The True Story Behind the Mattel M16 Rifle

[bc22wm]

I didnt have many toy guns.
Living in the woods, i got a BB gun and by 8 yrs old had a stevens .410, then a .22 to add then a Weatherby as i got to my teenage years. Shot animals for the table my whole childhood. Mom&Dad were quite well off, but dad was a woodsman and preferred fresh wildlife over the meat market . Longed for a “M16” watching all the 70’s-80’s war movies.
Wasnt 30 till I shot one. Dept of Defense wouldnt take me for my eyesight. Been AR15 obsessed since …

You're lucky. Dad never let me have a BB gun in the house. "Guns are not toys". I did get a Mi Carbine for my 6th birthday with one 5rd clip for hunting. YES CLIP! Back then the words clips and magazine where interchangeable like a pistol could be a revolver or an auto. Get over it. FYI dad was a WWII vet and one of the Frozen Chosen. He always referred to it as a clip. Still miss him maybe that's why nit pickers twist my tail, or maybe I'm just a grumpy old, Fudd SOB
As for Mattel, I know what I saw with my own eyes, and that all I got to say.

 

[The Night Rider]

I have a manufacturing background and I'm wondering how much it would have cost Mattel to tool up and make molds and set up a line for what had to amount to a very short run of parts.

I don't care how many Bots show up in this thread talking about how they had a Mattel rifle, I'm not buying it.

 

[The Night Rider]

i had m16a1 in 1987 in Germany stamped Mattel logo sun also not a circle like that pic

 

[Belt Fed]

Well shoot. Mine has unicorns on the receiver.

Wait.....maybe its horses. Heaven forbid it be donkeys.

Im goin with horses.

 

[The Night Rider]

Well shoot. Mine has unicorns on the receiver.

Wait.....maybe its horses. Heaven forbid it be donkeys.

Im goin with horses.

I'm pretty sure I only ever had one Colt M16. I seem to remember having been issued a couple of Harrington Richards M16s

 

[Superzuki]

I had 2, 2 different assignments. The first was Colt and the second was an H&R. The H&R was older and was a joy to shoot, slick and smooth..

 

[40Rounds]

IBM, Smith Corona and other firms produced the M1 Carbine during World War II, while Ford made helmets during the First World War. So I can see how the rumor started.

Don't forget that Singer Sewing machines made some of the smoothest 1911's ever.

 

[James fort Hood Tx]

Mattel stamped receiver M16a1. shot it,slept with it ,ate with it .sorry your memory isn't what it should be. Or maybe you weren't really there

 

[James fort Hood Tx]

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.

Apparently you were never there!!! Or never had an M16a1 from that time era in your hands. Or maybe only thing your mom let you play with was the plastic one. Stand back non believers.

 

[James fort Hood Tx]

View attachment 49631

Every one told me I was crazy, except me and my homey that was there with me. We shot them ,slept with them, ate with them really awesome to see a Pic. Wish I would have got a picture of mine. Why nobody believes that Mattel made them. Thanks Dec 1976 fort lost in woods missery

 

[The Night Rider]

Every one told me I was crazy, except me and my homey that was there with me. We shot them ,slept with them, ate with them really awesome to see a Pic. Wish I would have got a picture of mine. Why nobody believes that Mattel made them. Thanks Dec 1976 fort lost in woods missery

 

[James fort Hood Tx]

Is that you after a long day at the bar??? I suppose the earth is flat also!! Watch out you might step off the edge

 

[MikeT]

Every one told me I was crazy, except me and my homey that was there with me. We shot them ,slept with them, ate with them really awesome to see a Pic. Wish I would have got a picture of mine. Why nobody believes that Mattel made them. Thanks Dec 1976 fort lost in woods missery

I joined the Marines in March,1970 and after Parris Island went to Camp Lejeune for ITR at Camp Stone Bay. We were issued M-16s marked Mattel and I joked that I didn’t join to play with toys and was told that it was real ! And it was! ( retired GySgt in 1991 after Desert Storm).

 

[The Night Rider]

We were issued M-16s marked Mattel and I joked that I didn’t join to play with toys and was told that it was real !

I'm not buying it. Nobody has been able to present any concrete evidence that Mattel ever made any component of the M16.