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Dad and I were talking about that last night. How (acc to those in the field) the M16A1 used to frequently jam in the jungle environment, so many warriors preferred the M-14. I fired it while in Scotland. Nice weapon.

Either of you know this fine fellow?

Thanks for the ping, Tonk. Hope this deserving sailor is awarded the CMH without further delay.

I was just thinking about the M-16 jamming in the jungle environment. I'm not a weapons specialist by any means though I've fired the M-16, M-60, and M-203 many times but I just had a thought. If one buys a conversion kit (to save money plinking) for an AR-15 allowing it to fire .22LR, it jams very much. Seems the powder in the .22LR shell and the gas generated after firing is insufficient to continuously push the bolt back and allow good feeding of the shells in the clip. I'm not a 'Nam vet so my question is....
Is it possible for the old military ball ammo used for the M-16 in a jungle environment susceptible to moisture that could degrade and thereby not giving the rifle a "full load" of barrel gas to successfully chamber the next round? Not being a die-hard shootist but only an occasional plinker, this may have already been remedied. And maybe the M-16 got that rep due to faulty ammo. Personally, I like the M-16 and carried it everyday for 4 years but I don't have the experience necessary nor was in a similar environment to comment one way or the other like many of our respected VietNam veterans that are on these boards. I'm curious about y'alls thoughts and again, a salute to our brave military folks of SE Asia that put it all on the line for us as our MSM catered to the liberal "peace and love" crowd.