[Madirishman]

I have an acquaintance who to this day would swear on the lives of his children and a stack of bibles that he was issued a Mattel M16. There is more than enough factual evidence these never existed and are a false memory at best, or to give the benefit of the doubt, the Mandela Effect.

I'm not casting shade on anyone who served our country but I've heard more claims of having carried a Singer 1911A1 than there were actual pistols produced by them.

 

[dsk]

I believe Mattel once received a contract to make replacement furniture for the M16, but no they never made actual rifles. At least not ones that weren't battery-powered anyway.

 

[win40-82]

I'm sure that they were carried, they were issued. After the WWII it could have just been part of one, slide or frame. I also think that most of those who carried them didn't know what make it was or even cared (I said most). Perhaps years later a serviceman becomes interested in collecting and recalls the one he carried had a serial number that started with a S, thus the "I'll be damned, that was a Singer I carried while on Shore Patrol in Bremerton". Just saying, not all stories are BS.

 

[dsk]

Of course they're not all BS... but 500 pistols out of 3.5 million issued? The odds of anyone ever coming across one, let alone knowing what it was were pretty slim. Until the 1980s when collecting GI 1911s finally became a thing I doubt 99% of gun people even knew that Singer once made 1911s. I do know a lot of vets entered and left the service without ever knowing that anyone other than Colt made them.

 

[shooter5]

Until the 1980s when collecting GI 1911s finally became a thing I doubt 99% of gun people even knew that Singer once made 1911s. I do know a lot of vets entered and left the service without ever knowing that anyone other than Colt made them.

Yep! That was me up until about 10 years ago!

(Also: responding to quote -

I also think that most of those who carried them didn't know what make it was or even cared...)

Ditto!