M16

The M16 is the American designation for the AR-15, or Assault Rifle-Mk15, 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 M16 fires the 5.56x45mm NATO round in normality, but can be modified to fire heavier shot with the addition of a modified buffer tube and action. With its long barrel, can be very accurate at medium to long ranges. 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, while the original M16, the A1 and A3 variants can fire fully-automatic. Variants of the M16 rifles have been featured throughout the Battlefield series.

M16
In Battlefield Vietnam, the M16 is one of the standard issue assault rifles for the American and South Vietnamese factions. It is issued to the Assault kit. It is essensialy the larger version of the CAR-15. It has medium damage, medium recoil, mediocre accuracy and a high rate of fire. It can kill in up to four-five shots. It is recommended to fire in bursts as the weapon can become very inaccurate after prolonged fire. In close-quarters, it can be very effective due to its high power. It is limited by a small 20 round magazine and a relatively long reload.

M16 Sniper
The M16 Sniper is also available for all American and South Vietnamese divisions. It is issued to the Scout kit. Like stated in its name, it is essentially an M16 with a x6 zoom scope, meant for medium range engagements. It holds the same characteristics of the regular M16, only being limited to semi-automatic fire. It should be noted that it still has the same accuracy, meaning that outside of medium range its spread can throw off one's aim. The user of this rifle will also only have two spare magazines instead of the normal six of its non-scoped counterpart.

Battlefield 2
The United States Marine Corps in Battlefield 2 uses the M16A2 as its primary weapon for the Assault and Medic kits. It fires in three-round bursts, with each burst doing a moderate amount of damage. The M16A2 included in Assault kits comes with an M203 grenade launcher, while the M16 used by the Medic has no attachments at all. The Assault kit's M16A2 will have six plus one magazines, while the Medic kit's has four plus one magazines.

Battlefield 2: Special Forces
In Battlefield 2: Special Forces, the M16A2 is issued to the United States Navy SEALs Medic kit.

Battlefield: Bad Company
In Battlefield: Bad Companys singleplayer campaign, the M16' can be taken from fallen Legionnaire Mercenaries in the final assault on Serdar's palace, in the mission Par for the Course, and as a collectible on Crash and Grab.

In multiplayer, the M16 is an unlockable issued to the Assault kit. The M16 is fully automatic and has a 50-round magazine with 150 rounds in reserve, like all assault rifles in the game. It has a low rate of fire compared to other assault rifles, but this is balanced by high damage and accuracy. It is arguably the best assault rifle in the game as it has very good accuracy and damage, and with all weapons in Battlefield: Bad Company being void of recoil, it can allow consistent fire on a target even at long ranges. Even with its low rate of fire, its high damage can best most automatic weapons in close quarters. It also has the default M203, which has a faster reload than the GP-30 or XM320 grenade launchers.

There is an "M16 Trophy" awarded once a player achieves six kills with the M16 in a round. This trophy is usually accompanied by the 'Assault Rifle Efficiency' trophy when awarded.

M16
In Battlefield Heroes, the M16 was released as part of the Battlefield Heroes gets Bad Company event. Its stats in the Battlefield Heroes weapon store say that it has a high rate of fire, short range and a 45-round magazine. It is the equivalent of the National Army AK-74, and costs 1120BF to buy (1200 for National players).

Tier 1 M16
A second M16 was released as part of the Tier 1 event, named as the Tier 1 M16. This new M16 has a unusable scope, a 30 round magazine, a low rate of fire and a long effective range. The Tier 1 M16 costs 1200BF to buy for an unlimited duration, and is only available to the Royal Army.

Scoped SOF M16
As a part of the Battlefield Heroes Christmas event, the SOF M16 was released on December 2, 2010 for purchase through the in-game store. It features a winter camouflaged M16 with a usable scope.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
"The American made M16A2 three round burst assault rifle carries a 30 round magazine and was designed to optimize ammunition conservation, shot accuracy and fire power."

- In-game description.

M16A2
Only available in multiplayer, the M16A2 is the 7th and last assault rifle issued to the Assault kit requiring 47000 points to unlock. It has 30 round magazine size, a three-round burst fire mode, an M203 and can also accept a Red Dot Sight or a 4X Rifle Scope, like all kit specific weapons in Bad Company 2. Although being limited to burst fire, its fire rate is quite high. It can be used, along with the AN-94, to disrupt snipers at long ranges. However, due to its stopping power and accuracy it can be very effective against other assault rifles and even SMGs at medium to close range. The ability to 'pulse' the weapon's trigger gives the M16A2 an edge by increasing the weapon's fire rate. The M16A2 is very common online among experienced players because of its average power, accuracy, and low recoil. It is commonly seen sporting a 4X Rifle Scope. The M16A2 is also commonly used with Magnum Ammo, which effectively makes it like a sniper rifle (when equipped with the 4x Rifle Scope) that can be used at shorter ranges, though for targets farther away. It is advisable to use recoil sweeps in an attempt to ensure all of the bullets hit your target, as the recoil pattern will kick in after the first shot unlike the AN-94, and as such, the cross hair will wander off target before the second and third bullet is fired. The 40mm Shotgun is also useful, as the M16 is not very effective at extremely close ranges.

M16A2 SA
The M16A2 SA is also available to those who have purchased the SPECACT DLC. It is the M16A2 customized with Woodland, Desert or Arctic camouflage depending on the environment the player is in. The M16A2 SA is obtainable on XBL (Xbox Live) for 160MS points, through Dr. Pepper as a promotion, or purchase through the PlayStation Store (PS3) or the EA Store (PC). A player using this weapon can, optionally, also be equipped with a special uniform.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam
"The M16A1 was introduced during the Vietnam War as a replacement for the M14 rifle. It has since then been the primary rifle of the US Army and many other nations"

- In-game description

In Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam, the M16 (killfeed) or the M16A1/M16 A1 (menu, killcam, kit selection screen) is issued to the Assault kit. It has an automatic fire mode. Compared to other assault rifles, it has the highest rate of fire, the lowest damage, the longest reload time, and the smallest hipfire spread.

Battlefield Play4Free
In Battlefield Play4Free, the M16A2 is a purchasable weapon for the Assault Kit. It fires in a three-round burst mode and has very high accuracy, allowing it to kill in two-three bursts at most ranges. The iron sights, though bulky compared to other weapons' sights, are quite easy to use, and the weapon can be useful at longer ranges, thanks to its controlled burst firing resulting in less chance of missed shots. However, the three-round burst configuration reduces the overall rate of fire, and can thus come off worse in a fight with fully automatic weapons.

Battlefield 3
The M16 once again appears in Battlefield 3 as two separate weapons; the fully-automatic A3 variant and the three-rounds burst A4 variant.

M16A3
The M16A3 is the standard assault rifle of the United States Marine Corps' Assault kit in Battlefield 3, filling in the same role as the AK-74M, which is the Russian Ground Forces' starting assault rifle, and being functionally similar as well. It can later be unlocked for both factions with 220,000 Assault points. Compared to the AK-74M, the M16A3's iron sights are less open, making it slightly harder to aim, but the recoil of the weapon is slightly easier to control. Also notable is the M16A3's slightly faster empty reload. Also, when fitted with a Red Dot Sight or Holographic Sight, the front iron sights are still visible.

M16A4
The M16A4 is unlocked later on for both factions, at 89,000 Assault points. Unlike the A3, the A4 is limited to three round burst. Otherwise, their stats, model, textures and animations are all the same. When unlocked, all the attachments that have been unlocked for the M16A3 will be available for the M16A4. The after-game report incorrectly labels it as the M16A3 if it is shown as the player's best weapon.

Trivia

 * In Battlefield Vietnam and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam the M16 has some rust.
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company, the M16 and the M416 have very similar, if not identical, reload animations.
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the M16 is the only assault rifle in the game that is reloaded by pulling the charging handle back.
 * A slight difference in the M16's reload animation in the Bad Company series is that in the first game, the player hits the charging handle with the side of his hand after pulling it. In the second game, this doesn't happen.
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, when the M16 is fired, the ejected casings spawn just next to the gun, instead of coming out the ejector port.
 * In 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.
 * The M16 in Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam also has a decal on the lower receiver magazine well that is found on the Medal of Honor M4A1 Veteran Version in the exact same place.
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam, the M16 has a similar third-person firing sound to the M16 from Battlefield Heroes.
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam, the M16 has a soldier's dog tag tied around the receiver of the weapon.
 * In Battlefield Play4Free the meshes and textures for the M16A2 are a direct copy from Battlefield: Bad Company 2, this is due to the M16A2 being one of the first weapons in the game's development, so the developers didn't bother taking 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.
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company 2 it is one of two guns that fire in three round burst, the other being the M93 Raffica.
 * In Battlefield Vietnam, the damage system file for the automatic M16 is almost identical to that of the Thompson submachinegun from Battlefield 1942, including its title being "Thomson".
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company 2 it is possible to fire one or even two rounds if the player switches in the middle of the firing animation. The same goes for the M93R.
 * In 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.
 * The M16 has appeared in almost every Battlefield to date except 1942, 2142, and 1943.

Videos
Video:BFV M16 footage|Gameplay with the M16 in Battlefield Vietnam, on the map Landing Zone Albany Video:BFV_M16_w_scope|Game play of the M16 with scope on Operation Irving in Battlefield Vietnam Video:BF2 M16A2|An overview of the M16A2 in Battlefield 2. Video:M16A2|Gameplay with the M16A2 in Battlefield : Bad Company 2 at Atacama Desert in Conquest mode Video:M16|Gameplay with the M16 in Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam at Operation Hastings, Cao Son Temple and Hill 137 in Conquest mode Video:Battlefield 3 - M16A4 Assault Rifle - Medic|Gameplay with the M16A4 in Battlefield 3 Video:Battlefield_3_The_M16A3|How the attachements affect the M16A3's handling