Good looking basic carbine.
I would start out by making sure I knew how to field strip the weapon. After doing it a bunch of times, you will be more familiar with its operation, and its workings.
While there is a lot of good info on this site, there are also a lot of armchair commandos who spout things they have heard from other people with no direct knowledge of what they speak.
The military manual is a good place to start, and is available free from a couple of places.
www.biggerhammer.net is a good place for manuals. Here is a link to basic operation, fieldstripping and care of your weapon. While it is showing a rifle version, you should find things the same for the carbine.
LOGIN- manuals PASSWORD- chipin
www.subguns.com/biggerhammer/manuals/pdfs/M16a1ops.pdfYou may also want to take a look at chapters 4 & 5 in the USMC Rifle Marksmanship bookfound at the below link, also hosted by bigerhammer.net. The info in this guide should answer most of your questions. The USMC does a fine job of turning shooters into riflemen.
www.subguns.com/biggerhammer/manuals/pdfs/usmc_marksmanship/3-1acd.pdf