My great uncle during the Vietnam war

I found this interesting bit of info about his gun:

The original M16 fared poorly in the jungles of Vietnam and was infamous for reliability problems in the harsh environment. As a result, it became the target of a Congressional investigation.

The investigation found that:

The M16 was billed as self-cleaning (when no weapon is or ever has been).

The M16 was issued to troops without cleaning kits or instruction on how to clean the rifle.

The M16 and 5.56×45mm cartridge was tested and approved with the use of a DuPont IMR8208M stick powder, that was switched to Olin Mathieson WC846 ball powder which produced much more fouling, that quickly jammed the action of the M16 (unless the gun was cleaned well and often).

The M16 lacked a forward assist (rendering the rifle inoperable when it jammed).

The M16 lacked a chrome-plated chamber, which allowed corrosion problems and contributed to case extraction failures (which was considered the most severe problem and required extreme measures to clear, such as inserting the cleaning-rod down the barrel and knocking the spent cartridge out).

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