Different models of the AR-15 platform: (from top to bottom) M16A1, M16A2, M4A1, M16A4.
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.
M16A2
— In game description.
The M16A2 is the standard assault rifle used by the United States Marine Corps in Battlefield 2. Two variants are used, one with an underslung M203 in use by the Assault, and one with no M203 used by the Medic. Its damage is low compared to its counterparts, the AK47 and AK101: It requires a minimum of four rounds to kill, and may take upwards of six rounds depending on round placement. However, it has a higher rate of fire and significantly lower spread values. It is the only default assault rifle which is three-round-burst, which limits its effective damage output despite its higher rate of fire.
Battlefield 2: Special Forces
In Battlefield 2: Special Forces, the M16A2 is issued to the United States Navy SEALs Medic kit. It is identical in form and stats as its vanilla counterpart.
Gallery
3D modeling
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The M16 family once again appears in Battlefield 3, this time as two separate weapons; the M16A3 which is fully automatic and the M16A4 which fires in three-round bursts.
Singleplayer
The M16A3 appears in most levels where the USMC is present. It is either found without attachments, or with an optic and underslung M320.
Co-op
The M16A3 is the primary weapon for the hosting player in Operation Exodus(the other player has an M249 SAW) with an M320 and ACOG Scope. It is functionally identical to its singleplayer counterpart.
Multiplayer
— Battlelog description
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. It can later be unlocked for the Russian Ground Forces with 220,000 Assault points.
The M16A3 does the same damage as most Assault weapons. It possesses low kick, low spread, and a relatively high rate of fire. It is capable of rail-mounting either the M320 or the M26 MASS and is designed with aperture iron sights, which can be replaced by any of the stock unlockable optics. When fitted with a non-magnifying optical sight such as a red dot or holographic sight, the front iron sight is still visible on the weapon.
M16A4
Multiplayer
— Battlelog description
The M16A4 is the first burst-fire weapon unlocked. It is available for both factions at 89,000 Assault points and is incapable of fully automatic fire.
Though aesthetically identical, the M16A4 differs from the M16A3 in a few notable ways, the foremost feature being its burst, semi-auto fire selector unlike the M16A3 which has a full auto, semi auto fire selector. As of patch 1.04, its stats differ from the M16A3. The M16A4 has only half the spread of the the M16A3 when aiming down sights, making it much more viable as a long range weapon. It also has significantly less horizontal kick, although small increase in vertical kick.
The M16A4 also possesses the semi-unique feature of sharing unlocks with the M16A3 -- otherwise only applicable to the M4 and M4A1. Any kills by the M16A3 or M16A4 total together so any unlocks received for the M16A3 will immediately be available to use on the M16A4 and vice versa.
Gallery
- For attachments pictures, see M16A3/M16A4/Attachments.
.png "BF3 US MARINE M16A4 (EA PWNAGE ANIMATION DEMO).png (535 KB)")
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The M16A4 makes another appearance in Battlefield 4. It was seen in a trailer for Battlelog 2.0 and on the killfeed in the "Paracel Storm" trailer.
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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 functionally similar to the CAR-15. It has medium damage, medium recoil, average spread and a high rate of fire. It can kill in up to four-five shots. 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.
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— In game description.
In Battlefield: Bad Company's 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. 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.
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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).
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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.
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Scoped SOF M16
As a part of the Battlefield Heroes Christmas event, the SOF M16was released on December 2, 2010 for purchase through the in-game store. It features a winter camouflaged M16 with a usable scope.
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M16-203 Battle Rifle
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M16A2
— In-game description.
M16A2
Only available in Battlefield: Bad Company 2's 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. 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.
M16A2 SA
— BC2 Website Description
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Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam
— 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. As a result of the high rate of fire and lowest hipfire spread, The M16 handles well while hipfiring in an unexpected scenario when facing hostiles.
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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 or three bursts at most ranges. 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.
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Trivia
- The M16 has appeared in some form in almost every Battlefield to date except for Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Battlefield 2142, and Battlefield 1943.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 the exact 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.
- 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 did the developers take out the M16A2's M203.
Videos
External links
References
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