I never had a serious problem with any M16A1 or M16A2 that I was issued in the 1980s. I own two AR15s and find them to be reliable and accurate.
I have never been in combat, so I can’t say that I have personal experience in the M16’s performance under such conditions.
I have great respect for the AK47. But it too is not perfect. It’s sights are crude and it doesn’t have great inherent accuracy, especially compared to the M16. I suspect that the AK47 is more reliable than the M16, but I believe that there are a lot of myths out there surrounding the AK47, namely that it NEVER jams and hardly ever has to be cleaned or lubricated, just as most of the stories of the M16 being completely unreliable are either urban legends or left over from the days before the M16A1 corrected many flaws in the M16 design and the powder in the 5.56mm round was corrected.
Any weapon that is not properly maintained will eventually fail. It sounds like the Iraqi AK47s were put through hard use over a long period of time with poor maintenance and their examples probably do have reliability problems relative to the newer M4s and M16A4s that the US military has in Iraq.
As for the 5.56mm round, I am not a fan. The 7.62 X 39 round of the AK47 is surely superior, but not decisively so. After all, the Russians switched to the 5.45mm AK74...
I think that the recent problems with stopping power associated with the 5.56mm round stem from the switch from the inherently unstable M193 55gr round to the stabilized M855 62gr round. For increased accuracy and penetration, we lost the tendency of the round to tumble inside the human body, which caused massive wounds.
I believe that the 7.62 X 51 NATO round is superior in most respects to both the 5.56 and 7.62 X 39.
I also disagree that the AK47 was THE premiere military rifle innovation of the 20th Century. I believe that distinction should go to the Garand action, originated in the M1 and then evolved into the M14. That gas operated, rotating bolt action has no weaknesses and the weapons that use it were the best in the world at the time they were fielded. They have tremendous range, accuracy, firepower, reliability and robustness.
In my opinion, it was a shame that the M14 family was not developed and evolved more. To me that is the ultimate rifle for most combat scenarios and the same basic platform can serve as a 1000 yard sniper rifle or a 16-inch barreled carbine for urban combat—and everything in between.
To me, Garand’s design was the most innovative, revolutionary and successful design of the post-WW1 era.
Just one guy’s opinion.
Good comments, I agree completely with you on the Garand, it won WWII with its rate of fire and 30.06 round, just that nasty ching when the ammo clip popped out. Japanese and Germans never matched us until the Sturmgewehr.