The Greatest Combat Rifle Ever Made

[Harley Quinn]

Fn Fal

Was/is a very good rifle.

Carried by so many countries as the weapon of choice.
FN is a fine maker of firearms, has been for a very long time.

One that I like and believe is a goody is the FN Model 49 made between battles but none the less a fine rifle. Numerous countries went for it also.

I believe when you are talking "the best, the finest, the most used, the best funtioning etc. etc. Quite a big playing field.

So if you figure who got killed and who did not. You have to give the Mauser bolt actions, a broad sweep in the playing field.

HQ

 

[Hard Ball]

The Garand was a great battle rifle. The M14 is an improved version of the M1 and is the best battle rifle in the world today.

 

[Hard Ball]

The Garand was a great battle rifle. The M14 is an improved version of the M1 and is the best battle rifle in the world today.

 

[larvatus]

So if you figure who got killed and who did not. You have to give the Mauser bolt actions, a broad sweep in the playing field.

Right metric, wrong candidate. Most of the Mausers were carried by the losers.

 

[Harley Quinn]

larvatus

They lost the battle but won the war, look at them now. German.
They "the losers" killed more people. But you are right.

They are supposed to have lost. Just like the pacific side they lost the battle but won the war, look at them now. The 50 year plan. Hey it worked.

Can you imagine with the history that we know now, what would have happened to the world if we had been the loosers. We might have 12 different ballots printed to be able to vote LOL.

Well actually there would be no voting.

HQ

 

[larvatus]

They lost the battle but won the war, look at them now.

Greater accuracy would be attained by stating that Germany lost the war owing to Soviet tenacity, and won the peace owing to American largesse.

 

[surg_res]

Being the son of a history teacher, I'd have to say the same thing but that Germany lost the war strictly because of Hitler's great blunders (one of which was declaring war on his Soviet allies, and another was declaring war on the USA).

 

[onedelta89]

Stlrn

Dear STLRN, Let me start by thanking you for your service to our country! 3 tours? You rock! With all due respect you missed the point. My point is first and foremost, marksmanship skills are most important. Then comes the capability of the weapons system. The shorty M4 carbines when equipped with the red dot and agog glass are very good close range weapons. My point is that when faced with longer range scenarios like the 300 yard marine engagement I mentioned, too many of our troops seem to be lost. The fact that a trained rifleman can hit a target at 300 yards with a 5.56 and "hurt" someone doesn't mean the 308 isn't superior in terms of lethality or power. The 308 has more energy at 450 yards than the 5.56 at 100. That is from a 20 inch M16 barrel, not a 14 inch M4. The 308 lets more air in and more blood out when it his flesh, period. I know a kid who is currently deployed in IRAQ . 3 weeks after returning from Marine basic, he said he wasn't taught to shoot by looking at his front sight!?! That if his cheek weld was proper and he looked through the rear sight at the target, he would hit the target.. Was he really taught this crap or did the proper instruction not soak in. No wonder they couldn't hit easy targets at 300 yards. In Afganistan our troops were plagued by wounded enemy soldiers not going down but continuing to return fire. The 5.56 bullets were zipping through the "skinnys" while doing little damage. This allowed the enemy to stay in the fight longer before bleeding out. Also I patrol areas where the local population sees us as an occupation force. My enemy also blends into the local populace. I also must positively identify my target before I shoot. I am a police officer.(19 years) While my job is safer, we face similar situations; hours and days of boredome followed by seconds of pure terror. Keep up the good work. SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!

 

[readyfire]

Another vote for the ak 47

 

[homeandnativeland]

.303 British

Although I won't argue superiority of any rifle in this thread, I have a sentimental pride in .303 British. Being Canadian, I bought a .303 Enfield MkII
Longbranch. A good way to piss of the LIEberals. I get my heritage and my rifle too!! I had the opportunity to check out a Garand a while ago, fine piece of equipment.

 

[cas]

 

[The Guy]

Hmmmm......

The greatest combat rifle ever, that was the question.

The answer, (cue the drum roll please)

The M-14!

Close second.....

FN-FAL (L1A1)

Why anyone would want to call a bolt action rifle, or an en-block 8 round cilp rifle, or any other than the two mentioned above is beyond me. They may all be able to kill an enemy soldier at 500 yards, but the semi-auto loading and having 20 rounds on tap will win you the battle every time. True, that the Soviets got their buts handed to them by the Afgans using Lee-Enfeilds, but that was the diference in tactics and tenacity (and stingers, lol!) than anything else. And the Afgans who can use AKs now, not Lee-Enfeilds!

It comes down to what you would trust your life to in a war, and that will be the best combat rifle ever.

Just make mine a M-14!

 

[Harley Quinn]

The Guy

Yes I know where you are coming from on the bolt actions.
But for length of service it has to count for something.

FN FAL has my vote as the over all bestest. Why? Because more countries have picked it or its clone.

Lets face it the M14 is a M1 carbine and M1 Garand combined, though good it is not that good. In America Yes. The world no. But it is close.

Any one know or have some stats on these two rifles? Which is carried by more countries and by what margin?

HQ

 

[kentucky_smith]

Being a history teacher, I would have to say that the winning of THE war would have little to do with what arms they carried, but how they carried them (tactics, chance, information).

 

[281 Quad Cam]

Exactly...

The Garand is a superb weapon and no doubt increased the effectiveness of our soldiers over the 03a3.

However the German's downfall was not in their rifles or their junior officers. German infantry could fight their way into enemy lines wherever they wished. Keeping supplied to hold that territory was something the Wehrmacht couldn't do after 1943.

The Battle of the Bulge was one such example of German troops taking ground it simply could'nt hold onto long term.

The Nazi's lost due to strategical errors made by Hitler and his Generals during and even before the war - not due to the excellent G98/K98 rifle.

 

[gunslinger555]

i have a better answer for this question its your enemies combet rifle

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

For all of the armchair warriors out there who think that the M1 wasn't superior just remember if you were in an enclosed building and a squad of U.S. infantry clears that building firing off M1s You won't be able to hear a thing. no clip pinging, nothing. Those soldiers were trained to handle those situations and the soldier who ran out of ammo got cover from a fellow soldier. If you receive fire from inside a building your ears are useless. If you are close enough to even hear a clip ping out then you must have been one lucky individual, inside or outside any building. In WWII there was a buddy system. The M1 by far was superior.

 

[BlueTrain]

How many "decent marksmen" do you suppose the army has ever had at any one time, including now? Chances are, 90% of the hits are made by 10% of the infantry and that is optimistic. The best rifle? I don't know but usually the other side always has better guns, no matter which side, no matter what war.

 

[bacardisteve]

When i was in iraq atleast one person in every fire team carried a m14. I myself carried one in fallutia(spelling). It may have been heavier than the m4 but who cares. it has way more power and i shoot it better. Past 250meters the m14 is king. Ask anyone who spent some time in the sandbox and they can tell you.

 

[Limeyfellow]

The M14 was considered a big failure. It was an attempt to make a selective fire M1 Garand, and was uncontrollable by the vast majority of the US military that they dumped its use in a few years. The only real reason its coming back into use is that they never bothered with a designated marksman programme much before now as it was considered a Soviet thing to do and they trusted in the big machineguns. You can understand why they dropped the whole design and it only got picked because it was designed in the services who wanted no outsiders taking the credit. The same reason meant the 1903 went on for much more decades than it was designed to do.