Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “The True Story Behind the Mattel M16 Rifle” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/mattel-m16-rifle/.
![](https://www.thearmorylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/forum-mattel-m16-rifle.jpg)
![](https://www.thearmorylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/forum-mattel-m16-rifle.jpg)
FIVE PIGS!YOU can have your own Marauder!
Mattel Marauder on Ebay
Good article.Based on the size of the magazine of the Mattel Marauder it must have been chambered with the .338 Norma Magnum.![]()
My little plastic thingGreat article; I could find nothing to dispute or add.
I heard the stories that Mattel actually made M16 "furniture" many, many years ago. Always assumed they were true. When I shot M16s in USAF Basic Training and Small Arms Marksmanship Training Unit (753X0 tech school) in 1970, some of our rifles were so old that they had 5-digit serial numbers and green "furniture" with the paint worn off, exposing bare laid-up fiberglass underneath. But all the M16s I later handled in service (basically identical to M16A1s but with NO FA assemblies) had solid black furniture, and it was easy to believe that they'd been subcontracted by Mattel.
OTOH, I spotted the Mattel toy in The Green Berets years before that. In addition to the scene mentioned in the article, one can clearly be seen in John Wayne's hands in at least one other scene. The speaker magazine can't be missed, if you know what you're looking at and you're looking for it.![]()
Great article; I could find nothing to dispute or add.
I heard the stories that Mattel actually made M16 "furniture" many, many years ago. Always assumed they were true. When I shot M16s in USAF Basic Training and Small Arms Marksmanship Training Unit (753X0 tech school) in 1970, some of our rifles were so old that they had 5-digit serial numbers and green "furniture" with the paint worn off, exposing bare laid-up fiberglass underneath. But all the M16s I later handled in service (basically identical to M16A1s but with NO FA assemblies) had solid black furniture, and it was easy to believe that they'd been subcontracted by Mattel.
OTOH, I spotted the Mattel toy in The Green Berets years before that. In addition to the scene mentioned in the article, one can clearly be seen in John Wayne's hands in at least one other scene. The speaker magazine can't be missed, if you know what you're looking at and you're looking for it.![]()
I don’t get all the emphasis on myths and the Mattel toy rifles. In 1973, I was Army issued an M16 made from the armorers collection of recycled Viet Nam issued weapons. It had a later chrome bore barrel. Upon complete disassembly for deep cleaning, all the black furniture parts displayed the legitimate Mattel name in original font on the INTERIOR of the stock and other parts that was part of the molding process. The cheapness of the worn plastic with the puny 22 cal size ammo led to everyone calling them Mattel toys because they were actually stamped Mattel internally. If you can’t believe old people who told the truth before culture went soft, that’s your frustration.Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “The True Story Behind the Mattel M16 Rifle” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/mattel-m16-rifle/.
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Absent further evidence, I'm calling clever Photoshop on that (or, perhaps, a custom-built lower). Very cool, either way, but I don't believe it's legit.
Did they look like this ---> http://www.skooldays.com/categories/toys/ty1325.htm"It's swell, it's by Mattel" goes back to the 60's and did make you wonder if you would find the big "M" trademark if you broke or took off any of the furniture.
But let me side-track things. The other month while watching an old 1960's Beverly Hillbilly's episode, Jethro Bodine enrolls in a military school for boys. WTH, those kids were equipped with M-14 toy cap rifles. You pulled down the trigger group/magazine and loaded up a roll of caps, sweet. I have no idea who made the 3/4 sized M-14s and for how long.
I WANT to believe you (see my original post in this thread), but need photo proof from a trusted source. Y'unnerstand, I hope.Upon complete disassembly for deep cleaning, all the black furniture parts displayed the legitimate Mattel name in original font on the INTERIOR of the stock and other parts that was part of the molding process.
Hmmmm, I forgot about those. Don't remember if they had pull-down trigger guards and took caps.Did they look like this ---> http://www.skooldays.com/categories/toys/ty1325.htm
I had one of these back in the day.