M14, M21 and M25The M14 was designed as a modernised version of the venerable M1 Garand to meet new NATO requirements; the clip feed was replaced with a detachable magazine, and a new barrel added. Unfortunately, someone decided it needed to be select-fire, requiring every part of the rifle to be strengthened to handle the increased stress of firing the powerful 7.62x51mm NATO round on full-auto settings. The resulting weapon was regarded as rather clumsy and utterly impossible to control in full-auto; many were locked to semi-auto and this, almong with other modifications, created a servicable weapon. And even then, the thing was quite heavy, which unfortunately, didn't so much dampen its full auto recoil as cause for many soldiers to struggle with its weight. The M14 was the US Army's st