The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of assault rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-round magazine.

Feb 26, 2025 · M16 rifle, assault rifle developed as the AR-15 by American engineer Eugene Stoner of ArmaLite Inc. in the late 1950s. The rifle received high marks for its light weight, its accuracy, and the volume of fire that it could provide.

Jun 2, 2020 · It is an assault rifle which fires NATO standard 5.56 mm ammunition. It has been the primary infantry rifle of the United States military since 1967, is in use by 15 NATO countries, and has been the most produced firearm in its caliber.

The M16A2 5.56mm rifle is a lightweight, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed, shoulder- or hip-fired weapon designed for either automatic fire (3-round bursts) or semiautomatic fire...

Sep 20, 2017 · The M16 earned perhaps its greatest distinction on May 2, 2011, when a variation of the M4 Carbine was used to kill the infamous terrorist leader and September 11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden...

The M16 rifle, officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16, is a United States military adaptation of the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle.[12][13][14][n 1] The original M16 was a 5.56mm automatic rifle with a 20-round magazine. In 1964, the M16 entered U.S. …

Since the 1960s, the 5.56mm M16 and its later variants have been the standard rifle for all U.S. armed services. It has also been widely exported to military services around the world. The U.S. Air Force was the first military service to acquire and adopt the M16.

Jun 22, 2012 · The M16 stands as a symbol of American military history from the Cold War to the present.

The very next year US Air Forces officially adopted the new rifle as M16. At the same time the US Army adopted the XM16E1 as a limited standard rifle, to fill the niche between the discontinued 7.62mm M14 rifle and the forthcoming SPIW system (which in the end, never got past the prototype and trial stages).

Nov 23, 2023 · The M16 was the longest-serving standard rifle of the US armed forces, but it took a long time to get it right. Learn more about it here...