I was reading an article about the Colt M4. I Colt is a somewhat light weight Combat Assult Rifle. I held an M4 back in 2002. It's is a nice compact weapon. But I do not know how well the Colt M4 preforms. I still like the M-16 Assult Rifle that was designed in 1957 by by the visionary gunsmith Eugene Stoner and used by The U.S. Army since 1961. The article is at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080420/ap_on_re_us/the_gun_wars.

For more information on the M-16 click on the following link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M16_rifle.

The AR-15 is a generic term for a civilian semi-automatic rifle similar to the military M16/M4-type weapons. The AR-15 was eventually adopted by the United States military under the designation M-16. However, Colt continued to use the AR-15 trademark for its semi - automatic variants (AR-15, AR-15A2) marketed to civilian and law-enforcement customers. The original AR-15 was a very lightweight weapon, weighing less than 6 pounds with empty magazine, though later heavy-barrel versions of the civilian AR-15 can weigh upwards of 8.5 lbs. Basically the M-16 and the AR-15 are the same.

For more information on the AR-15 click on the following link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR-15.