I can remember seeing the 50th anniversary of the Army Aviation Branch at Fort San Houston, 1967; during Vietnam. They had various flight demos with a Curtiss Pusher replica and even the Confederate A.F.'s B-17. The highlight of the show was a flock of Hueys air assaulting in some grunts with BFA-equipped M-14s, The troops advanced in rushes, firing blanks as they went. As they emptied their mags they tossed them. After the "battle" was over the "public" swooped in and grabbed up all of the mags.

Another example of M-14 mag wastage, my ROTC unit at Trinity University went out to Camp Bullis, annually, to fam-fire the Junior Class on the M-14 Trainfire course before they were to go to Fort Sill for their Summer Camp. We fired our relays between thunderstorm bursts; I had the ammo detail loading up mags which at that time had to be loaded in 8 and 16 rd. increments for different parts of the course of fire, which was M-1 friendly. The result when it was all over was a footlocker full of wet M-14 magazines, some loaded, some not, allowed to sit for several days in the armory. The supply sergeant, I think, made off with the loose rounds; the mags just rusted. I was told they would be "surveyed." Too much trouble to disassemble, dry, and oil, I guess.