Somewhat related story in regards to the M1 Carbine and the M1 Garand.
And, this was told to me by a neighbor who found out that I had purchased an M1 Garand (plus, he supposedly was in the 82nd or 101st Airborne in WWII; I never questioned him as it would have been impolite and he was of the right age and this was the only kind of "connection" we ever had up until I joined the Reserves and was deployed at which point we had a few other similar points of reference).
He kind of glowed when it came to talking about the M1 Garand, and after nursing my M16 through two times through the sandbox, I can readily recognize his affection.
"My buddy shot this Kraut a couple of times with his carbine. Kraut never went down, but kept on moving around. Shit. I stood up and popped him one time with my Garand and he dropped like a rock."
He never got to muck around with the M16 during his time in the Army or the Guard, but I can only guess at what sort of disdain he would have treated the M16.
Rate of fire is nice, but a nice, solid slug hitting what it is supposed to hit is fine by me.