[jim brady]

I'm no expert on how the Army actually did it, but we had the M14s stateside and the M16A1s issued to the field in Nam during my first tour (1969 to 1971). We did receive training on the '16 stateside in RVN training.

Short story - in that familiarization training, we fired the '16 at very short ranges just to see how it functioned. I loaded my first mag, fired 3 rounds and the mag dropped out. I picked it up, reloaded and fired another 3 rounds and the mag dropped out again. The Range NCO came over and asked me what the heck I was doing. I told him what happened, and HE picked up the mag and loaded the weapon for me, I fired another 3 shots and the mag fell out. He just shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

Got to Nam in 1970, went thru SERTS Training (101st Airborne in Quang Tri). Went to the range to check the weapon. Fired 3 shots and the mag fell out. I carried a Smith and Wesson .38 Special after that. At least I had SIX shots.

My next older brother was in Nam 1968 thru late 1969 - Engineers - and they were cgangeing from the M14 to the '16 at that time. He managed to keep his '14.