M16

This is one of the world's most widely used assault rifle. A product of the US Army's search for a light, sturdy, accurate weapon which fired 7.62mm NATO standard ammunition in the 1950s. Which has since been changed to the smaller 5.56mm round. The M-16 entered service in 1959.
Experience in southeast asia soon convinced the US Army that the M-16 was not self-cleaning and daily maintenance of the gas passages was required. In addition, a thumb-operated plunger was needed on the right of the rear receiver to ensure that the bolt was fully closed in muddy conditions. These changes turned the M-16 into the M-16A1, an increasingly ubiquitous weapon. The current version is the M-16A2
The SAS felt the M-16A1 was ideal for it's purposes in jungle fighting, and so adopted the weapon for the campaign in Borneo (1963-1966). The weapon was then used in Aden, Oman, and later in the Falklands and Gulf War. The M-16A2 used by the SAS can fire three-round bursts as well as semi-automatic fire, but lacks the capacity for full-automatic fire found in some export versions of the M-16 series.

Calibre: 5.56mm
Weight: 3.4kg (7.5lb) empty
Length: 1.0m (3ft 3.4in)
Effective Range: 400m (1305ft)
Rate of Fire: 700-900 rounds per minute (cyclic)
Feed: 20- of 30-round detachable box magazines
Muzzle velocity: 991m (3250ft) per second with the M193 round or 948m (3110ft) per second with the SS109m round.