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Originally Posted by Rai
And you shall hence be know as the eternal noob.
Vietnam era snipers had more freedom as to what they could use for rifles.
Actually come to think if it. Soldiers in Vietnam had more freedom to use what they wanted as it were.
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Oh no, I got called a "noob" on the internet.
You're the one who said it was "deployed as a sniper rifle" and that is not the case
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Originally Posted by wikipedia
The M14 remained the primary infantry weapon in Vietnam until it was replaced by the M16 in 1966–1967. Further procurement of the M14 was abruptly halted in late 1963 due to the above mentioned Department of Defense report which had also stated that the AR-15 (soon to be M16) was superior to the M14 (DOD did not cancel FY 1963 orders not yet delivered). After the report, a series of tests and reports by the United States Department of the Army followed that resulted in the decision to cancel the M14.[12] The M16 was then ordered as a replacement for the M14 by direction of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1964, over the objection of those Army officers who had backed the M14 (other factions within the Army research and development community had opposed the M14 and the 7.62x51 mm round from the start). Though production of the M14 was officially discontinued, some disgruntled troops still managed to hang on to them while deriding the M16 as a frail and underpowered "Mattel toy"[13] or "poodle shooter". In January 1968 the U.S. Army designated the M16 as the "Standard A" rifle, and the M14 became a "Limited Standard" weapon. The M14 rifle remained the standard rifle for U.S. Army Basic Training and troops stationed in Europe until 1970.
The U.S. Army also converted several M14s into the M21 sniper rifle, which remained standard issue for this purpose until the adoption of the M24 SWS in 1988.
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