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MoJo wrote:The M4 is a Carbine the M16 is a rifle different guns different missions. With the proliferation of optical sights on the battlefield barrel liength and sight radius is moot. The 20" barrel of the M16 will give a little better velocity and range than the shorter M4 barrel. In a CQB situation I'll take short and handy anytime.

It is also handier for use in Urban Environments due to the short size. I also came across mammoth soldiers that carried M16s that looked like toys in their hands, so my guess is that it didn't make much difference to them.

When in Afghanistan in 06-07, it was mostly a question of availability. If you could, you got issued an M4. Since I was not going to be stuck back in the rear at HQ but sent out on a two-man team, I was given priority and handed an M4. Out at the Forward Operating Base (FOB) most of the Infantry had M4's, and the troops that tended to never leave the FOB had the M16.
EDIT: Officers carried M4's also on mission. No one wanted to be caught outside the FOB without one. When on the FOB we all tended to carry the M9 only (24/7, those of us that had them).

jbirds1210 wrote:The only full-auto M4 I have ever seen in a department vehicle was the trunk of a Texas Ranger.

Jason

I carried a 3-round burst only M-4 in Afghanistan. The last time I had a full-auto capable M-16 was in Boot Camp at Parris Island in 1976. Do the Armed Forces even issue full-auto M4/M16's to anyone other than SpecOps now?

If you obtained the Class 3 license (or whatever the proper terminology is), would that mean that you could conceal-carry one of those Glock Automatic pistols or the like?