The first model of the M16 (M16A1), which was used in Vietnam, was fraught with functional and design flaws.
These included such issues as a faulty release button on the magazine, a poor barrel design which was very easy to bend, inaccurate firing, and even a tendency to overheat.
How did the M16 gain it’s bad reputation being an unreliable ...https://www.reddit.com › AskHistorians › comments ›
I had a Montagnard company of 90-110 yards. My two SSG’s and I took them to an ARVN range to zero in their new M16’s. When one sees a simple calf wound totally take all a VC tax collector’s entire calf and other tissue to his foot and put him in shock one might like a 5.56. My rhade yards loved the M16.
I read that they mandated that Lake City must use dirty-burning WWII powders.