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Posted: 12/11/2004 1:35:40 AM EDT
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The M 16: A Comprehensive Guide by Jean Huon, ISBN: 1932033254 Publisher: Casemate Publishers and Book Distributors Publish Date: November 2004 Binding: HARDCOVER List Price: USD 37.95 Overstock.com Casemate, or someone else, translated this book from the Frantch language, 1970something original. There are many pretty pictures, but I have seen most of them before. Too many of the pictures are reversed, miscaptioned, or incorrectly labeled. I made it to the second paragraph of the dust jacket notes before finding the first nasty technical error. The translation job really sucks on this book; it's obvious that who ever translated the original knew absolutely nothing about firearms. Terms like "breech housing" (lower receiver) and "free volley" (full automatic fire) abound. The combination of poor terminology and horribly translated writing make this book nearly unreadable to other than the truly masochistic. This book reads like the script from a Hong Kong action movie. There is a nice listing of the countries since duped into buying the turkey called the M16 rifle.  There is a nice bit of coverage given to the designs of Max Atchisson. It’s nice to see Max getting some due. There is a rehash of variants, accessories, and assorted other trivia. There is a little bit of history, a dash of OICW all thrown in with some M203. All of it is press release type information. He left Warren Runnals out of the photo credit for the famous picture of Warren, Chuck Dorchester and Gene Stoner examining an original, freshly test fired AR-10. A photo credited to Armalite, Inc.  I did learn one thing and that one thing has some history to it. A long time ago, someone found “M16 grenade launchers” in stock at one of the big wholesale places; the place may have been Cheaper Than Dirt. The “grenade launchers” consisted of a length of spring steel bent into a nominal “U” shape. In the bottom of the “U” was a ½” hole. Each end of the “U” had two small, sharply pointed “fingers”. There were no installation or usage instructions. Huon mentions these “grenade launchers” in his book. They were merely clips to keep a rifle grenade from falling off the muzzle. To install them you removed the flash suppressor, set the clip over the muzzle, and reinstalled the flash suppressor. The 22mm MECAR bullet trap grenade fit over the flash suppressor and seated near the front sight base. STANAG rifle grenade The book should have been a lot better. |
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