In the early 1970's when the Marines were transitioning I carried the M14 and M16 at different duty stations.
Personally, I liked the M14 better as I was a competition shooter. However, the ability to carry 30%-50% more ammo in ammo pouches and stick 5.56mm 20 round mags almost anywhere in your pack or pockets was a real deal maker. I shot expert with both but did better overall with the M14. We had the earlier M16's where you needed to use a live round to adjust the elevation on the front sight. That's got to be one of the worst designs ever. We also had the short/long range flip up rear sights adjustable for windage only.
One time on qual day with my M16 we moved from the 200 yard to the 500 yard line. I forgot to flip my rear sight up to the long range aperture. My first 2 shots were way low and barely in the black when I recognized my mistake. I flipped it up and put the rest of the rounds in the black at chest height on the silhouette target. The trajectory difference between the two settings at 200 and 500 yards is about 15"-18".
Surprisingly, they both made the same "crack" sound when going over your head.
The addition of the ACOG sight to the M4 significantly increased the M4 effectiveness even with the shorter barrel by eliminating much of the range estimation and aiming error. My son said in Yemen they were getting hits at up to 750 yards with the standard issued M4 and ACOG. From my analysis, if you can estimate the range to +/-5% you have about a 50% chance of a hit on a human size target under good conditions. With a spotter you can track the vapor trail to make adjustments.
However, he said it was pretty much worthless in room clearing and got in the way.
Wolfhag
returns to Flintloque to paint an Ogre.
