"When the NATO nations decided to adopt a common cartridge in 1953 it was a matter of urgency for them all to find new weapons with which to fire it. Most of the Europeans opted for the FN-FAL rife, but in the USA this did not compete sufficiently well with native designs to be adopted. The resulting American rifle was the M14, no more than a modernized and improved Ml Garand. There are many actual differences from the Garand, but the parentage is quite obvious. The M14 is, though, capable of selective fire and was the first American rifle to offer the option other than the early BAR. The 20-round magazine is a great improvement on the Garand's eight-shot clip, and there is a light bipod for use when in the squad automatic role. In spite of the selective fire option, it was, in fact, most usually found with the selector mechanism locked so as to permit semi-automatic fire only. It, is a little light for sustained fire, and since the barrel cannot be changed there is a tendency to overheat. An M14A1 version, with some additions to make it rather more of a light machine-gun, was approved for issue, but was cancelled due to financial restrictions. There have been several variations on the. basic M14 design, including at least two with folding stocks and a special model for snipers known as the M21. This latter is most. carefully finished and assembled and is fitted with a Leatherwood Redfield telescope sight with rangefinding reticle; it is an extremely accurate weapon which was used extensively in Vietnam. Mass production of the M14 ended some years ago, when roughly 1,380,000 had been made.

    Eugene Stoner, a prolific and talented firearms inventor, produced the Armalite while he was employed by the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Company in the late 1950s. The rifle was developed in 1956 to an army specification, and Stoner chose to use the existing .222 Remington cartridge with an improved bullet; in many ways the rifle is a scaled-down AR-10, as already noted. In July 1959 production was licensed to Colt, and the AR-15 made its name. by being adopted by some smaller countries in South-East Asia in the early 1960s, when Communist-inspired trouble flared in that area. The AR-15 was an ideal size for smaller men to carry; it was adopted by the US Air Force as a weapon for their South Vietnamese airfield guards, and from that spread to wider use in the US forces operating in the Far Eastern theatre. It eventually became the standard rifle of the US Army, first in the Far Eastern theatre and then in NATO, to the consternation of NATO standardization agreements.

    When the rifle was first adopted there were some problems. It operates on direct gas impingement on the bolt carrier, to drive the holt carrier back and thus rotate and open the bolt. As originally designed it was 'tuned' to the then-standard military rifle powder, but the US Army then changed the rifle powder specification to a formulation which generated excessive. fouling in the M 16. This, together with some ill-advised instructions about minimal maintenance led to the M16 (as it now was) gaining a reputation for jamming, but common- sense instruction on daily maintenance eventually cured the problem. The basic Ml6 was soon modified into thc Ml6A1. The principal change being a positive bolt closure device. which helped overcome any tendency for cartridges to stick as they were loaded. This was standardized in 1967 and remained the US Army's rifle until supplanted by the Ml6A2 in 1983. 

    The Ml6A2 is an improved version of the M16A1; the improvements consist of a three-round burst facility instead of automatic fire; a heavier barrel with the twist of rifling designed to suit the NATO bullet; a new rear sight incorporating adjustments for windage and elevation; the butt, handguard and pistol grip of improved material; and a new combined flash suppressor and muzzle compensator which has no aperture at the bottom so as to avoid kicking up dust when firing from the prone position. An unusual feature is a molded excrescence on the right side of the receiver, behind the ejection port, which is a cartridge case deflector to prevent cases being flung into the face of left-handed firers. The M16A2 has also been adopted by the Canadian Army as the Rifle C7; this differs in having the full-automatic fire option instead of the three-round burst facility."