M16

The M16 is the U.S. military designation for the AR-15, designed by the ArmaLite Corporation in 1957. It was first put into service in 1963, becoming the standard U.S. assault rifle by 1969, replacing the M14 rifle. The standard M16 fires the 5.56x45mm NATO round, but can be modified to fire different cartridges with the addition of a new barrel, bolt, and sometimes firing pin. With its long barrel, the rifle can be very accurate at anywhere up to 550 yards for a standard issue rifle, and even longer for specialized variants with heavier barrels such as the MK12. The M16 has a rate of fire of around 700-950 rounds per minute, depending on the model. The M16A2 and A4 variants fire in three-round burst or semi-automatic, while the original M16A1 and A3 variants fire fully-automatic or semi-automatic. All main variants of the M16 rifles have been featured throughout the Battlefield series.

General

 * The M16 has appeared in some form in almost every Battlefield to date; the only exceptions are Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Battlefield 2142, and Battlefield 1943.

Battlefield: Vietnam

 * In Battlefield Vietnam and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam the M16 has some rust.
 * The damage system file for the automatic M16 is almost identical to that of the Thompson submachine gun from Battlefield 1942, including its title being "Thomson"(due to reusing files from Battlefield 1942).

Battlefield: Bad Company

 * The M16 and the M416 have very similar, if not identical, reload animations. The player pulls the charging handle and then slaps the forward assist after loading a new magazine.
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, when the M16's grenade launcher is fired, the player model does not have his finger on the trigger of the M203 in both third and first person. This is the same with the M416.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

 * The M16 is the only assault rifle in the game that is reloaded by pulling the charging handle back.
 * The ejector port is on the wrong side. It is placed on the left instead of the right. Also, the ejected casings spawn just next to the gun, instead of coming out the ejector port.
 * It is one of two guns that fire in three round burst, the other being the M93 Raffica. On both guns, it is possible to fire one or even two rounds if the player switches in the middle of the firing animation.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam

 * The M16 has far different iron sights from those of the base game's M16, and more so closely resemble the iron sights of the M16 from Medal of Honor, whose multiplayer was also developed by DICE.
 * It also has a decal on the lower receiver magazine well that is found on the Medal of Honor M4A1 Veteran Version in exactly the same place.
 * The M16 has a similar third-person firing sound to the M16 from Battlefield Heroes.
 * The M16 has a soldier's dog tag tied around the receiver of the weapon.

Battlefield Play4Free

 * The meshes and textures for the M16A2 are a direct copy from Battlefield: Bad Company 2, due to the M16A2 being one of the first weapons in the game's development. The developers didn't take out the unusable M203 grenade launcher, like they did (and even made new meshes for these weapons later on) for the AEK-971's GP-30 and the StG.77 AUG's M203. It was only when weapon customization was introduced to Battlefield Play4Free that the developers took out the M16A2's M203.

Battlefield 3

 * Instead of pulling the charging handle like in the previous games, the player instead hits the bolt release with the palm of his hand after an empty magazine reload.
 * In the earlier stages of Battlefield 3, the player did pull the charging handle of the M16A3. This also applied to the M16A4 and can be seen in the Fault Line trailers.
 * Both the M16A3 and the M16A4 can use attachments that are unlocked with the other gun, meaning that they effectively share unlocks. The only other weapons in the game that can do the same are the M4A1 and M4.
 * In the campaign, if the game language is set to French, then the M16A3 will be incorrectly referred to as the M16A4 when picked up.
 * It shares the same reload animation as the M416, M417, and M27 IAR
 * The Mastery dog tag shows the M16A2 used in Battlefield 2.
 * The soldier portrait with the M16 shows the gun without the rear sight, not unlike many other occurrences.
 * When aiming through an ACOG scope, the forward iron sights seemingly disappear, but is still visible when idle at the hip. This applies for both M16 and M4 variants.

Battlefield Hardline

 * The M16A3 was originally the starting weapon for the Operator kit during the June Beta trial; the RO933 replaced it as the starting weapon for Operator.
 * There is a rare reload for the weapon. During this, a third hand reaches over the player's left shoulder handing them a fresh magazine