Between the elbows and armpits, I only had time to barely turn half of my body to turn on the magnetic field energy, and suddenly there was a force on my right arm, and I suddenly lost my consciousness and ability to move, and I was knocked out like a small stone! Such an attack was so sudden and swift that I flew seven or eight meters like a cloud, and then crashed into the vast amount of humus in the black swamp, and immediately smashed it into a pulp, and my body was also covered in a layer of rotten flesh and slime of animals and plants. It took a while for me to regain my breath and cough violently.

However, although the humus was completely destroyed, it also played a certain buffering role for me, and after I was bounced off, I still rolled five or six meters involuntarily in the mire next to me, and I could see that the mangrove forest was on top of the remaining tree stumps under the flood, and those immature leaves were hit by this force, and they fell one after another, and the ground was covered with a thick layer in an instant. When I came back to my senses, my first reaction was to look at my right arm, which was initially numb, but now there was a sharp pain! In the light of the morning light, I noticed that two pits of flesh and blood that were ten centimeters deep had appeared on my right arm, and it looked as if I had been inserted into it by two sharp blades and stirred it vigorously! It's very miserable!

A huge black shadow has emerged from the dark moor, yes, it is a gray-black dire crocodile, its scales are the size of a washbasin, its eyes are shining in the darkness with a dark green light, this creature swings its tail in the water, and swims gracefully and brutally towards me in an S-shaped posture! It's a powerful creature from an ancient time! Even if I awakened the power of the magnetic field, I could not withstand the power of a blow in the bite of this giant crocodile!

Probably the sharp tooth that bit me still had a very vicious barb on it, so the bottom of the flesh pit that was bitten out was torn off two long pieces of flesh, and even the miserable wound could be seen in the white bones. The blood was pouring out like boiling water, the numbness was disappearing, and the wound was now like a thousand knives stirring inside! A section of the arm bone of the upper arm at the place of force is believed to have been broken into bone fragments of different sizes, and with a little movement, it will stir in the muscles that are almost mushy, stimulate the nerves, and then feed back to the pain center of the brain.

At the same time, the mercenaries in the distance were even more noisy, and they probably noticed that pairs of dark green eyes with the color of forest cold also flashed on the water surface around them! As we approached silently in the darkness, we realized that our group of people still had a glimpse of the horrors of the world, and that we had planned to wait for the opportunity to move, but we actually crashed into the hunt of crocodiles! A dinosaur with a body length of more than five meters suddenly burst out from under the silent river and crashed into the raft in front of the country with an overwhelming splash.

The mercenary who was rowing hard felt that his vision was suddenly obscured by a huge black shadow, and subconsciously raised his head, and then saw his wide open mouth biting him.

She didn't dodge, her upper body was swallowed directly by the dinosaur into her mouth, and as its bite muscles exerted force, the sharp teeth embedded into the mercenary's body, biting her into two pieces at once.

Poof, poof, the waves on the river surface set off by the continuous falling water almost overturned the raft, Yue Zhende tried his best to control the balance first, but his eyes were full of the mercenary's remaining lower body, and blood and internal organs were sprinkled on the raft.

Poof, another dire crocodile sprang out, knocking the raft over, and the mercenary who fell into the water only fluttered twice, and before he could shout for help, he was dragged into the water by the dire crocodile, leaving only a cloud of bubbles, and red blood began to spread in the river.

The mercenaries on the other three rafts were frightened, but they still did not avoid the attack, and in an instant they rowed with all their strength, and even the person in charge of the guard put his hand into the river to splash the water, wanting to go faster.

Hu Qinglan aimed at the surface of the river and began to shoot intimidatingly, the bullet shot a meter or two from the raft, and drilled into the river, but no one was afraid, but felt a little safe.

The people on the raft next to them were so anxious that the raft overturned, and then they abandoned the raft and swam towards the river, regardless of anyone.

One of the mercenary leaders on Yue Zhende's raft was physically strong, and when he saw that there were still more than 20 meters, he jumped into the water and swam to the shore, he only needed more than 20 seconds to reach the shore, and if he was still on the raft, it would be twice as slow.

The others immediately scolded, and there was suddenly one less person on the raft, plus the mercenary leader escaped by the reaction force, so the raft almost lost its balance, but fortunately they were lucky and stabilized.

The two mercenary youths glanced at each other, and also ran down, twenty meters away, and they would soon arrive after a hard swim.

There were a few people left at the back, forty meters away, terrified to death, and kept paying attention to the river as they paddled.

"You row, I'll shoot." One of the mercenaries saw the shadow below the river, and the crocodile caught up with him, so he dropped his oars and grabbed his rifle.

Suddenly, the crisp sound of gunfire swept across the river, and he wanted to scare the other party away.

The mercenary's bullets shot into the water, bringing out strings of bubbles, but unfortunately they had long lost their lethality, not to mention that even on land, the hard scales of the crocodile could block the shooting of a hundred bullets.

Poof, the crocodile rushed out of the river and pounced on the raft, and the mercenaries dodged in embarrassment, but unfortunately the space on the raft was too narrow, coupled with the violent shaking, and almost fell down.

Hu Qinglan has been aiming with a gun, and when the figure of a dire crocodile appeared in the scope, he immediately opened fire, and in the dim deep mountains and old forests, the bullet with the red glow of gunpowder burning swished across the river and hit its body, but unfortunately it had no effect.

"Hold on a little longer." Yue Zhende was also paddling, wishing that the mercenaries were holding on for a while, delaying time, but three seconds later, their raft was broken up by another dire crocodile and fell into the river. In this case, Yue Zhende immediately shouted to everyone, "Swim separately, escape"!

Because this kind of battle is definitely invincible, as long as they flee separately, it is impossible for the crocodile to have such a high IQ to chase them one by one! What's more, this is where these mercenaries brought by themselves come in handy - in the thickest words, that is, the leader does not need to escape the pursuit of the crocodile, he just needs to run faster than these subordinates. You must know that although Hu Qinglan is strong, she has to deal with three dinosaurs at the same time, and her pressure is not easier than others!

There was no space for rescue, and in the blink of an eye, a broken thigh floated up, and then the next moment it was swallowed by the big mouth of a dire crocodile, and those guys then lay their heads on the water, like a piece of dead wood, and swam extremely fast towards the raft that Yue Zhende had newly climbed.

The mercenaries on the raft panicked and screamed incessantly, as if they were dispelling the fear in their hearts in this way, some were looking for guns, some were rowing, only Yue Zhende was still calming, trying to persuade them to calm down.

"Don't panic, don't shoot, row hard." Yue Zhende's judgment was very accurate, I was afraid that the crocodile would not be killed, and it was the right way to leave the river as soon as possible, and then shouted at us by the river, "Help us." ”

The mercenaries recovered from the panic, opened their backpacks one by one, took out their guns from it, and then lay on the raft, opened the rifle mount, and aimed at the river.

I saw that the people on the raft climbed up to the river one after another, and did not dare to stop, let alone fight back to help, and ran directly to the depths of the shore, afraid that the crocodiles would catch up, and the leader of the mercenaries was no exception. Hu Qinglan, who has always been powerless, is the first time to exert his might, bang, as soon as the dinosaur escaped from the river, Hu Qinglan opened fire, without any muzzle flame, my extrasensory sense saw a red bullet like a meteor instantly cut through the river, hit the dinosaur, and immediately smashed its head into pieces, and blood and minced flesh fell into the river with a bang.

Kara, Hu Qinglan pulled the bolt of the gun, and in the clear, crisp metallic sound, a black bullet shell was thrown out with scorching gas, tumbling and falling on the raft, and immediately with a thud, the water in the wet wood evaporated into white steam.

Bang, the second dire crocodile just burst out, and was blasted again, and the minced flesh and blood poured on the raft like a scoop, staining everyone's body.

"What a powerful version of the Mark 14 rifle magic version." Not only me, but also the mercenaries were looking at the mechanical and dark-coated firearm in Hu Qinglan's hand, which was unique and heavy, and it was difficult to extricate itself at a glance. My extrasensory sense heard them muttering, this is the evolved M14, in the 1950s, after the U.S. military experienced the power of the Aka-47 assault rifle on the Korean battlefield, under the idea of "infantry main assault weapon", developed the M14 rifle. Based on the M1 rifle, the burst function is added, the magazine capacity is increased, and the new 7.62mm×51, .308 bullets are used, and the earliest M14 rifle was adopted by the US Army in 1957.

The biggest drawback of the M14 rifle was the excessive recoil during bursts, which made it difficult for the shooter to control the gun body, and this problem was exposed on the battlefield in Vietnam. On the battlefield in Vietnam, where most of the combat area was covered by dense forests, close combat was the main mode of combat, and the M14, with its long barrel, inflexible swing, and difficulty in controlling the body of the gun during bursts, could hardly exert its due power. As a result, the US military hastily adopted the AR-15, M16 rifles produced by the company Amalet that use small-caliber cartridges, which were in the development stage at that time. I am afraid that this example of replacing the main weapons of the armed forces at the white-hot stage of the war is also unique in the world. As a result, the M14 rifle was labeled "the second-class standard weapon in American history" in this war. Vietnam's special geographical conditions make it impossible to give full play to the long-range advantage of the M14 rifle, which is also the biggest reason for the short life of the M14 rifle. Although the M14 has some shortcomings of one kind or another, it does not mean that the performance of the M14 is at the extreme.

Many retired veterans of the U.S. military who have experience in using M14 still have a very high evaluation of M14, and even think that M14 is a rare masterpiece. As strong evidence of this, the M14 can be cited as an M21 rifle for sniping; The M24 as a sniper rifle has been in service with the US Army for a long time; THE M25 RIFLE WITH A COMPETITION-GRADE BARREL MADE BY KRIEGER HAS AN AMAZING HIT ACCURACY DESPITE ITS SEMI-AUTOMATIC MECHANISM. M14SOPMOD CUSTOM RIFLE IS A SPECIAL OPERATIONS MODIFICATION MADE BY THE AMERICAN COMPANY FULTONARMORY. The most striking feature of the gun is that, based on the old M14 rifle, it is equipped with an enhanced combat rifle stock made by SEG International in the United States. The EBR butt is a multi-functional enhanced butt specially developed for the upgrading of various active rifles according to the needs of the modern battlefield, and has a high reputation among firearms enthusiasts. THE M14SOPMOD RIFLE WAS FIRST ADOPTED BY THE NAVAL GROUND WARFARE CENTER IN INDIANA, USA, AND NAMED THE "MARK 14" RIFLE, WHICH WAS USED BY SOME MARINES AND SEAL TEAMS, AND WAS USED IN COMBAT IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.

FULTONARMORY's Mark M14 rifle has many features, and the world starts with the body. WHILE THE M14SOPMOD RIFLES PRODUCED BY OTHER COMPANIES ONLY ADD A STOCK TO THE EXISTING M14 RIFLE, THE FULTONARMORY MARK 14 RIFLE WAS SPECIALLY TAILORED TO THE CUSTOMER'S REQUIREMENTS FROM THE PRODUCTION STAGE. In other words, this batch of guns is not a mass-produced model, but a batch of thoroughly customized rifles that have been skillfully molded by the skillful hands of gunsmiths. The gun uses a 45.7cm long barrel, and in order to ensure the accuracy of hitting, it is also equipped with an international competition trigger. In order to facilitate the installation of the optical sight, the designers also provided a rail base on the receiver sleeve. In addition, according to the customer's request, a tactical lamp produced by Smith, a tritium front sight from XS Sight Systems, and a tritium reticle coated with tritium on the back of the front sight can be used for night aiming and shooting, and a special strap ring. After this series of modifications, the originally rustic M14 rifle now looks unrecognizable, and what is in front of you is a 21st century combat rifle full of modern atmosphere.

"There's also the TALON optical scope and 7.62mm sniper shells, which are the best configuration for the Mark 14 sniper rifle, but it can blow a tank with a single shot." Seeing this scene, Hu Qinglan proudly showed off to everyone, "The Mark 14 rifle is a very good product, but in order to give full play to its performance, various auxiliary equipment is also indispensable. On the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, the shortcomings of the M4 carbine with 5.56mm, SS109 cartridges became a topic of conversation among American soldiers. Since most of the battles fought on the battlefields of these two countries were long-range battles, the SS109 bullets, which were used for close combat, were affected by lateral winds, so of course the accuracy of the hit was reduced, and its power was greatly reduced. According to the manual in the hands of the US soldiers, the effective range of the M4 carbine is 550m when firing at point fire and 800m when targeting an area, but according to the US soldiers who participated in the actual battle, its actual range is only half of the manual. If you are equipped with the M68, M2 sights without magnification, their power is even lower. As a result, the old M14 rifle of 7.62mm caliber once again attracted the attention of the military. The power of the 7.62mm bullet is much higher than that of the M4 carbine 5.56mm bullet, and the power of the M14 with the 7.62mm bullet is suitable for use on the Afghan battlefield, so the US combat groups deployed to the Afghan battlefield are equipped with two M14 rifles.

THE M14 WAS EQUIPPED WITH AN ACOG SCOPE PRODUCED BY TRIJICON, BUT DUE TO THE STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE M14, THE MOUNTING POSITION OF THE OPTICAL SIGHT WAS TOO HIGH, AND THE FIXED STOCK USED TO ATTACH THE GILLS COULD NOT BE ADJUSTED IN HEIGHT, RESULTING IN THE OPTICAL SIGHT NOT MEETING THE OBSERVATION REQUIREMENTS. These defects, raised by U.S. soldiers, have attracted the attention of the military and manufacturing companies. With the rapid development of high technology, various auxiliary equipment such as optical sights, tactical lights, PEQ-2/PACRC and so on have become indispensable equipment for modern military rifles.

The M14 rifles of the past, although excellent in performance, did not have any auxiliary equipment. In order to solve these problems, a number of companies quickly promoted the SOPMOD improvement of the M14, and successively developed a new SOPMOD stock that combines artificial materials and metal. The SOPMOD butts developed by these different companies have a common feature, that is, the upper, lower, left, right and left sides are equipped with the indispensable rail system on modern military rifles. Springfield Arsenal and Troy Industries are the leading companies that produce SOPMOD stocks for the M14.

In the long-term use of the M4 carbine, many American soldiers have a deep understanding of the gun, but very little about the M14 rifle, and Clint March, a gunsmith of the FULTONARMORY company, has a deep understanding of the M14, has accumulated a wealth of experience, and often gives creative suggestions to his customers. Faced with two M14 rifles with a 45.7cm barrel and a 40cm barrel, most U.S. soldiers would choose the M14 rifle with a 40cm barrel. The reason is that the M14 with a short barrel is easy to carry and easy to operate. The barrel length of the M14SOCOM rifle produced by Springfield is exactly 40cm, which is not only good-looking, but also meets the needs of American soldiers. However, Clint March strongly rejected the 40cm short barrel. The reason for this is that when firing a powerful 7.62mm bullet, the fired gunpowder cannot fully burn in the barrel, and the muzzle jump phenomenon is aggravated, and the muzzle part produces a dazzling flame. In this way, not only is the trajectory unstable, but the hit rate will not be high. Clint March asserted that the 45.7cm barrel was the best choice for a 7.62mm cartridge calibre rifle.

From this point of view, the Springfield company's 40cm barrel M14SOCOM a failure. Next is the uniquely shaped SOPMOD butt. This butt was made by SEG International Inc., located in Oscoda, Michigan. The casing jacket is made of 6061T6 aluminum, which is precisely machined and formed by computer-controlled CNC equipment. The installation position of the gun body was also lower than that of the standard M14, and the distance between the shaft of the barrel and the butt became shorter. As a result, the recoil during firing is transmitted more directly to the shooter's shoulder, and muzzle jumps are significantly reduced, which helps to improve the accuracy of hits. The new butt keeps the barrel floating, which is necessary for a high hit rate. Arguably the biggest difference from the old M14 rifle lies in this. The length and height of the butt can be adjusted freely, and different kinds of optical sights can be mounted.

"No, it's a dire crocodile, get out of the way!" While speaking, Hu Qinglan glanced at it, and saw that the water overflowed with red blood, but it was too late, a person was dragged into the water, his screams were full of despair of withdrawing the bone marrow, and then he stopped dumbfounded, Hu Qinglan raised his gun and rifle to shoot, but unfortunately the mercenaries were crowded in a mess, and they all wanted to run to the front as soon as possible, so they stopped the shooting boundary. More than a dozen mercenaries turned pale with fright, their legs were weak, they could no longer support them, they fell into the water, poured several large salivas, they struggled, grabbed with both hands, and pulled down the mercenaries beside them, causing a lot of chaos, but fortunately, the river section was only more than a meter deep, and they almost did not drown.

Poof, a large amount of water splashed, and another small dinosaur crocodile with a body length of three meters burst out from under the water, opened its big mouth full of sharp teeth, and immediately stopped a certain unlucky mercenary by the waist, and then with force, it bit his body into two pieces, and a large amount of blood spilled out.

Poof, poof, like a hornet's nest that had been stabbed, more crocodiles suddenly sprang out and attacked the raft. This section of the river is the narrowest part of the river, but it is only five meters wide, and there are bloody mouths on both sides, and I don't know when, they have become a hunting ground for dinosaurs, and at this time, they suddenly attacked, which caught the entire mixed team off guard.

Floating on the water, there are more than 30 dinosaur crocodiles, with their bloody mouths open, to devour these invaders, fortunately they are huge, and the river section is narrow, and they can't spread the formation, otherwise a face, the mercenaries will die, even so, three more people were bitten by the body, dragged into the water, and did not move in a few blinks.

"Don't mess around, hide on both sides!" Yue Zhende yelled and told the mercenaries to get out of the way, but unfortunately they couldn't listen to it at all, and they were bent on running to the center of the raft, they felt that only there was safety.

In an uproar, a dire crocodile also sprang out of the dead branches and leaves in the front section of the river, and pounced on the mercenaries, Hu Qinglan and the others immediately turned around, and the guns rang out, and the bullets whistled out, shooting into their bodies, and overturning the first few.

Hu Qinglan was fully armed, and his steps were wide open, jumping over the top of his head over the mercenaries who were running in a panic, and jumping at the end of the raft.

A dire crocodile pounced out, the fishy smell in his mouth was a thick mess, and it even poured into Hu Qinglan's nose, he swung his arm hard, and the butt of the gun smashed on the head of the dire crocodile.

The dire crocodile fell into the air, and all the big teeth were broken, and it knocked over several dire crocodiles behind it and rolled into a ball.

Hu Qinglan raised his arms, Mark 14 roared angrily, and the firelight shot out, hitting the dinosaur crocodile, blasting out a bloody flesh hole, and the bullets hit the water, gurgling.

When shooting, the shooter can hold the grip with his right hand and adjust the length of the butt directly with his left hand. It is also one of the designs that fully takes into account the needs of the modern battlefield. In order to install various auxiliary equipment on the left and right sides of the gun body, a system of guide rails was also provided on the butt of the SOPMOD. Especially above the receiver, a long guide rail is installed, which can be equipped with the latest AN/PVS-22 night vision goggles, etc. Prior to this, the AN/PVS-14 night vision goggles were generally installed behind the optical sight, and this installation method was not easy to observe the scale in the optical sight; Especially when used in conjunction with single-point sights, a special night display device is required. It is clear that the AN/AVS-22 night vision goggles, which are located in front of the optical sight, completely solve this problem.

The most important of the auxiliary equipment is the optical sight, which is closely related to the accuracy of hitting. The range of the Mark 14 rifle far exceeds that of the M4 carbine, so the conventional single-point scope simply cannot meet the long-range shooting needs of the 7.62mm cartridge. However, most sniper rifles now use high-magnification optical sights that can only snipe at fixed targets, and it is difficult to snipe moving targets on the battlefield, and it is difficult to replace single-point sights. In addition, the optical scope used in sniper rifles is large in size and weight, which is not convenient for carrying and flexible operation on the battlefield. In this way, is there an optical sight that has both long-range sniping ability and quick capture ability of close-range targets, waterproof, lightweight, small, high-precision, and very strong? THE AMERICAN COMPANY HORUSVISION SUPPLIED THE MARK 14 RIFLE WITH TALON OPTICAL SIGHTS THAT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS SERIES OF REQUIREMENTS, 1-4×24MM.

The TALON optical scope was originally designed for 7.62mm combat rifles such as the Mark 14 and has a scale that calculates the trajectory and drop of the bullet. The scope uses a special rangefinder to easily calculate the distance to the target, and can also obtain ballistic thrust data based on the speed of the moving target. Input this data into a PDA computer with dedicated software, and then input some data such as air temperature, wind direction, humidity, wind speed, and shooting angle, and the amount of adjustment of the aiming point will be automatically displayed on the screen. In close combat, CQB, you can reduce the magnification and use the phantom ring in the scale to quickly capture the target.

The sight also features graduated illumination, with 11 different levels of illumination to choose from in some low-light conditions. In addition, the scope body is lightweight, small in size, waterproof to a depth of 20m, and has a sturdy housing that can resist 2000G external impacts. The TALON optical sight has been equipped with some US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has been put into real combat with good results.

The TALON optical sight uses the sight fixing ring produced by the ARMS company, which does not require any tools to operate, and it can be fixed directly on the rail of the Mark 14 rifle. The Mark 14 rifle is much heavier than the M4 carbine. In order to maintain its stability when shooting, a bipod is an essential piece of equipment. However, it is difficult to find a bipod on the market that fits the Mark 14 rifle. Harris produces a bipod of good quality, but it is suitable for shooting sniper rifles at fixed targets, and the installation and removal procedures are quite cumbersome, so it is not suitable for combat rifles.

Just when he was worried about the development of this bipod suitable for the use of the Mark 14 combat rifle, an important person named Mike Rock appeared. He is a former soldier of the 5th Special Forces of the U.S. Army, who also participated in the Vietnam War, has decades of experience in the use of firearms, can fully understand and understand various opinions from the battlefield, and also has excellent talents in firearms. He was the first to design the M2RSWS sniper system according to the requirements of the U.S. Army; The first to put forward the idea of M14SOPMOD; The idea of moving the M14 gas system 45 degrees was also his patent, and he later transferred the patent rights to Troy Industries, which manufactured and sold M14ROCKSOPMOD rifles. The SOPMOD bipod used in the Mark 14 rifle is also a masterpiece of Mike Locke. At the bottom of the bipod are inlaid 3 small triangular claws, which require only a simple movement to attach them to the rails under the Mark M14 rifle.

Not only that, but the sharp claws pierce into the ground, and even with the strong recoil of the 7.62mm bullet, the gun body will not float. In addition, since the bottom area of the bipod is quite large, it will not sink into the ground even if the ground is loose and not solid. Unlike the Harris stationary bipod, the SOPMOD bipod also slides the gun body up, down, left and right. This is one of the special features designed to take into account the actual combat situation in which the target is constantly moving. Currently, SOPMOD bipods are only available to U.S. government and military personnel.

As if to prove Hu Qinglan's boasting, the dinosaur crocodile dropped a few corpses within a few breaths, the river section here has been completely stirred and turbid, coupled with the infection of blood, it has completely turned dark red, in the dim daylight, like a pool of blood, it looks extremely terrifying, but they are not afraid of death, roaring, and still launching a desperate charge.

Hu Qinglan's firepower did not stop, and she continued to shoot, stopping the crazy horde of dinosaurs by herself, and finally let the mercenaries temporarily out of danger.

Yue Zhende and the others were in full swing, and they were also clearing the dinosaurs in front, and the corpses kept falling into the river section, and with the increase of minced flesh and corpses, the river section gradually turned into a mire and became sticky.

The mercenaries also discovered that the actual performance of the Mark 14 rifle was extraordinary. The first is recoil. As mentioned earlier, the recoil of the modified Mark 14 is much softer than that of the original M14 rifle. Thanks to the adjustable stock, the gun can choose the state that suits you during the shooting process, which is the advantage of a fish in water for the shooter. The SOPMOD bipod is also quite good, and the integration with the gun body is also quite ideal. The 2.04kg trigger force is also not flawless, and the muzzle brake is also very effective.

Due to the use of a short 45.7cm barrel, the resulting muzzle flame is not noticeable. When using firearms, the most important thing for military personnel is the accuracy of hits, and the Mark 14 rifle has tested the accuracy of hits. The results of the firing test showed that there was not much difference between the use of 3 different cartridges, and the average dispersion of the impact point was about 3.17 cm in diameter at a distance of 100 m. The gun uses a fully floating competition-grade barrel and uses competition-grade bullets, so it should be accurate to shoot within 2.5cm. But this result of the shot was not due to problems with the performance of the gun itself, but largely due to the fact that the shooter was not accustomed to the operation of the gun.

The second reason lies in the TALON optical sight. The scale of the TALON optical sight is designed for quick capture of moving targets, a small circle is drawn in the center of the crosshairs. Therefore, there is no precision like a standard scale, and if you are equipped with a high-magnification optical sight used in a sniper rifle and are familiar with its operation, it is not a problem to control the dispersion within 2.5cm. In short, for a combat rifle, having such accuracy has fully met the needs of actual combat. The Mark 14 rifle acted well, and during about 300 rounds of firing, jamming did not occur once.

Due to the full floating barrel structure, even if 300 rounds were fired in a row under the hot sun, the heat transferred to the handguard was minimal. This is truly impressive. At present, although the G3 rifle used for shooting training by the 9th Frontier Army of the German Special Forces fires the same 7.62mm bullet, the handguard part heats up rapidly during continuous firing, even to the extent that it is impossible to hold the gun in bare hands, and the cooling process also takes a considerable time.

This was accompanied by the creation of the Tonner AR15 automatic rifle, an early AR-15 automatic rifle Eugene Stoner (1922-1997), who began designing rifles after retiring from the Marine Corps after World War II. In 1955, Eugene Stoner developed an automatic rifle with a caliber of 7.62mm using the Swedish AG42 Youngman rifle, also known as the air-blowing principle, and named it the AR-10.

The design of the AR-10 was quite avant-garde at the time, both in terms of materials and shape, the receiver was made of aluminum alloy, the straight stock and small grip were made of engineering plastic, the barrel was made of aluminum, and the inner sleeve was made of stainless steel, only the bolt and bolt frame were made of chrome-plated steel, and the empty gun weighed only 3.4 kg. In 1956, the AR-10 participated in the U.S. Army's selection tests, when the T44E4 and T48 rifles were also in the final stages of testing. During the test, the AR-10 was disqualified due to the loose muzzle device caused by the overheating of the barrel, and the continuous impact on the steel liner caused serious cracking. Although the AR-10 could not compete with the two rifles, a small number of AR-10s were sold to other countries such as Sudan and Portugal two years later.

Later, the AR-10 came to the attention of General Willard Wieman of the U.S. Army, who asked Stoner and Amalet to design a .22 caliber rifle with a high muzzle velocity. The new design requirements meet the following requirements: a 20-round capacity magazine; Weight less than 6 pounds after reloading; Ability to choose the way to shoot; Each bullet can penetrate a standard steel helmet, body armor or 3.4mm thick steel plate at a range of 500 meters. In response to these requirements, Stoner began development work.

His first design was a traditional design, but it was completely uncontrollable when firing fully automatically, so in 1957 he began designing a scaled-down version of the AR-10. The AR-10 design team scaled down the AR-10 to a .222 caliber automatic rifle and submitted six prototypes for review at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in just six months.

In order to meet the last requirement of 500 m penetration, Stoner asked Remington to improve their muzzle velocity of 3300 ft/s, 1006 m/s 55 Gling .222 Remington rifle cartridge, and the new ammunition developed was the famous .223 Remington rifle cartridge. In addition to the caliber, the barrel of the AR-15 was changed to an all-steel barrel, and a short rod-shaped flame suppressor was used, and the hook-type pull handle that was originally located inside the handle was changed to a T-shaped pull handle behind the handlebar, and otherwise it was still the same as the AR-10.

Stoner's new rifle, the AR-15, is a collection of design ideas and features from many other rifles, including: the latching device of the M1941 Johnson rifle; receiver cover and tail of FNFAL; T-25 with a coaxial straight butt with a barrel; British EM2 with a handle with a light door; the dust cover of the shell throwing mouth of the German MP44 assault rifle; The air guide system of the Swedish Yang Man rifle, but the air guide system designed by Stoner reduces several moving parts, making the rifle easier to operate and reducing production costs. In addition, because the new ammunition at the time allowed the rifle to use lightweight materials such as aluminum alloy and plastic, the AR-15 empty gun weighed only 6.35 pounds, which is equivalent to 2.89 kilograms.

However, Stoner did not see the need to chrome the chamber, and the Amalet company did not have the technological ability to chrome the chamber at that time, but the military's research during the Second World War showed that chrome plating of the chamber was beneficial for automatic weapons, so the army announced that it would start with the M14 rifle and all subsequent rifles would be chrome-plated. The emergence of the AR-15 attracted the attention of the U.S. military, and from 1958 to 1959, the Army conducted several comparative tests of the AR-15 with the M14 at Fort Benning, Fort Autom, and Abertine test sites. Tests have shown that the AR-15 is lightweight, easy to handle, easy to disassemble and combine, and the infantry department reports that the AR-15 would be a suitable replacement for the M14 rifle.

However, later tests revealed a number of problems, such as high muzzle flare, poor accuracy, poor penetration, high failure rate when using a 30-round magazine, and a bore explosion when fired when rain enters the barrel of the AR-15. Stoner redesigned and strengthened the barrel again, but the ordnance engineer said the problem remained, and it was a problem that could be expected with the .22 caliber barrel. The U.S. Army lost interest in the AR-15, and the Chief of Staff, General Maxwell Taylor, did not support the AR-15 and suggested continuing production of the M14. In December 1959, Fairchild sold the design, manufacture and sale rights of the AR-15 to Colt Arms for $75,000 in cash and a 4.5% commission.

In 1960, Amalet was reorganized, during which Stoner left Amalet. Colt further refined the design of the AR-15, and some foreign armies also took a fancy to this revolutionary new rifle. One of the earliest buyers of the AR-15 was the British Army, which procured a batch for SAS to use in Borneo, and it is worth mentioning that SAS's rival, the Indonesian Army, was also one of the earliest users of the AR-15. Colt bet on the company's future fortunes on the AR-15. Colt decided to launch a bold offensive against the military's top brass. First, Colt began to attack the M14 rifle, and then, Colt tried to influence other high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Defense.

The first high-ranking officer to be persuaded was the then Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Curtis Lemay. On June 4, 1960, the Air Force tested the AR-15 at an air base in Texas, after which General Lemay determined to purchase 8,500 AR-15 rifles to replace the M2 carbines equipped at the Strategic Air Command's posts. Colt used the same method to influence the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, ARPA. ARPA also believed that the AR-15 was suitable for combat use, so in August 1961, the Vietnam Military Aid Advisory Group requested the purchase of 1,000 AR-15s for the South Vietnamese army to conduct full combat tests, and the then Minister of Defense approved the request.

In the early summer of 1962, this procurement program was implemented, and through combat tests, it was shown that the AR-15 was superior in performance to other weapons. In 1962 and 1963, the U.S. Army retested AR-15 twice, and twice rejected AR-15 on the grounds that it was inaccurate and easy to damage at long distances. However, thanks to the efforts of the Air Force and Military Aid Advisory Group, the Department of Defense decided to conduct an efficiency-to-cost test of the AR-15 and the M14 in service. According to the ARPA report, cost-effectiveness tests of the AR-15 and M14 show that equipping the U.S. infantry with a certain amount of AR-15 would have the same firepower as the Soviet infantry armed with the AK-47, and at a fairly low price. The U.S. Commander-in-Chief in Vietnam, Westmoreland, also made several requests for equipment, and McNamara ordered the M14 to cease production on January 23, 1963. At this time, the Air Force designated the AR-15 used in Vietnam as XM16.

On November 4, 1963, Colt was awarded a contract to produce 104,000 XM16s—85,000 for the Army's Special Forces and Airmobile Tactical Units, and 19,000 for the Air Force's Airborne Special Forces. The M16A1 rifle evolved to replace the M14, and on February 8, 1964, the Air Force officially named the AR-15 "American 5.56mm M16 rifle". At the same time, the Army named the experimental version they were equipped with XM16E1. The difference between XM16E1 and M16 is that its bolt adds a bolt auxiliary locking device, and the bolt is in place booster, which is more vividly called "auxiliary pusher handle", while the pull handle of M16 only has the function of pulling the bolt and cannot be boosted.

In 1967, the U.S. Army decided to completely replace the improved XM16E1 and officially named the XM16E1 M16A1. The only difference between the M16 and the M16A1 in terms of appearance is that there is no piston-like bolt booster in place. On June 16, 1966, Colt was awarded a contract for 840,000 rifles worth about $91,700,000, and the M16 sold very well. But between 1965 and 1967, some of the main problems came to light. For AR-15 to become M16, M14 played a big role. In the 50s of the 20th century, when NATO carried out "generalization of ammunition", that is, to unify the caliber of guns and ammunition within NATO, the United States believed that the T65 7.62×51mm bullet had a long range and strong penetrating power, and resolutely opposed any small-caliber ammunition that reduced its power. So in 1953, NATO officially decided that the T65 bomb was the NATO standard bomb.

In 1957, the United States conducted a selection test of standard rifles, and the rifles participating in the competition included the FNFAL rifle, which had been designated as a NATO standard weapon, Stoner's AR-10, and the T44 fully automatic rifle designed on the basis of the M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle. In fact, the results of the selection test have long been determined. The standard rifles of the U.S. military will not use foreign goods, and FAL's participation is just for show; The AR-10 went awry during the test and was immediately disqualified. So the T44 rifle won as a matter of course and was finalized as the M14. The M14 was immediately put into service on the battlefields of Vietnam as soon as it was equipped with troops, and in the jungles and mountains of Vietnam, the shortcomings of the M14 were exposed.

The M14 has a total length of 1120mm and a total weight of 4.54kg with a live magazine, and due to the high power of the 7.62mm bullet, the recoil is very large when firing fully automatic, and the shooter is not easy to control, resulting in poor shooting accuracy. Another point is that the M14 issued on the battlefield in Vietnam is equipped with fast and slow machine locks, and the soldiers can only shoot semi-automatically, and under the suppression of the powerful firepower of the Acre 47, the American soldiers using the M14 cannot raise their heads at all, which is simply miserable.

In addition, due to the heavy weight of the rifle and ammunition, the amount of ammunition carried by a single soldier on patrol duty generally does not exceed 100 rounds. Therefore, the US military on the battlefield in Vietnam urgently needed a new rifle to replace the M14 rifle. In 1963, U.S. Secretary of Defense McNamara ordered the immediate discontinuation of production of the M14, and then the M16 rushed to the battlefield in Vietnam to put out the fire. The M16 made its first appearance in combat after being fully distributed to the army in November 1965 in the Duc Lang Valley in Vietnam, and it performed quite well.

Lieutenant Colonel Harold G. Moore, who was later promoted to lieutenant general, wrote in the report that the victory was brought about by "brave soldiers and M16s." But from the autumn of 1966, there were frequent reports of the failure of the M16 on the battlefields of Vietnam. In May 1967, a Marine wrote home the following letter: "I received your letter when I boarded the ship today. From the 21st of last month to today, the world has been carrying out an operation. At the moment the enemy casualties are very high, and the casualties of the Marines are relatively light, so I can go back to the base and read the newspaper.

Nearly 1,400 men were lost in the battalion, and half of them were able to come back. The company lost 250 people and 107 returned. The World Platoon lost 72 people and 19 returned. I think my luck has come to an end, and they, the Grim Reaper, will find me eventually. However, I was only hit by a small piece of shrapnel. I wish my buddies could say something like that. …… Believe it or not, do you know what kills most of the people? It's its own rifle. Before leaving Okinawa, all the people of the world were issued with this new type of rifle, the M16. In fact, the world found that almost everyone was repairing his rifle when he was dying - because his rifle was out of order. A female journalist who was with the world took the photos, and the Pentagon found out and didn't let her make them public. They said they didn't want to affect the mood of the American public. Isn't that ridiculous? ”

Colt immediately sent several expert teams to the scene, and the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, American Rifleman magazine, and others also sent people to investigate and conduct interviews. The main problems found to be with the M16 at that time were: heavy fouling of the chamber, breaking the cartridge case, jamming, magazine damage, rust on the chamber and chamber, and lack of wiping tools, especially in harsh conditions. At this time, the photographs taken by Catherine Lellet were published in the Paris magazine "Competition", and the news reached the country, causing an uproar, and the wave of criticism of the M16 came and went. There are many reasons for these failures, Vietnam has a humid climate and high temperatures, and if you don't pay attention to the wiping and maintenance of the gun, it is easy to rust, but the main reason is to switch it to rifle bullet gunpowder. The M193 cartridge originally used in the M16 was originally a single-base tubular drug IMR4475 from DuPont, which burned quickly, the pressure curve rose quickly, and there was less residue.

However, DuPont informed the Army that they could not produce IMR4475 in large quantities. In January 1964, the Army decided to use Olin's WC846 bi-base spherical charge, which they believed was easy to produce, low cost, slow to burn, reduced peak pressure, and also conducive to improving the service life of the barrel, and the original T65 bullet also used this type of gunpowder. However, after the M193 bomb was used with WC846, there were many problems:

Spherical gunpowder burns and leaves some sticky residue in the barrel and air duct of the M16, which is difficult to quickly return the rifle to normal use because the barrel is not chrome-plated, and the gas guide system does not have the corresponding maintenance devices and suitable lubricating materials; Due to the ballistic characteristics of spherical gunpowder, which leads to the pressure of the air guide holes, and the light mass of the buffer device, the fully automatic rate of fire of the M16 has been greatly increased from 750-850 rounds per minute in normal conditions to 850-1000 rounds per minute; In addition, due to the high residual chamber pressure when the bolt is unlocked, the residue also increases the friction between the chamber wall and the cartridge case, so the phenomenon of jamming and shell breaking appears. In addition, the lack of an effective management system for the entire production process of M16 is also an important reason.

In addition to the above-mentioned reasons, the lack of necessary training and guidance of the units equipped with the M16 also contributed to the many dramatic failures of the M16 in combat. On May 15, 1967, a congressional committee began investigating the problems that had manifested itself in the war, led by Missouri Democrat Richard Isaholt. He conducted tests at Fort Benning and Camp Pendleton to observe the malfunction of the M16, and made a special trip to Vietnam to assess the problem, and the Commission of Inquiry submitted a report in late June 1967, stating that "the M16, which appears to be in its troubles, is in fact a very good rifle, and that all the problems that will be found in its application are the result of mismanagement within the unit." ”

However, the difficulty of shelling and the problem of rate of fire were indeed caused by flaws in the design. In order to solve some problems in the design, the content of calcium-containing carbonate that is easy to produce residues in the M193 bomb was reduced from 1% to 0.25%, so that the blockage of the M16 air duct was halved, and the difficulty of shelling was also solved.

Colt also made improvements to the M16 itself, such as chrome plating of the chamber; The redesign of the buffer, i.e., the recoiled spring duct, reduced the rate of fire to normal; design of a maintenance tool and a new stock so that cleaning tools can be stored inside the rifle; The rifling distance was changed from 14 inches to 12 inches; Strictly control the production process and improve product quality. Finally, a training plan on "how to properly maintain the M16" was developed, and a comic strip manual for the maintenance of the rifle was printed and distributed to the soldiers, a measure that was the ultimate and best solution to the operational problem. Efforts in terms of operational performance and production have made the M16/M16A1 very reliable in operation. After solving the problem of frequent failures, the next problem to be solved is how to get more rifles into the hands of infantry regiments that need them.

In 1966, Colt was the sole producer of M16/M16A1, with a monthly output of 25,000 pieces. On June 30, 1967, the U.S. government purchased the patent and license for the M16, then added two more contractors, and in April 1968, General Motors' Hydramatic division and Harrington Richardson began production of the M16/M16A1, with a monthly output of 25,000 units each. In 1969, Colt expanded and the monthly production of M16 reached 50,000 pieces. In May 1970, the three companies produced 89,000 units per month. By 1971, General Motors and Harrington discontinued the M16/M16A1, while Colt continued to supply the M16/M16A1 rifle to the U.S. military until 1988.

The first battle between the M16 and the Acre-47 was on the battlefield in Vietnam, when many U.S. soldiers preferred to abandon the M16 and use the Acre-47 after the opponent captured the Acre-47. Harold G. Moore's The World Was Once a Young Soldier mentions several times that the solution to a failure of the M16 during combat is often for some to continue the fight with rifles from the wounded or dead, while others crouch at the bottom of foxholes to troubleshoot. This is because the capture of Acre 47 can only be done after the battle is done when the battlefield is being cleaned up, and more importantly, the use of different types of weapons involves some trivial issues such as the effective use of training levels and the supply of ammunition. The improved M16A1 greatly improves reliability.

For example, each batch of M16A1 will be tested for reliability before it is distributed to the troops, and the results of the sampling test show that the average failure rate of M16A1 is 0.033%, which is lower than the 0.15% required by the index at that time, and the average trouble-free working time is 3,000 rounds. Through strict control of the production process, M16A1 still has good reliability. Although the M16 initially showed frequent failures on the battlefield in Vietnam, the problem was solved within six months, and the M16/M16A1's performance in combat proved that Eugene Stoner designed a good rifle.

While the United States was mired in the Vietnam War, several M16 variants also appeared, including a short-lived sniper rifle and the XM177, among others. U.S. soldiers fighting in Vietnam generally report that the M16 and M16A1 are more powerful and lightweight, and easier to carry than the M14. Lieutenant P. W. Kendra, a commander of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division operating in Vietnam, recalled that a squad of the division, surrounded on a hill on three sides, fired flares in order to call for helicopter fire support. Thinking that they were going to retreat, the North Vietnamese soldiers increased the speed of their attack, only to be hit by heavy fire from the M16A1, resulting in heavy casualties.

At that time, the North Vietnamese soldiers often used the method of digging tunnels to attack the US military suffered a big loss, and later the US special forces ambushed near the tunnel exit, and the North Vietnamese soldiers were shot by the M16 as soon as they showed their heads, so they called the M16 "black gun". Although the U.S. military lost in Vietnam, the M16 started in Vietnam, and Colt alone produced 3.5 million M16s during this time.

In 1974, the U.S. Army procured another 2.7 million. The M16 began to go to the world and set off a wave of small-caliber rifles in the armies of countries around the world. It is worth mentioning that after the North Vietnamese army completely defeated the South Vietnamese army, it captured about one million M16A1s from the South Vietnamese army. Between the 1970s and 1980s, Viet Nam sold the captured M16A1s elsewhere, mostly to Central America, particularly the leftist guerrilla party of the Martí National Liberation Front in El Salvador. The improvement of the three-shot point-fire M16A2 rifle, the 1M16A2 automatic rifle Stoner himself has always had a soft spot for the M16A1, so he has always been obsessed with the improvement of the M16A2. He once said that before and during the improvement process, he never consulted others.

He himself said that the M16A2 changes were of no value other than handguards. He has forgotten that the beginning of the M16A1 was based precisely on the call for the use of troops. The Marine Corps named the improved M16A1 as M16A1E1, and compared with the M16A1, there are the following improvements: the Belgian SS109 bullet is used, the American model M855, the rifling angle is changed from 12 inches to 7 inches, and the theoretical rate of fire reaches 700~900RPM; The outer diameter of the barrel in front of the handguard has been thickened to 18.5 mm, close to the diameter of the flame suppressor, to increase the robustness of the barrel and improve the accuracy of single shots, so that the barrel is 170 grams heavier.

The butt has been lengthened by 16mm, which is to be ergonomic and to facilitate aimed shooting in a shoulder-to-shoulder manner, which is more robust and durable; The triangular left and right halves of the handguard are changed to the cylindrical upper and lower halves, and the handguard has heat dissipation ribs on the outside, which can also play an anti-slip role; The original diameter of 2mm hole was changed to 5mm, which is convenient for aiming at close-range moving targets, the tip of the front sight is changed from cylindrical to square cylinder, and the wind deviation and height of the door can be adjusted; The two lower openings on the muzzle extinguisher have been eliminated to suppress muzzle jumps and avoid muzzle dust during prone firing; A protrusion was added behind the shell mouth to prevent the cartridge case from being thrown backwards, which was convenient for left-handed shooters; Stock, handguard and grip materials were switched to fiber-reinforced nylon; The butt had a non-slip base plate, and the small straight grip was changed to a grip with finger slots.

During the summer of 1981, M16A1E1 underwent a very thorough test, and in September 1982 it was finalized as the M16A2, and a year later, on November 20, 1983, it was officially adopted by the Marine Corps. At this time, some people in the Army were trying to persuade the relevant departments not to adopt the M16A2, although they also admitted that a large number of M16A1s had been severely worn out in long-term use and training, but after discussion and research, the Army finally adopted the M16A2 in 1985. In 1986, the U.S. Department of the Army announced that within 8 years, 1986~1994, 20 million M16A2 rifles would be purchased for comprehensive rearmament.

Originally, Colt also participated in the M16A2 improvement plan, but in 1988, Colt lost the production contract of the M16A2 ordered by the U.S. Army because of the higher price than FNMI, and the manufacturing plant opened by the Belgian company FN in North America, as a result, the M16A2 gun equipped by the U.S. military was marked with the FNMI logo. The initial model of the M16A2 was only semi-automatic and 3-shot burst, which also catered to the claims of some senior U.S. Army officers. And British experts especially appreciated this method of firing, arguing that "a controlled burst of 3 rounds can get a high hit rate, which is better than firing 10 or 15 rounds at once at the enemy." ”

It's really a great way to conserve ammo. However, some US military experts and technical experts have fiercely opposed this. Because this design idea fundamentally shakes the purpose of assault rifles. The main intent of assault rifles in tactical use is to deter, suppress, annihilate or deter the enemy with sudden and heavy fire. Therefore, after the M16A2 was finalized, some modifications with automatic launch functions were introduced, but most of these fully automatic M16A2 were used for export, and the US Army and Marine Corps were mostly equipped with the three-shot US government standard model, Model 645. In addition, the M16A2 sold by Colt to law enforcement agencies was also designated RO901.

In this matter, Stoner himself was vehemently opposed to the initial model of the M16A2, not against the three-shot burst mechanism, but against the replacement of fully automatic fire with three bursts, because this completely deviated from his original intention of designing the M16. As early as the 60s of the 20th century, a considerable number of military personnel in the United States preferred the semi-automatic shooting method of rifles, on the grounds that fully automatic shooting would waste ammunition, and Stoner was still arguing for this at the time. Many experts found that in World War II, about 4/5 of the M1 Garand riflemen did not pull the trigger in battle, and the closer the BAR rifle was, the closer the soldier was to the spectacular scene of continuous BAR shooting, so the soldier came to the conclusion that "semi-automatic is useless in actual combat".

Stoner believed that semi-automatic rifles could not be used to their maximum power even in the hands of a well-trained soldier for several reasons: first, hesitation in choosing a target; 2. As soon as the enemy counterattacks, the firing will be stopped; 3. Distraction when neighboring soldiers are killed or wounded; Fourth, due to nervousness and even fear, the bullet shot out was either high or low, and it missed the target. A rifle with a fully automatic way of firing is a different matter entirely.

Holding a gun like the BAR, a soldier will feel that he has taken control of an area, and if the enemy appears in the area, he will take them all. Although the U.S. military has made several improvements to the M16 rifle, the M16 still leaves much to be desired. For example, field decomposition is more complex; The whole gun is longer and less maneuverable; Thickening the barrel will improve performance, but it will affect the M203 grenade launcher, which cannot be hung and has to use the previous barrel with only the thickened handguard; The design of the three-shot burst mechanism is poor, every 3 rounds of the cam rotates once, if the position of the interrupted shooting stop is different, the trigger force of the trigger again is not the same, so as to affect the accuracy of single shot and so on.

One of the important problems is that the bolt is too light and the inertia is small, and it is prone to failure to recoil or re-entry in place, especially in harsh environments such as muddy water or wind and sand. In the Demi Moore film "G.I. Jane," the SEALs put a muzzle on the M16 is not fictional. The M16's instruction manual also states that the barrel cannot be fired immediately after water ingress, because the M16's air duct is too long and thin, and if water enters it, it will affect automatic fire. If a soldier needs to dive with a gun, one of the most practical and basic solutions is to put a condom tightly on the muzzle of the gun. However, the M16 gun family proved to be very reliable in the desert environment of the Gulf War. At the end of September 1987, the U.S. Army put forward the "U.S. Army Small Arms Master Plan", and the M16A2 should be equipped as an individual weapon until at least 1994.

In the ACR, which began in 1989, one of the purposes of the Advanced Combat Rifle program was to seek a replacement for the M16A2. However, due to the fact that none of the ACR competitors could meet the requirements of better overall performance than the M16A2, this plan was eventually cancelled. At present, the US military has discarded the "theory of the omnipotence of light weapons" advocated by some people, and affirmed that individual weapons are not used to fight alone, but mainly to deal with living targets, light vehicles, and the enemy in fortifications. As for lightly armored targets and low-speed air targets, they are dealt with by other specialized weapons. The birth of the improved M16A3 of the M16A2 entered the 1990s, due to the abort of the ACR program, the US military could no longer see the need to rely on the existing technology to provide soldiers with revolutionary standard rifles, so they tended to modify the original weapon, so the M16A2 improved version of the M16A3 appeared.

Colt's ACR scheme was an improvement on the M16A2, with a new telescopic stock, a new grip, a new handguard, a new muzzle brake and a double-headed cartridge, and the elimination of the handlebar, which was quite conservative and was called the M16A3 at the time. The design of the M16A3 retains the basic characteristics of the M16A2, with only minor improvements, and its basic purpose is to greatly improve the accuracy of shooting, and it does not intend to adopt any high technology, so the military's original plan was to widely equip the M16A3 within three years, from 1993 to 1995. The M16 rifle itself does not have much room for improvement, and its main development potential lies in the adoption of new sighting systems such as optical sights and night vision devices.

At that time, the plan for the M16A3 was to borrow a handguard developed for the M16A2 called the "SERFS" system, similar to the RIS handguard produced by KAC, with the option of installing a new sight on the additional M1913 standard rail. The specific scheme is as follows: set up a guide rail on the left and right sides of the M16, cancel the handle above the M16 receiver, and the upper guide rail extends from the top of the receiver to the front end of the barrel; A folding small grip is installed on the rails under the front handguard, or an M203 grenade launcher is installed; Other rails can be equipped with laser sights, optical sights, etc.

The M16A3 is 0.23 kg lighter than the M16A2 after the installation of the aluminum alloy "SERFS" system. However, due to financial constraints at that time, it was estimated that each infantry squad could only be equipped with 3~4 M16A3s. At that time, the U.S. Army Ordnance, Ammunition and Chemical Command was rumored to have signed a $27.1 million contract with the manufacturer of the M16A2 to improve 64,725 M16A2 guns. M16A2 manufacturer FNMI's M16A3 improvement program is called "FIRM-M16". The same modification can also be implemented on the M4, which is called "FIRM-M4". In addition to the sight mount rails, a new flame suppressor has been added to the FIRM.

Since the U.S. military will not be equipped with MIRM-M16, FNMI can only sell "FIRM" accessories directly to users. By the mid-1990s, there had been no media coverage of the M16A3 finalization. In addition to reports that the US special forces and rapid reaction forces are equipped with a large number of M4 carbines, through various news clips, it is seen that the US troops running around the world are still holding M16A2 guns in their hands, or there is no need to spend so much money to modify an M16A3 specially equipped with advanced sights, only need to install sights directly on the M16A2. By November 1997, the U.S. Army began to fully replace the standard rifles, but instead of the M16A3, it was the M4 series carbines.

Later, some physical pictures of what are believed to be the legendary M16A3 and M16A4 appeared. The shape of the M16A3 is a far cry from what was conceived in the early 1990s, with only the change from the fixed handle to a flat-top receiver with integrated M1913 rails, i.e. the same as the M4A1, and the M16A2 is otherwise completely retained, but the M16A3 is fully automatic, which is the same as the M16A1. In contrast, the M16A4 has been greatly improved, in addition to changing the handguard of the M16A3 to the RIS handguard kit produced by KAC, which is the same as the SOPMODM4/M4CQBW, and the launch mechanism has been greatly improved to improve its reliable performance. By the end of 2002, the adoption of the M16A4 was officially announced by the Marine Corps.

The appearance of the M16A4 came after the U.S. Army was fully equipped with the M4/M4A1, and the U.S. Marine Corps also announced that it was fully equipped with the M4/M4A1 to replace the M16A2 it originally used. In the second half of 2002, after some debate, the commander of the U.S. Marine Corps, General James Jones, officially announced through the Marine Corps Times that the U.S. Marine Corps finally decided to abandon the full replacement of the M4 and equip the M16A4 after two years of testing and evaluation, and the equipment time began at the end of the year. But the Marine Corps is also not practically fully equipped with the M16A4, and the mechanized forces still use the M4 as their main weapon. Despite the fact that the M4/M4A1 was already accurate enough in the range of infantry combat, the Marines decided to choose the M16A4, which had a longer range.

Why would the Marines go back and re-opt for a 20-inch barrel? The war with Afghanistan illustrates the reasons for the choice of the Marines: the SS109/M885 projectile showed a lack of lethality on the battlefield in Afghanistan, especially when fired with an M4 or C8 carbine, the SS109/M885 must have a warhead velocity of more than 732 m/s to achieve effective lethality, and the warhead must deflect after crossing a certain distance at this speed, and the deflection will cause greater trauma. However, the M4/M4A1 has a low muzzle velocity and unsatisfactory traumatic effect, which has led some units to adopt heavier commercial competition warheads in the war to improve the ballistic performance at the finish line, and some units have suggested the use of new bullets.

However, the Marine Corps still used the M16A2 as its main weapon, and it was not until the start of the Iraq War in 2003 that 31,000 M16A4s were urgently delivered to the Iraqi battlefield. After the start of the war, more M16A4s were sent to Kuwait, but as the troops had already moved out of the front line, the guns remained in Kuwait until the end of the frontal fighting. Due to the lack of numbers, mainly as SAMs, squad precision marksman rifles, and the 3rd Infantry Division of the Army by this time had already been fully reequipped with M16A4.

The M16A4 was introduced about a year after the M4A1 carbine, and both worked on the same principle, the structure was basically similar, and many parts were also common. It is designed with the firearm as a module and the fire control system as a module. The sight uses a lot of new technology, but the gun itself doesn't improve a lot. The receiver is a flat-top type with an M1913 sight rail at the upper end. The bolt has the same Teflon lubricating coating as the rest of the M16 series for increased reliability. The heavy barrel is engraved with the number formed by the applicable bullet, rifling. The barrel handguard was fitted with an aluminum heat shield on the inside. The handle is also removable. The rear of the fixed butt can be equipped with a wiping tool. The M16 series changed back and forth between 3 bursts and bursts, the M16A2 changed from bursts to 3 bursts, the M16A3 changed to bursts, and now to the M16A4 it has become 3 bursts. The single-shot / burst fire mechanism on the M16A4 is also a traditional technique. The biggest improvement of the M16A4 is the fire control system.

Due to advances in technology and functionality, now sights have been replaced by the term fire control system. On the M16A4, the fire control system is designed as a module so that it can be continuously improved according to the state of technological development. It can be said that there is no major breakthrough in traditional technology, and it is basically inclined to improve the performance of weapons by improving the capabilities of the fire control system. This is fully reflected in the importance that the M16A4 attaches to this module, which is also an important way to improve the weapon.

At present, the optical sight of M16A4 includes AN/PEQ-5 laser pointer, holographic diffraction mirror, HDS and AN/PVS-14 night vision aiming system, etc. On the basis of the M16A4, the Colt company has made a model with three types of firing at the same time: single shot, point fire, and fully automatic fire, which may be unveiled under the name M16A5.