Most of what could be said about 3 rd burst has been covered.
But, I' ll add some weapons have such a slow rate of fire you can get 1, 2 and 3 shot taps out of them even when set on full-auto.

I have tested a number of military weapons that have full-auto capability, including M2 Carbines, M16' s, M14' s, AK' s and a number of different SMG' s. As far as rifle-caliber weapons go, I could usually hit the target with the first ttwo rounds, one at the point of aim, the next about shoulder level, and any subsequent ones went off into the air at ever-incresing angles. This is why I favor semi-auto fire, and aimed shots!!

thanks all, interseting. now i wonder what a decent muzzle break could do with it. oh well probably never find out

Hey 1 shot, That' s the best post that I' ve seen on a 3rd burst. I mentioned shooting the M-14 on auto because it is an interesting experiance. I did not mean to imply that it could be done with any real degree of accuracy.

Propmahn, actually on your muzzle brake question: I beleive the AK-74 has the best muzzle brake. I watched some shoe on TV about them, and when the guy was shooting the AK-47 and M-4 the muzzle rise was a lot. Now he pulled out the AK-74 and hardly any rise at all. It was a good show on the Discovery Ch or History Ch about the life and times of the AK-47.

I shoot a full auto M16-A2 today. It was converted to 22lr. The gun had bassicaly no recoil, and very little muzzle climb. I kept 3 shots with in about 4 inches at 50yds. I also shot an MP-5, and for a 9mm the gun had alot of muzzle climb. Probably looking at about 1ft for a 3 shot group.

The correct answer is, depends on the shooter and the situation. If you are on a range where you have time to aim in and keep a nice tight position, then I don' t thing that it' s unreasonable for a good shooter to put a 3-rd burst from an M16A2 into a silouette target at 100 yards. But from my experience with the M16A2 where you' re engageing multiple targets in rapid succession and fairly close range, and in during a " final protective fire" when the enemy is anmost in your fighting hole, then accuracy isn' t as good. Burst mode is not stressed much in the Marine Corps, as the Marines have always preferred to teach marksmanship and the " one shot-one kill" philosophy. As a result, it' s pretty rare that the rifle is put into burst mode. Why shoot one guy one to three times when you could shoot three guys once each?

The most accurate automatic weapon I had the pleasure to shoot in the service was the H&K MP5. While my skills were not that great with it, I could keep about 75% of the rounds on target at 25 yards, and that' s shooting one 30rd mag with one pull of the trigger. Most of the experienced SRT guys could shoot 100% into the 5 zone shooting 5-7rd bursts.

Mike