Misfire: The Tragic Failure of the M16 in Vietnam

I found this new book very informative and documented regarding the M16 Rifle. The authors cover itshistory as well as its good points and its problems as the main battle weapon for the U.S. military.This publication should be mandatory reading for U.S. military officers and non-commissioned officers.As I served 10 years in the U.S. Army, I am well versed in the capabilities, function, shooting andmaintenance of the weapon. The shortfalls of the M16 should have been clearly documented while itwas undergoing trials prior to its introduction in the early 1960s. There were several factors thatcontributed to it "not" being the best "jungle rifle" selected. The rifle was prone to misfires and "jams",magazine faults, the type of caliber for it and other malfunctions. In combat, its performance was inquestion. The M16 replaced the excellent M14 rifle which was an improved version of the M1 Garand rifle.The M14 rifle used a tried and proven caliber, the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge which was excellent for amain battle weapon. Today, the M16 rifle and the M4 carbine are very good as it relates to function, useand reliability (except for the caliber). These are my opinions, but are based upon facts.Warrior

I was one of the lucky Marines that was issued the XM16e1, it failed in my first action and I managed to get rid of it. Never used the M16 againI knew much of this story and was glad that someone took the time to bring this to the general publicThe war in Vietnam Nam was very divisive and it interesting for non combat people to read about what we had to contend with

It's not terribly written, but the book is really more about Vietnam war history than it is about the m16. It had some good information but honestly I got more out of books like the m16 by Gordon L Rottman than I did this book. For all the stuff written about the ARVNs in the book it mentions almost nothing about if they had the same issues with the m16 that the Americans did. This is the only gun book I returned.

This was an in depth, quality, very informative book on what politics can do to hamper combat situations and the end result being the loss of life. Top notch facts presented by combat veterans reviews. A MUST READ!!HawkeyeOneZero-1967-1969

This book is well written and very well researched. As a vet from the era we heard all sorts of rumors as to why there were problems with this rifle. Except read.

This book gave me all sorts of info I didn't know about. Better to be informed, which now I am.

Excellent explanation of how the early M16 went from a nasty weapon loved by its users to a disaster that killed its users.Another reason to hate MacNamara.

Ouvrage écrit par deux auteurs ayant eu l"expérience terrain" du sujet et bien documenté. La structure est par contre curieuse. Bien que divisé en chapitres, chacun de ceux-ci n'est qu'en partie la suite logique du précédent, dans la mesure où les auteurs rappellent inlassablement les problèmes ayant affligé le M16 (enrayage par étui bloqué dans la chambre, corrosion de la dite chambre qui n'avait pas de traitement de surface, inadéquation de la charge propulsive imposée par le Pentagone en dépit de la mise au point "constructeur", absence de formation des fantassins, manque de baguettes et de brosses de nettoyage, etc, etc).Le lecteur a l'impression qu'il ne s'agit pas d'un livre structuré, mais de la juxtaposition d'articles ou de verbatim de conférences, ré-écrits pour le besoin de l'édition. Ces redites permanentes sont fastidieuses, et on se prend à sauter des pages ...Néanmoins, cet ouvrage est une mine pour les passionnés de l'histoire de la guerre du Vietnam. L'anglais est simple, dépourvu de termes issus de l'argot militaire, et donc agréable à lire. L'ouvrage, tant par sa reliure cartonnée que le papier glacé des pages et l'impression impeccable, est de qualité.

I buy so much from Amazon it is difficult to spend time writing reviews. If I have any problems, I will let you know, otherwise everything was fine.