Originally Posted by
GlockWRX
Another thing to consider is a comparison of the pre-M16 rifles that were issued to US advisers in Viet Nam prior to the rifles wide scale adoption. From early reports, these first rifles were well received because the users were well trained in it's use and maintenance, the ammo used the proper powder, and the bore and chamber were chrome lined.
When the M16 was more widely fielded, users were not given proper instruction on it's maintenance, the powder was wrong, and the chamber was not hard chromed in a cost cutting move. So the initial results were terrible, and the M16 carries the stink of those initial problems to this day.
The M16A1 corrected most of these deficiencies and put the M16 series back on track.
I'm going from memory though, so I could be wrong.