Quote Originally Posted by Birddog1911 View Post
I couldn't believe my luck in Boot Camp. We're standing in line to receive our rifles for the first time. I'm watching a platoon in front of us getting beat up A2s. We get up there, and I'll be damned if they didn't open a brand new crate from Colt to start issuing ours! I qualified on a brand new M16A2! Oohh, it was pretty!
I was the weapons custodian for our squadron for several years; before they went and updated to A2's, we had A1's that were from very early in the procurement. I had a several 2 digit, 3 digit, and 4 digit S/N's. Plenty still had the pickleforks on them. I had 4 that were so old they had green furniture. Almost none had been fired in that whole time. Then about 4-5 years ago they got converted to A2's. Since they spent the money on that, now they want to replace them with M4's. I'd rather have the A2 any day.

I've gotten to the point that I only use a (single piece coated) rod for detail cleanings, and the rest of the time I use a boresnake; and even then I go from the breech to keep anything out of the action.