M16A4

The Colt M16A4 is a lightweight, shoulder-fired, magazine-fed, gas-operated, air-cooled, assault rifle chambered for the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge, and is the current standard issue rifle of the United States Marine Corps and some United States Army units. It is the current iteration Eugene Stoner's original design, preceded by the -A3, A-2, and -A1 variations. The M16A4 rifle differs from the M16A2 in that it has a MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rail under the removable carrying handle which allows different types of optics to be mounted on the top of the receiver, as well as a thicker barrel. There are also Picatinny rails mounted on the handguard to allow lasers, flashlights, foregrips. The M16A4 is capable of semi-automatic and burst fire. The US military purchases M16A4s from Colt and FN Manufacturing with most M16s in recent orders being made by FN. In addition, M16 receivers for sniper variants and special purpose weapons have been procured from ArmaLite and Knight's Armament Company. The M16A4 is light and accurate, but requires frequent cleaning, partially because it is susceptible to dirt, but also because its internal mechanism lacks a piston; the gases strike the bolt of the rifle directly. This method of operation results in a lighter, simpler rifle, but causes fouling issues as carbon is blown into the chamber of the weapon.

m16a4 is the brother of the m4a1 assault rifle

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Nintendo DS)
The DS variant of the M16A4 is quite different compared to the one in the console games. It fires in automatic mode (possibly similar to the M4A1), but it has a slow rate of fire. However, it does more damage per shot to compensate for this. Also, it is only available with an sight in single player.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The weapon has returned in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It behaves similarly to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare with some small differences. It is now unlocked at level 40 in multiplayer. Its reload animation is now identical to that of the M4A1 Carbine. To make it look more modernized, a Picatinny Rail has been placed on the carrying handle, and has a synthetic handguard with RIS Rails at the end. The rear sight aperture has been made thinner than the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare version, making using the iron sights much easier to operate. The time between bursts has been increased from 0.2 seconds to 0.28 seconds. Also, it takes noticeably longer to aim down the sight with the Modern Warfare 2 version. The M16A4 is much less prevalent in Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer due to it's higher level unlock, slower rate of fire and the general increase in killing speed of all other weapons.

The FAMAS is similar to the M16A4. The FAMAS fires faster per burst, has an increased delay of 0.32 seconds between bursts and has no recoil while unmagnified.

In single player, the M16A4 is seen in both American and Task Force 141 missions, although the FAMAS is much more predominant. It fires in bursts in both singleplayer and multiplayer, unlike its Call of Duty 4 counterpart.

The M16A4 has the 8th highest damage output per second of all assault rifles and battle rifles because if only 1 bullet were to hit between bursts, it would have a slow rate of fire. The M16A4 trades the rate of fire for a one trigger pull kill if all 3 rounds in one burst hit and larger iron sights than the FAL. Also, when you attach a holographic sight to the M16, the recoil is reduced.

Weapon Attachments

 * Grenade Launcher
 * Shotgun
 * Red Dot Sight
 * EOTech Holographic Weapon Sight
 * Silencer
 * Heartbeat Sensor
 * ACOG Scope
 * Thermal Scope
 * FMJ
 * Extended Mags

Trivia

 * In COD4, the M16A4 with an M203 replaces the in-game model with an M16A2/M203. This is strange because the M16A4 would be able to accept an M203 Grenade Launcher without a barrel or handguard replacement due to its synthetic RIS Handguard. This is fixed in MW2 and the M16A4's M203 is now attached to the lower Picatinny Rail on the handguard. This was probably accidental anachronism by Infinity Ward.


 * In Call of Duty 4, The words "BLUE4" (a reference to BluFor, the opposite of OpFor, which is applied to all NATO forces) and "Property of U.S. Government, Caliber 5.55x45mm NATO, M4A1 Carbine" in bold blue letters is visible on the side of the M16A4. The M16 fires 5.56x45mm NATO cartridges (5.55 is likely a typo) and the M4 Carbine was derived from the M16 series. This error is fixed in Modern Warfare 2.
 * Individual bursts fire as fast as the P90 and M249 SAW, making it an unusually fast-firing Assault Rifle.
 * In Call of Duty 4, the M16 had its own reloading animation. In Modern Warfare 2, its reloading animation is the same as the M4A1.
 * In multiplayer, if the player attaches the grenade launcher to the M16A4, the heat shield turns into the one that was used for mounting the M203 onto M16A2s. This is unnecessary, as the M5 RAS used on the M16A4 is just as capable of mounting the M203. This does not necessarily indicate that it turns into an M16A2, since it is one part that is very easy to swap out, and it still has the A4's removable carrying handle. In Modern Warfare 2, this feature is removed.
 * In Call of Duty 4, if the Infinite Ammo cheat is enabled and an M16 is picked up with the M203, the full-automatic rate of fire of the grenade launcher is very, very fast and greatly surpasses that of the M4A1. Curiously, the M203 on the M4 Carbine and the GP-25 on the AK-47 have much slower full-automatic rates of fire, about the same as the W1200.
 * The M16A4, FAMAS, and the M93 Raffica are the only weapons in the Call of Duty series that are capable of firing in bursts.
 * The Call of Duty 4 in-game model depicted the M16A4 having A4 upper receiver, but has an A1 lower receiver, which explains why the weapon can go full-auto in single player.
 * In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (DS), the M16 has a Red Dot Sight in single player.
 * When an M203 is attached the forward iron sight changes size.
 * In Call of Duty 4 DS, even though the M16 fires fully automatic for the player, allies fire it in a three-round burst. This is the same with most weapons, even those used by enemies.
 * In Modern Warfare 2, the side of the M16A4 says, "Made By Infinity, Tool For Victory, U.S. No Refunds".
 * In Modern Warfare 2, the M16 is completely missing the upper receiver on the right.
 * The M16A4 has a detachable carrying handle on the top of the gun (the sights), so that is why when attachments are added, the iron sights disappear.
 * In Call of Duty 4, a Fully Automatic Version of the M16 can be found on the level 'War Pig'.
 * In the level War Pig (level), anytime you switch your secondary weapon with an M16A4 Grenadier, the amount of grenades increases, however, if you switch either your M4A1 Grenadier or the M16A4 Grenadier with the non-grenadier version, you will lose a significant amount of grenades.
 * Also, note that the Iron Sight in both games are in position for long range aiming, a feature from the early M16A1's iron sight, which can be flipped up and down to compensate from lack of windage setting in the early M16 variants.
 * In Modern Warfare 2, an R.I.S. rail can be seen attached to the carrying handle, which is pointless because it is just removed to accommodate a sight.
 * The M16A4 is not used by the US Army Rangers since they are slowly replacing their aging M4s for the newer SCAR series. The M16A4, however, is used by some infantry units in the U.S. Army as well as the Marine Corps, as the A2 model was completely phased out.
 * In the Modern Warfare 2 level "Of Their Own Accord", an M16A4 w/ Red Dot Sight can be found in the bunker in the beginning and dropped by soldiers in the 'killzone'.
 * The iron sight on the M16A4 in Call of Duty 4 limits peripheral vision and the front sight is slightly higher up than in Modern Warfare 2.
 * In MW2 and MW1, setting the sensitivity to 10 and spinning to the right reveals a complete lack of texture on the right side of the gun, as it shouldn't technically be seen.
 * In Modern Warfare 2, when looking at the right side of the M16 in either third person or when dropped, there is no forward assist, but all other components to the right side of the receiver remain (ejection port, brass deflector, magazine release etc).