Feeling unprepped and inadequate

[Skvez]

(9 September 2012, 08:57)NorthernRaider Wrote: The SLR is a Riflemans rifle, the M16 is a conscripts rifle.

Exactly NR, I was just going to point that out.
In Vietnam the US used many conscripts who had little training. Their shot to hit ratio was something like 200:1 so the US needed a weapon with very cheap and plentiful ammo, hence the 5.56.
They actually redesigned their Main Battle Rifle to change 'full auto' to a 3 shot semi-auto to stop the soldiers closing their eyes and emptying the magazine.

(In contrast a good sniper has a shot to hit ratio of something like 1.5:1 )

Vietnam was close quarter fighting against un-armoured opponents. The 5.56 was an adequate round in those circumstances.