The Story Behind the Development and Adoption of the M-16 Rifle
...g Ground in Ensk and improved his technical and design skills considerably. Even though WWII was over, Kalashnikov developed a new design for a select fire automatic rifle. The new design passed a battery of tests, and was adopted by the Soviet Union in 1949 as the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947, or the AK-47. The AK-47 family of firearms, which includes the AKM, AK-74, RPK, a plethora of variations and non-Russian produced copies, is the most widely manufactured small arm in the world. It utilizes a short-stroke gas piston operating system and has a reputation for extreme ruggedness as well as being inexpensive to produce. During the Cold War, the AK series designs were exported to all of the countries that fell under the Soviet sphere of influence. In terms of design principles, the AK-47 was built around the idea of putting out a massive volume of fire instead of the previously held concept of aimed fire, and the weapons accuracy has suffered as a result. The U.S. Ordinance department now faced a modernization dilemma. In order to keep up with the changing face of small arms technology, the U.S. needed to develop a lightweight, selective fire automatic rifle. The man for the job appeared to be Colonel Rene Studler. By 1943, Col. Studler had become the head of the Small Arms Development Branch in the Pentagon. With the end of World War II and the development of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the U.S. Ordinance Corp faced international competition for the design of a NATO standard rifle and cartridge. Studler correctly believed his stiffest competition would come from the British and the Belgians. He dismissed the German Sturmgewehr 44 and the Russian AK-47 as viable contenders because they strayed from the aimed fire design camp. Even though the British and others were reevaluating the practicality of a full power 7.62x51 caliber round in a lightweight rifle, Studler believed that Olin Chemical Corporation's new ball gunpowder would enable the U. S. to design and build an accurate, lightweight, and long-range automatic rifle capable of being fired fully automatically. The new gunpowder would allow the U. S. to utilize a slightly shorter cartridge case while retaining the 7.62 bullet. Besides saving on weight and cost in the ammunition itself, using a shorter cartridge case meant a shorter upper receiver on the rifle, another weight reducing effect. Colonel Studler initially chose three designers for the U.S. effort, John Garand, Earle Harvey, and Cyril Moore. Moore attempted to adapt design elements from the Sturmgewehr 44s that had been recovered at the end of WWII. Since these designs relied upon welded stamped metal parts, they were deemed weak and unsuitable for an American weapon; Moore lost all funding and abandoned the project. Garand managed to produce a rifle design that managed to meet most of the requirements, but because it utilized a revolutionary bull pup design, placing the ammunition magazine behind the trigger mechanism, the Ordinance Committee decided against it. Subsequently, Garand's project was also abandoned. Harvey's project by default became Studler's candidate. Unfortunately, Harvey's T25 could not be produced on the existing M1 Garand tooling. Harvey subsequently faced opposition from the Production Department and had to develop the T25 on his own time, with limited funding. Harvey and Studler would face yet another obstacle when the caliber debate resumed during the NATO rifle competition. The fuel for the caliber debate this time came from the problems faced when attempting to make a full power 7.62 rifle controllable under fully automatic fire. The punishing recoil of the 7.62 causes the barrel of the rifle to climb and move to the right. The AK-47 utilizes an underpowered 7.62x39mm cartridge to address this controllability problem, with a resultant loss of long-range power and accuracy. In their attempt to design the NATO rifle, the British had convened a Small Arms Ideal Calibre Panel that had concluded that the ideal caliber for an automatic rifle was 7.1mm. Colonel Studler dismissed the Beeching Report, as the British study became known, even though the U.S. had considered switching to a smaller caliber after the pig and goat boards. The reason General MacArthur had refused the change earlier was logistical problems in time of war. While Studler was not facing wartime logistical problems, he was however an adherent to the long-range, aimed fire school and appeared to ignore evidence to the contrary. With a combination of international political pressure being brought to bear, and the outbreak of the Korean War, Studler was eventually forced in 1950 to order a new American study on the caliber issue. An engineer named Donald L. Hall was chosen to conduct the study. The Hall study concluded that an infantry rifle utilizing a 5.3mm round would increase lethality over the 7.62x51 by about 250%. In 1952, a few months after the Hall study was published, Norman A. Hitchman produced a report for the Air Force's RAND Operations Research Office that concluded a small caliber, lightweight, and low recoil weapon would increase hit probabilities. Hitchman's report prompted the Springfield Armory to engage in Project SALVO, yet another study of high velocity small caliber weapons versus the traditional large caliber weapons. Project SALVO did not fully publish findings until 1960, and by that time, Studler had already pushed through the development of the 7.62mm M-14. The M-14 began life as the T20. During the latter phase of WWII, John Garand had been asked to address the feasibility of redesigning his M1 with the end goal of converting it to a detachable magazine fed weapon with the capability of selective fire. Garand as always rose to the assignment, and designating his redesign the T20, he worked on it as a side project with little funding and support. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Studler shelved the entire project to concentrate on the NATO rifle project. Garand's T20 never entered the initial competition because by the time he had incorporated all of the desired goals for the weapon it weighed in at 12.5 pounds, stripped of the bipod, bayonet, and detachable telescopic sight it still weighed 9.61 pounds, exceeding the "lightweight" requirement. The T20 was resurrected as the T44 for the later NATO trials because Studler had managed to force the caliber issue with NATO and he needed a rifle for the competition even if it was a little overweight. Because of the amount of money the Marshall Plan was sending to Europe, the British and the Belgians reluctantly agreed to adopt the 7.62x51 as the standard NATO round. They believed that in return, the U. S. would agree to adopt the Belgian Fabrique Nationale FAL as the rifle to fire the round. In 1953, Colonel Rene Studler retired. His subordinate Dr. Fred H. Carten replaced him as head of the Small Arms Research and Development Division. Carten came from the same mold as Studler; he was a staunch believer in the 7.62x51 and the long-range, aimed fire concept. He also came from the production side of the Ordinance house and would therefore back the T44 because of it's capability of being built on M1 tooling. The trials between the T44 and the FN FAL proved nothing either way, the testers found the weapons to be equal even though Garand himself stated that he had tested some of the modifications made to the T44 and found them lacking. In 1957, General Matthew B. Ridgeway, the Army Chief of Staff, decided that the U. S. would adopt the T44 as the M-14 based on the economic issues of retooling to produce the FN FAL and the believed parity between the weapon systems. A privately funded individual had sponsored a weapon system during the final testing phase for the NATO standard rifle. In 1953, George Sullivan, an aeronautical engineer, convinced Richard S. Boutelle, the president of Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation, that he had an idea for a new type of rifle that would utilize new lightweight materials technology and revolutionize the military firearms market. The meeting was fortuitous for Sullivan. In addition to being a firearms buff, Boutelle was looking for ways to diversify his corporation's focus in the defense and aircraft industries. On October 1, 1954, the ArmaLite Division of Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation was born. ArmaLite was implemented as a research and development organization with subsequent manufacturing to be licensed out to other firms. Sullivan hired Eugene Stoner, a former Marine and U. S. Army Ordinance technician, to be the chief engineer of ArmaLite. Stoner designed three commercial rifles and the AR-5 military survival rifle for the U. S. Air Force. The AR-5 did not produce significant revenues for ArmaLite, but the weapon made a great first impression for the new arms company. Stoner's next design, the AR-10, was exactly the rifle Sullivan had described to Boutelle when he had approached him regarding the establishment of ArmaLite. Weighing seven pounds and utilizing the new materials, the AR-10 was designed to function as a select fire assault rifle using the NATO 7.62mm round from detachable twenty round magazines. The AR-10's operating principle was a direct gas impingement system, a major departure from the short-stroke gas piston system used in the AK-47, the M-14, the FN FAL, and the M1 Garand. Unfortunately for ArmaLite, the accelerated pace of the U. S. rifle competition did not leave Stoner enough time for the minor tweaking that any new design usually receives during development. This resulted in the AR-10 placing dead last in the competition. In 1957, Boutelle received a briefing on the results of Project SALVO from the Chief of Ordinance. Around the same time, General Willard G. Wyman, Commander of the Continental Army Command, visited ArmaLite because he had been impressed by the AR-10 during the NATO trials. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Wyman believed that the small caliber, high-velocity concept would be the future of small arms development. He asked Stoner if he could produce a rifle based on the concept that would utilize the same materials as the AR-10. Stoner informed Wyman that he could develop such a weapon in six months. Wyman told Stoner to go to the Infantry Board at Ft. Benning, Georgia, to get specifications and to get started. In cooperation with Remington, Stoner modified the ammunition manufacturer's 5.50mm varmint hunting cartridge and the 5.56x45mm cartridge was created. To fire the round, Stoner scaled down the AR-10, and the resultant small caliber, high velocity weapon was named the AR-15. The AR-15 as delivered to the Infantry Board trial weighed 6.13 pounds, had easily controlled selective fire capability, and fired the 5.56x45mm round from a 25 round detachable magazine. Eugene Stoner remained in Ft. Benning to provide instruction on the care and feeding of his new weapon while three of the rifles were sent to Ft. Greely, Alaska, for arctic testing. The competition at Benning pitted the unfinished AR-15 against the M-14. The AR-15 outperformed the M-14 in every test at Benning. As a result, the Infantry Board suggested that the finished AR-15 would be a viable replacement for the M-14. Dr. Carten now faced a serious dilemma; this upstart new rifle was a better performer than his vaunted M-14. Worse yet, the U. S. had forced its 7.62mm round on NATO and the new rifle demonstrated the small caliber, high-velocity concept perfectly. Also a problem for Carten; the United States did not have an answer for the AK-47 in the M-14, and world events would intrude before the Ordinance Corps could address that particular disparity. In 1959, Ho Chi Minh announced Resolution 15, announcing that North and South Vietnam were officially at war; a war that in the context of the Cold War would draw the United States in, first as "advisors" and finally as combatants. The next obstacle the AR-15 faced presented itself during the arctic testing. ArmaLite had not produced any instruction manuals for the AR-15 and consequently, the AR-15 was not maintained properly during the arctic trials. With disappointing results coming from Alaska, General Wyman appointed his deputy, General Herbert B. Powell, to investigate the entire rifle program. Based largely on the results from the arctic testing, the Powell Board recommended that development of a 6.35mm cartridge be pursued as an alternative to the 7.62mm and the 5.56mm. The Powell Board also recommended that 750 AR-15 rifles be purchased for further testing. Stoner objected to the findings on the AR-15 based on the lack of proper maintenance performed during the arctic trials. During the tests, Stoner was requested to travel to Alaska to provide parts and assistance. Upon arrival, he found rifles that had had welding rods substituted for the proper taper pins, and rifles that had the pins inserted incorrectly, affecting the gas port on the barrel of the rifle. Because of the Powell Board's findings, the Army abandoned the AR-15. The AR-15 would not resurface until the Air Force began looking for a replacement for the M1 carbine in 1960. In 1959, ArmaLite sold the rights to produce the AR-15 to Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company, a U. S. based weapons producer. Bobby Macdonald, who just happened to be an old friend of Fairchild's Boutelle, was Colt's contracted sales representative. Macdonald, considered one of the best arms merchants available, persuaded Stoner to accompany him on a sales tour of Southeast Asia. The AR-15 was received with much enthusiasm in Asia, but no contracts were signed because the countries that were considering the AR-15 had all previously signed a military assistance pact with the United States. One of the conditions of this pact was that for the country to receive U. S. aid funding, they had to buy standard U. S. military hardware. The only way for Macdonald to sell the rifle was first to convince Dr. Carten to allow the AR-15 to be retested. Eugene Stoner left ArmaLite because the very idea of the intractable Dr. Carten reconsidering was unlikely at best. However, Macdonald had a bit of luck on his side that would reopen the possibility of the AR-15 being adopted by the U. S. military despite Dr. Carten. Richard Boutelle was an old friend of Air Force General Curtis LeMay. On July 4, 1960, General LeMay celebrated Independence Day on Boutelle's farm. At the time, LeMay was looking for a lightweight rifle for Air Force security personnel. Macdonald just happened to be there with the AR-15 and three watermelons. LeMay was greatly impressed and through a combination of his efforts and Colt's lobbying po...