Word: wc
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Known as Olin WC 846, the new powder is capable of firing an M-16 round at the desired 3,300 ft. per sec. and has unexpectedly increased the rifle's automatic rate of fire from about 850 shots a minute to 1,000. The result is that the "little black rifle," as the M-16 is fearfully called by the Viet Cong, tends to jam because the powder leaves behind a dirty residue that clogs the faster-moving automatic parts...
...Army for the past nine months has been outfit ting all M-16s with a new buffer system that slows the rate of fire back to 650 to 850 bullets per minute, thereby reducing the propensity to jam. In closerange fighting, a jam can be fatal. Tests with the WC 846 ball propellant show that a buffer-equipped M-16 now jams approximately only once every 4,000 shots. According to the Army's criteria, one jam every 1,001 rounds is acceptable. To compensate for the debris left behind by the new powder, all M-16s now being...