Quote Originally Posted by LDAHL View Post
I was pleased to learn this, as a USAF firearms instructor once advised me that my most effective use of an M-16 would be as a club.
The buffer tube assembly is generally considered too fragile for that.

The M1 Garand rifles the US Army provided me are considerably stouter, have a solid hardwood stock with a gnarly metal butt plate, and the M1905 bayonet, which they also provided, has a 16" blade (*). Perhaps a wiser choice for use as an impact tool.


(*) I find the later-model M1 bayonet, which is a M1905 cut down to 10", balances better and is handier as a camp tool. Grandpa told me though the M1905 was preferred when he was in the Pacific in WWII, as the foes faced had longer rifles and bayonets themselves.