedown pins are an enormous improvement. The 1911 pistol is indeed an inspired contraption. However, I once saw a young stud launch his recoil spring plunger into the stratosphere while stripping the weapon in the field. That thing is still likely out in space somewhere orbiting the sun.
The lack of cleaning gear and basic rifle maintenance training resulted in poor performance for the M16 early in its operational life.
90% of the many stoppages I encountered with those old M16A1 rifles stemmed from that repugnant stubby magazine follower. Those early magazines were notorious for allowing the round stack to tilt and produce a bolt over base stoppage. Compared to those old boxes a P-Mag is an incalculable improvement.
Ruminations
This particular rifle has an interesting story. The gentleman who built it acquired the various components from a dozen different sources over months of searching. The end result is a simply superb semiauto rendition of an early Model 602 M16. However, this guy had the profound misfortune to live in the People’s Republic of California. The laws changed, and he had to sell the rifle to somebody living in the Free States. I felt like I was taking receipt of an abandoned child.
Today’s modern M4A1 Carbine stemmed from the original 1956-era AR10. This gun was built up from an imported Dutch parts kit on a domestically produced receiver.
Today’s state-of-the-art M4A1 sprouts lights, lasers, and holographic optical sights unimaginable a generation ago. The beating heart is the same simple direct gas impingement operating system that you either love or hate, but most everything else about the gun is fresh, new, and different. The changes we have seen in the M16 platform over the past half century are well-reasoned and effective. Until the BlasTech E11 Stormtooper blaster becomes widely available the venerable M4 will still keep soldiering along. More than most any other contemporary mechanical contrivance, in the M4 we see the most overt evidence of martial evolution in action.
The 1960’s-era M16 rifle has come a long way in half a century. While the beating heart is unchanged, the external morphology is all but unrecognizable.
Technical Specifications
Model 602 M16
Caliber 5.56x45mm
Action Direct Gas Impingement
Barrel Length 20 inches
Overall Length 39.5 inches
Weight 6.37 pounds
Feed System 20-round Detachable Box Magazine
Rate of Fire 700-950 rounds per minute
Performance Specifications
Model 602 M16
Load Group Size (inches) Velocity (feet per second)
American Eagle 55gr FMJ 1.6 3091
American Eagle 50gr JHP 3.6 3372
HSM 55gr Sierra Blitzking 1.2 2976
SIG 60gr HT 5.6** 2605
**These rounds seemed to keyhole. Apparently, the old slow twist barrel was inadequate to stabilize them.
Group size is the best four of five shots measured center to center and fired from a simple rest at 100 meters. Velocity is the average of three shots fired across a Caldwell Ballistic Chronograph oriented ten feet from the muzzle.
These Vietnam-era rifles are on display in the National Firearms Museum. This collection includes a prototype ArmaLite AR10 as well as a pair of early M16 variants.
Categories
357 MAGNUM: History & Relevance
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Fullbore Friday by CDR SALAMANDER
So, don’t think you can do what you are not trained for? Think a beat up old ship can’t be put in harm’s way? Can you really think “out of the box?” Can a ship run aground, over and over, and still get an award? How about a Presidential Unit Citation? How about a destroyer that captures an airfield?
USS Dallas (DD-199), tell us all about it.
On 25 October she cleared Norfolk to rendezvous with TP 34 bound for the invasion landings on North Africa. Dallas was to carry a U.S. Army Raider battalion, and land them up the narrow, shallow, obstructed river to take a strategic airport near Port Lyautey, French Morocco.
On 10 November she began her run up the Oued Sebou under the masterful guidance of Rene Malavergne, a civilian pilot who was to be the first foreign civilian to receive the Navy Cross. Under fire by cannon and small arms during the entire run, she plowed her way through mud and shallow water, narrowly missing the many sunken ships and other obstructions, and sliced through a cable crossing the river, to land her troops safely just off the airport.
Her brilliant success in completing this mission with its many unexpected complications won her the Presidential Unit Citation.
That is the airfield on the right. Oh, and they fought the French the whole way.
On the night of 9-10 November a tactical innovation involving the Navy raised American spirits. On the Sebou River the destroyer-transport Dallas pushed aside a barricade and sneaked upstream with a raider detachment to spearhead the assault on the airfield. As the night wore on, some colonial units gave up the fight, but Foreign Legion units continued to resist. Several companies of the 1st and 3d Battalion Landing Teams made progress, though slow, toward the airfield.
In bypassing a French machine-gun position, three companies of the 1st Team became disoriented and unintentionally provided some comic relief to a difficult night. At 0430 the companies reached a building they thought housed the airfield garrison. Intent on maintaining surprise, the troops crept up to doors and windows, weapons at the ready. Bursting in, the embarrassed Americans discovered they had captured a French cafe. Some 75 patrons put down wine glasses and surrendered. Patrols rounded up about 100 more prisoners in the area.
At daylight on 10 November the 1st Team mounted a new drive, this time with tanks, and by 1045 reached the west side of the airfield. On the river the Dallas passed a gauntlet of artillery fire and debarked the raiders on the east side of the airfield. American troops now occupied three sides of their objective.
Serious opposition still came from the Mehdia fortress. Although naval gunfire had silenced the larger batteries earlier, machine-gun and rifle fire continued. Navy dive bombers were called in, and after only one bombing run the garrison quit. After claiming the fort and gathering prisoners, the 2d Battalion Landing Team moved on to close the ring around the airport. By nightfall the American victory was assured’ and the local French commander requested a parlay with General Truscott. At 0400 on 11 November a cease-fire went into effect, the terms of which brought all GOALPOST objectives under American control.
Yes Virginia, we had to fight against the French before we would fight with them in WWII. One other thing, when looking up the Dallas, I noticed one of her then Junior Officers on that day who is buried at Arlington, Randall T. Boyd, Jr., CDR USN. Just for reference – what a career and life he had.
Commander Boyd saw combat as a naval artillery officer during World War II and as a pilot during the Korean War. He was awarded a Silver Star for his exploits during World War II and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his activities during the Korean War.
Born in Hingham, Massachusetts, and raised in Weymouth, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1941. He also earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
On November 10, 1942, he was artillery officer aboard the destroyer Dallas when it made a treacherous 10-mile run up the Sebou River to land an Army Ranger detachment to capture Port Lyautey Airport during the assault and occupation of French Morocco.
According to the citation for the Silver Star he was awarded for the engagement, he displayed “remarkable courage under heavy hostile fire during the perilous journey” and “played a large part in providing protective gunfire for our Army Ranger troops and controlled and directed the fire of the ship so efficiently that hostile shore batteries were silenced before they were able to inflict any damage on the Dallas.”
After World War II, he trained as a pilot in Pensacola, Florida, then served in the Korean War.
The first citation for his Flying Cross described him as “a skilled airman and cool leader in the face of hostile opposition.”
According to the citation, he was flying a mission over Korea on October 12, 1950, “when enemy shore batteries attacked US mine sweepers with intense fire.
“Commander Boyd spotted hostile targets, took them under fire and held them down while the vessels escaped from the area. Braving heavy fire sent up from the ground, he controlled naval gunfire and vectored carrier-based aircraft to the enemy positions.”
After the Korean War, he was commanding officer of Naval Patrol Squadron 34, and later was second in command at the Naval Base in Rota, Spain.
After retiring from the Navy, he was an engineer at MIT’s Draper Laboratory, where he worked on the Gemini and Apollo space programs, and a senior engineer at Brown and Root Inc. in Houston, where he oversaw shipbuilding projects.
Ship and man. Benchmark both.
UPDATE: BTW – here is a modern day pic of the river they took that DD up at night. Ballsy? Yep.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors advanced an ordinance today to enhance regulations for gun and ammunition dealers in unincorporated areas of the county.
Janice Hahn’s Baby
LA County Board Supervisor Janice Hahn pushed for the new policy.
“We need to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands and part of that effort is ensuring gun and ammunition dealers are acting responsibly,” said Hahn.
“These are commonsense regulations that will make sure gun dealers have basic security measures in place, maintain inventory, and keep records of who they sell guns and ammunition to,” she added.
The new ordinance will impact 18 gun dealers and two exclusive ammunition dealers in unincorporated LA County.
The Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector will enforce these rules.
Key provisions Include
- Ammunition dealers must obtain a business license and meet requirements similar to gun dealers. Previously, exclusive ammunition dealers didn’t need a specific license.
- Stores selling guns and ammunition can’t allow minors unless an adult accompanies them. Mixed-use stores must offer sight separation.
- Dealers should maintain annual sales reports, keep purchaser fingerprints, update a weekly inventory, install security cameras, and display signs about gun access risks.
- The Treasurer and Tax Collector will publicly post names of suspended and revoked licensees.
- The annual license fee for initial applications and renewals will increase.
The ordinance awaits a second hearing on November 7th. If approved again, it will become effective 30 days afterward.
Prior Regulations
This regulation is the third in a series of four proposed by Supervisor Hahn. Previous ordinances banned .50 caliber firearms sales and prohibited firearms on county property.
Another in development will introduce a 1,000-foot buffer between gun shops and “child safety zones.”
Furthermore, LA County is advocating for greater awareness and utilization of gun violence restraining orders (GVROs) aka “red flag” laws.
GVROs are gun confiscation orders that target those accused — not convicted — of being a threat to public safety.
SAF Responds
“Politicians like Janice Hahn is the reason the Second Amendment is so important. She has done everything in her power to shred our Bill of Rights,” said Alan Gottlieb, the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), in an email to GunsAmerica.
“Our founding fathers warned us about those in government who abuse their power and made sure that we had courts to protect our freedom,” he continued. “The Second Amendment Foundation will make sure that she will be a defendant in the court room!”
“Omaha police said in the six weeks since Nebraska’s constitutional carry law took effect they’ve arrested several people for failing to tell police they have a gun on them when they’re contacted,” ABC’s KETV 7 reported Wednesday. “[A]ccording to law enforcement booking information, at least one person has been charged with ‘failure to disclose’ a concealed weapon every day in the last week.”
“It’s a misdemeanor for the first offense, an elevated misdemeanor for the second offense, and a felony for any additional offense,” the report elaborates.
“You have the right to carry the gun on you. But you also need to let law enforcement know, for their protection, everything else, so that that you have the firearm on you,” Capt. Keith Williamson of the Omaha Police Department gang unit asserted. He added that additional charges can be “tacked on with other serious charges” to offenses like gang crimes and that the bill forcing the city “to repeal some ordinances around firearms … made it more difficult trying to track guns in the wrong hands.”
At this point, a reporter tasked with doing more than parroting an officially approved narrative might ask, “How?”
Permitless carry, requiring self-reporting to armed enforcers, hardly conforms with the Framers’ “shall not be infringed” intent and does nothing to authorize the commission of crimes, just as freedom of speech does not give a pass on fraud, libel, threats, and the like. If by “wrong hands,” Williamson means “prohibited persons,” another classification with no comparable Founding Era model, the carry law specifically excludes them.
“The new law will not change who is allowed to purchase firearms in Nebraska,” the Omaha World-Herald explains. “An amendment folded into LB 77 added an extra misdemeanor charge if someone carries a firearm while committing certain ‘dangerous misdemeanors,’ including domestic assault, shoplifting or stalking.”
But true to prohibitionist form, “Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert …
issued an executive order banning firearms on city-owned properties.” While the position is officially nonpartisan, it’s interesting to note that Stothert is one of those “moderate” Republicans who take the fire out of the bellies of gun owners looking for alternatives to gun-grabbing Democrats.
In her case, her husband’s 2021 suicide “from a self-inflicted gunshot wound” merits our sympathy, but not to the extent that using her political power to mandate life-endangering infringements should be tolerated.
Just as Stothert’s gun ban would not have affected her husband’s choices in any way, neither would a requirement that gun owners inform the police that they are armed alter the behavior of the gang members who couldn’t/wouldn’t have applied for permits in any case.
In the case of criminals, requiring them to admit they are illegally carrying would be a violation of the Fifth Amendment, as ruled by the Supreme Court in Haynes v. United States, which properly reasoned requiring a prohibited person to register a firearm would violate his right not to incriminate himself.
Once again, “gun control” only “works” on the “law-abiding.” It’s shameful that most “mainstream media” readers will never know any of this, and that’s the way those who would rule want it. And in this case, Nebraska’s “Turn Yourself In” diktat further endangers citizens’ rights.
To see how, set aside time to watch two videos that I consider essential for gun owners. The first is “Don’t Talk to the Police” by Regent University School of Law professor James Duane, wherein he explains how even seemingly innocent questions can be a trap and seemingly innocuous answers can be incriminating admissions. That one is 40 minutes long, so save that link to watch when time permits and then share it with anyone you think should see it.
The other video is posted below. It “stars” Canton, OH, police officer Daniel Harless demanding mere citizens “Back the Blue” by cowering in fear—or else. He does that by screaming like a psycho and threatening a motorist who had to wait until he could get a word in edgewise to comply with Ohio’s (at the time) law and disclose that he was carrying a permitted pistol.
This is no way to run a free Republic.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
