Re:Government Inefficiancy (Score 1)

and I've heard (though not from a reliable source) that new marines are told during boot camp to always remember that their rifles were made by the lowest bidder.

Speaking as a former marine, that does not seem to be the rule.
There are a lot of drill instructors with their own habits, I would not be surprised if at least some of them pointed that out.
I do recall one of my drill instructors informing us that some of our rifles were from Word War II.