Ball vs Extruded powder.......

[Rocky Raab]

Thanks, Adam. I was fairly sure I had it pretty close to factual. You nailed it down.

I got my first one a bit later - 1971. Mine was the aircrew version CAR-15 with the very short barrel and collapsible stock. LOUD little booger, but much handier to try to wedge into a cockpit.

By then it was a very reliable weapon. I cleaned mine more than I shot it, but when I needed to shoot it, it always worked to perfection.

Adam's comments about the powder burn rate versus bolt cyclic rate are spot on. If I wanted to keep an M-16 or any civvie variant running happily and problem-free today, I'd feed it something like 4198, H322 or AA 2015.