I have two questions in regards to a personal project I'm currently working on. That personal project is a two-sided firearms collection that focuses on the standard infantry rifles of the Russian/Soviet military and the United States Army and will be spanning 100yrs. of designs on both.

So, my first question is: for the United States Army, for someone with an 11B MOS (rifleman), is the M4(A1) Carbine or M16A2 the current, official, on-paper rifle? I know many soldiers are deployed with M4s, but I understand many qualify with M16A2s, however. So, is the M4(A1) Carbine the current, standard, on-paper, official rifle for 11Bs or is it another case that's similar to the M1903/M1917 and M1 Garand/M1 Carbine where there were more non-official rifles made and used than official infantry rifles? Are there tons of M4s being used and issued while the M16A2 is still the official on-paper rifle?

That said, if the M4(A1) Carbine is the current-issue rifle for 11Bs in the United States Army, what year was it officially adopted as the current-issue rifle. I know it was adopted for service in general in 1994, but I am referring to when it went on-paper as the official, frontline firearm for your standard rifleman (if it ever did). Also, if the M4 replaced the M16A2, has the M4A1 replaced the M4? If so, what year?

The reason I ask is because my collection is to span exactly 100 years as a rival to my Soviet collection (1891-1991), as mentioned earlier. The 100yrs. isn't going to be the same years for both collections. Meaning, both are not going to be 1891-1991. The reason the Soviet/Russian collection is 1891-1991 is due to their latest infantry rifle, the AK-74M, was adopted in 1991. I decided to just do "current issue and a century prior." Thus, it will span M91-AK-74M. I am trying to do the same with my US Army collection. What is the current-issue, on-paper-official infantry rifle for the US Army rifleman? M16A2? M4? M4A1? What year was it adopted? I am trying to find out so I can know what year "100 years back" would be for the purposes of my collection.

This leads into my second question somewhat, as well: I have heard the M91 Dragoon was the official infantry rifle of the Russian Army in the 1920s up until the M91/30 was adopted. Is this true, or is it yet again a case of "not official, but more of these were made and issued than the M91, anyway"? Only reason I ask is so I know whether I need to find a Dragoon or not as my collections only involve the official, on-paper rifles (M38s, M44s, SVT-40s, etc., will not be in this collection, for example). Already have an M91 and an AK-74M clone, so my start/end dates are sorted out with the Soviet/Russian things, unlike the US Army collection I am currently working on, as mentioned prior. Just wanting to make sure I've got them all covered thus far (M91, M91 Dragoon, M91/30, SKS, AK, AKM, AK-74, AK-74M).

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide. My Googling and speaking with friends who currently serve/have served on both sides of the collection has lead me to some dead ends, unfortunately.

If it makes it any easier, here are the planned rifles for each collection. If the lists are wrong, I encourage correction.

For the USGI collection, I will assume the M4 Carbine was adopted in 2012 (found an article saying a ton were ordered in 2012, but it never said if they were actually the on-paper replacement for the M16A2).

US Army

• M1903 (straight stock)

• M1 Garand

• M14 clone

• M16A1 clone

• M16A2 clone

• M4(A1) clone (I believe the only differences here were fire modes as far as M4 v. M4A1 goes, so one rifle could cover both roles)

Russian/Soviet

• M91

• M91 Dragoon

• M91/30

• SKS

• AK (Type-I, Type-II, and Type-IIIs were all just called "AKs" so I will probably only get one model rather than one of each)

• AKM clone

• AK-74 clone

• AK-74M clone

This all seem about right?

Thanks again for any information anyone can give me on this. I figured it'd be easier finding out what the current US Army's infantry rifle is for your regular ol' rifleman, but it seems I can only find a ton of articles mentioning M4s without mentioning whether it's an unofficial switch or an official switch to them from the M16A2.

Also cannot find any information on whether or not the M91 Dragoon was built/issued in large numbers for the same reason: unofficial or official switch.