M16 Assault Rifle

The M16A3 assault rifle is a Tier 2 replacement for the submachine gun with higher damage and better accuracy. It holds 50 rounds with a 360 round reserve, having less total ammo then the Uzi, but being a better overall weapon. The M16 is the best choice as a general use firearm, as it is adaptable to most situations.

Tactics
Assault rifle ammo is easy to waste. The weapon trades ammo capacity for accuracy and damage, and this must be used to full advantage to be effective. The assault rifle generally needs only two or three shots to do its job, and any more hampers its accuracy at mid to long range. Thus, burst firing or headhunting is highly recommended at medium to long ranges as this not only helps improve accuracy, but this also has the benefit of conserving precious ammo.

While this weapon may be useful on higher difficulties because of its tighter cone of fire being safer when firing near other survivors, this weapon struggles to keep up with the increased health of the Common Infected, requiring 4 bullets to kill one on expert, whereas a single shot from the other two weapons is still a kill. Additionally, the mid range effectiveness of the assault rifle is shared with the pistols, meaning that taking the assault rifle sacrifices some flexibility.

In a group of four on finales its a good idea to have two people with Auto Shotguns and two people with Assault Rifles, get in a closet, the two people with the shotguns crouch and shoot/melee, while the two people with the assault rifles stand and fire rounds into the infected trying to get through the door.

Real steel info
The in-game texture states that this rifle is produced by the fictional company American Armory as the M16A2. It is based off of the M16A3. The M16A3 rifle is an M16A2 rifle with an M16A1's fire-mode control (semi-automatic fire, automatic fire) used only by the U.S. Navy.