SPORTS

M16A1

Here's a war story for you. Or, actually a basic training story.

I was in basic training (officially Basic Combat Training or BTC) at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri (Fort Lost in the Woods, Misery was what we called it). We were doing night shooting training. They gave us four magazines of 20 rounds each of live ammunition. We were supposed to shoot the first two magazines on semi-auto with our M16A1 rifles and then two magazines on full auto when they gave the word. I don't remember what this was supposed to teach us.

They cautioned us against pretending to have a jam so we could shoot more on auto. 

I got into position in a pre-dug foxhole (it was concrete lined), slammed in the first magazine, charged the weapon (cocked it), and prepared to fire. They gave us the order to fire over a loud speaker. I squeeze the trigger, and nothing. I probably tried again. Still nothing. So, as had been drilled into us, I did SPORTS.

What is SPORTS? 

• (S)lam (or slap) the magazine to make sure it's seated correctly
• (P)ull back on the charging handle (which you hope ejects the jammed cartridge)
• (O)bserve the port for any blockage (it was night, that was difficult)
• (R)elease the charging handle (which should put a new round in the chamber)
• (T)ap the forward assist*
• (S)hoot, you hope (some say the "S" means "squeeze the trigger")

I did that. Still nothing. 

So I pulled out the magazine, tapped it on my helmet to seat the cartridges. I slapped the magazine back in, charged the weapon, and pulled the trigger. Nothing. Now I'm starting to worry that the drill sergeants are going to think I'm faking this. So I did SPORTS again and it finally fired. I got through one 20-round magazine when the order to change to full-auto came. So I switched the selector from semi to full auto.  (The M16A1 selector switch had three settings: safe, semi automatic, and full automatic**) Now I didn't rock and roll like they show in the movies. You can empty a magazine in a few seconds like that. I did what I was trained to do: short controlled bursts. But it was still more fun than semi-auto. And I got to fire 60 rounds instead of 40 on full auto. 

The drills never said anything to me so they must have believed I was actually having problems. 

When I got to my first "permanent" duty station, Fort Ord, California, they issued us M16A2s. The A2 didn't have a full-automatic setting. Only a 3-round burst setting. You pull the trigger and held it and you get three rounds fired downrange. But I had been trained to fire short bursts and it drove me nuts. Luckily, I didn't shoot much at Fort Ord and only once on 3-round burst.

*The forward assist pushed the bolt forward so it seated properly in the chamber. It was on the right side of the upper receiver. When the M16 first came out, it was discovered that releasing the charging handle didn't always seat the bolt correctly. So updated versions had the forward assist. Basically, it was to compensate for a design flaw instead of fixing the flaw.

**Semi-automatic means you pull the trigger and one round fires. You release the trigger, pull it again, and one round fires. Full-automatic means you pull the trigger and if you hold it, rounds fire until you release the trigger or the magazine (or other feed device such as a belt) is empty.