What is the distance of the M16's shot?

Answer 1

There's two types of ranges for all guns: Maximum effective & total range; for safety reasons it's important to know that all guns, including the little .22's that nearly every boy in America grew up with in the 1920's thru the 1960's could shoot well over a mile. The boxes of those little .22's held fifty rounds and were smaller than a pack of cigarettes, they cost about 89 cents for a box of fifty cartridges in the early 1960's, and they nearly all had a WARNING printed on their labels, "Warning (or Caution) these bullets will travel over 1 mile." The little mini-magnums that came out in the 60's had a label that said "2 miles."

Obviously, anything larger than a .22 will travel MILES. Newer (younger) generation of shooters today only read and hear about 100 yard, 200 yard, or long range 800 and 1,000 yard shooting (the new craze today about long range sniper shooting, thanks to television)...and "some" of them are led to believe that that's about the distance those weapons will shoot, or at least the bullets won't travel much further past those ranges; WRONG! Projectiles (bullets) will go MUCH further than today's young people think! When "people" say "think safety", knowing the range of your weapon is part of that "thinking safety" part. If a person can't be safe with his firearm...then he should try another sport/hobby.

The M16 shoots a varmit cartridge (.223) originally designed for for varmit animals, such as Bobcats (in the old days they were classified as varmits, today in most states they're considered a game animal-meaning with a hunting season and bag limit and special permits required); coyote, ground squirrels, etc. are/were usually classified as varmits. But Game laws change almost every year! Crows used to be varmits, NOW they're game birds. Bears & Wild Pig in California were varmits until about 1947 and 1957 respectively. NOW both of those animals REQUIRE a special permit (tag) PLUS a license; and a SEASON and a bag limit. So, what's legal today, is a crime tomorrow.

The M16 and it's cartridge was tested as a JUNGLE RIFLE in Vietnam during the war because being such a small round, men could carry more ammunition, AND being such a small round, they could feed faster in a man portable rifle (a light weight rifle). Larger rounds (cartridges) would've required a larger rifle. Larger rifles meant a heavier rifle. JUNGLE WARFARE required a light rifle, that shot lots of bullets, REAL FAST! The M16 fit that bill. Since it was designed/developed/adapted for jungle warfare, it didn't have to be a long range accurate rifle...it just needed to "SPRAY" bullets at close range; less than 500 yards. Consequently, 500 yards or less, was, during the Vietnam War, the maximum range that GI's qualified at before deploying to Vietnam.

Unfortunately for the US Military, the "craze" (fad) caught on with space age aluminum, space age looks, and fast rates of fire, that everybody (Air Force, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard, Army, Police, Sheriff, FBI, Swat Teams, Civilians, Hunters, Hollywood, etc.) WANTED ONE. So they adapted it in the 1970's to replace the M14 service rifle (which shot a .30 bullet and was constructed of traditional wood and steel). NOW, in Afghanistan and Iraq, some people (troops, experts, Hollywood, Police, Sheriff, etc. etc. etc.) are complaining about the M16 and/or it's .223 bullet (5.56mm NATO).

Well folks...the M16 was originally intended for the jungles of Vietnam; it's a jungle rifle!