We had full-auto Mini-14s when I worked for the State Dept. They were called AC-556 or something like that. Got hot, though--no cooling provisions. Not a good weapon. Like last resort full-auto and then throw it away.
One of my grandpas was in WW2. The other one was drafted, did recruit training, but the war ended and he was allowed to go home. But my whole childhood, we were allowed to believe he had done more service than he did. He had an m1 carbine that he claimed came from the army. I got it from my dad 15 years ago. It was not an army carbine. It was assembled by some company, Alpine, that bought a bunch of old guns and parts and assembled these guns. I shot it until the bolt actually flew out of the receiver. The receiver was blued new, like the bolt, but turned out to have had a million rounds fired through it and was never inspected before being paired with the new bolt. It was a piece of crap rifle and I cut it up and recycled it. You can buy a new M1 carbine. The Ruger is better. But I liked that rifle a lot.
I still don't like ARs.