Troubled History of the M-14 Rifle in the Army

the m14 is the longest-running rifle in US military history it's evolved over the years from its inception in 1969 right before the Vietnam War to the point where it barely resembles its original form and if you don't believe in evolution that's okay I've got video proof for this one the military slowly replaced the m1 after the Korean War with this rifle new one would have the option of being fully automatic the m14 had a magazine capacity of 20 rounds which was more than twice the capacity than its predecessor it seemed to be an improvement in every possible way so all the generals gave each other high-fives and toasted straight whiskey to their achievement but why did the m14 get such a short shot at the spotlight before the m14 really got to take off as the main battle rifle is replaced in favour of a lighter weapon the m16 Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at the time infamous for micromanaging the Vietnam War ordered the replacement of the m14 with m16 rifles over the objection of the US Army officers who had backed the m14 at time troops in the field often disobeyed orders and held on to their m14 s versus the original early version of the m16 which was considered to be a flimsy Mattel toy compared to it this was one of those cases where the Department of Defense was trying to make a weapon that could be everything at once they wanted it to not only replace the main rifle but someone had the bright idea of making it automatic so they could replace the m3 submachine gun also this way they could consolidate all the different types of ammo down to just 176 to round instead unlike previous times when we replaced the main battle rifle the m14 refused to go away like an annoying AK still driving by your house at night Emily I know you said we were over but I still think there's a chance we could work out the rifle has the distinction of having both the longest amount of time in service as a US military weapon and also the shortest amount of time as a main battle rifle the type of soldier that you'll usually see carrying the m14 nowadays is the kind of guy that knows what the term Kentucky windage means you want to make friends with that guy because he's always got an MRE spoon attached to his Molly kit when you least expect that you're gonna need it there's a five-second rule first as long as you wipe it off in 1977 major kay conducted a thorough investigation into the effectiveness of the m14 it was very critical of the rifle when he reported to the Department of Defense saying quote throughout history the United States has been the target of criticism for its handling of rifle development the rifles adopted by the US Army during the last 40 years have had a high probability of killing the enemy given a hit but a low probability of actually hitting them until the adoption of the m16 assault rifle in 1967 the army seemed to prefer heavy hard-hitting 30 caliber rifles without a thorough appreciation of the disadvantage of excessive recoil noise weight and size plus the difficulties associated with achieving and maintaining fire superiority in combat m-14s would tell you not to call to come back they'd say they were always there but at the start of the Iraq and Afghanistan war there were very few of the m14 s in circulation in the military during those conflicts there was a surge of interest in need for these rifles in the mountains of Afghanistan the engagements were frequently over 300 meters which required the m14 I like to look at the m14 rifle to be the best and show of military rifles you can parade the thing around make it sit down roll over do all the tricks it's kind of like the Bud Light platinum of the weapons it looks classy but it tastes trashy today's m14 fires of 7.62 nato round weighs in at 11 pounds when fully loaded the maximum effective range when you're using sights is 800 meters and no your BC G's don't count the m14 rifle was first furnished with a walnut stock but the wood would warp under moisture and jungle environmental stress the rifle evolved into its natural state with its synthetic fiberglass stock and body we drew a pistol grip onto the rifle for easier handling and accuracy let me know what you think about the evolution of the m14 from m1 garand to the m14 EBR

Channel: Task & Purpose

Views: 506,746

Rating: 4.906301 out of 5

Keywords: military history, infantry, army, marines, M-14 history, rifle analysis, explainer, US infantry weapons, M-1 garand, submachine gun, sniper rifle, 7.62 mm, humor history, military training, task and purpose, gun analysis

Id: pksCGGuQO2U

Length: 4min 4sec (244 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 07 2020