In my life as infrantryman and Recon, I carried the M1 Garand, M14 and M16. Pretty knowledgable on the BAR. I'll take the Garand and the BAR. The BAR weighs 19 lbs but in a firefight it is worth it's weight in gold. The smallest guys were always designated as BAR men, they were tough. It was accurate and if you were good enough, you could fire single aimed shots. The Garand weighs 9.5 lbs but you got used to it and it was nice to be able to reach out and touch someone. 500 yd shots were easy once you got sighted in. The ping of the clip coming out, how noticeable would it be with the noise of firefight in progress, not much if any. M16, love it, but prefer the Garand.
Never cared much for the M14, I could not hit with it as well as the Garand. Lot's of guys loved it. Full-auto fire, forget it, after 1st round, every shot was in the air.
Grease gun, shot it a bit and it was ok, recoil not bad, but yes it climbed but then so does the M16 but you learn to control.