7 Rifles That Won and Defended Our Independence

[josephmrtn]

Guns that made history...

 

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/gun-shots/2013/07/7-rifles-won-our-independence?cmpid=enews07032013&spPodID=020&spMailingID=5555715&spUserID=MjM1NDg3NDc0ODES1&spJobID=324337440&spReportId=MzI0MzM3NDQwS0

[CuseHunter]

Good read thanks. I laughed at the comment about #5 being a "pea shooter" and not effective in war. He must have never been shot at or shot at someone with a 5.56 because they are beyond effective in war.

[Elmo]

You have to remember at the time, soldiers were very skeptical of the 5.56 since it was a relatively new round based off of a varmint round. Until then, every one was mainly using the 30-06.

[josephmrtn]

Good read thanks. I laughed at the comment about #5 being a "pea shooter" and not effective in war. He must have never been shot at or shot at someone with a 5.56 because they are beyond effective in war.

Lol me too!

You have to remember at the time, soldiers were very skeptical of the 5.56 since it was a relatively new round based off of a varmint round. Until then, every one was mainly using the 30-06.

God help the guy shooting a full auto 30-06

[Early]

No one questions guns 5, 6, 7 ???   What did they have to do with winning or defending our independence??

[josephmrtn]

Nam' Iraq and Afganistan 

[Pygmy]

Good read thanks. I laughed at the comment about #5 being a "pea shooter" and not effective in war. He must have never been shot at or shot at someone with a 5.56 because they are beyond effective in war.

 

Col  Charles Askins, who was a veteran of US border patrol, several LE jobs and also saw combat in WWII and Vietnam in the Army, was quite vocal in his opposition of a "woodchuck rifle" as a standard chambering  in a battle rifle.. Charlie was a combat veteran and was reputed to be a stone cold killer.  He was said to have killed about 30 men..

 

He asked the question..." What if we should get involved in combat in open areas such as the Middle East ?.."

 

Well, old Cheerless Charlie is gone now, and since then many GI s have seen combat with thier woodchuck rifles, and they have been used with good effect.

 

However, there have been numerous instances when hostiles have indeed been engaged at distances beyond the  effective  5.56  range.. For that reason a lot of M 14s have been brought out of mothballs , because the 7.62 x 51 is capable of EFFECTIVELY engaging  bad guys at ranges BEYOND the capability of the standard issue M 16 and M4 weapon systems.

Edited July 5, 2013 by Pygmy

[Pygmy]

Lol me too!

God help the guy shooting a full auto 30-06

 

Actually, Joe, there was never a standard battle rifle in 30-06 that was full auto..

 

The only full auto 30-06 rifle was the BAR, and was issued on a limited basis as a squad automatic weapon and was actually very accurate and controllable because it weighed 20 pounds loaded and had a relatively low rate of fire for an automatic weapon.. It was most effective fired from a prone position with a bipod.

 

The standard battle rifle at the time was the Garand M1, which was an 8 shot gas operated semi auto and was a wonderful, accurate , reliable rifle..

 

The  M 14 followed the M1 and was also an excellent battle rifle..It was selective fire, but was more effective on semi auto, because the recoil from the 7.62 x 51 ( .308) caused it to be hard to control on full auto...

[Elmo]

Also, supporters of the 5.56 when they were trying to introduce it to the military theorized that the true objective in combat was not to kill the enemy soldier but rather to eliminate them from the battlefield.  They believed and proven to be true that wounding a soldier eliminated two enemy soldiers instead of one.  The one that was shot and the one that had to carry that soldier to safety.  The 5.56 also allowed soldiers to carry much more rounds than larger calibers.

 

The arguments over the last 3 rifles on the list was because they played their roles in controversial wars.  There are large number of people who felt America should not have been involved in the Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan wars.  Especially true of Vietnam since the US were never attacked or threatened by Vietnam so those wars didn't have as much of an impact on American Independence as say the Revolutionary War.

Edited July 5, 2013 by Elmo

[Pygmy]

One thing that was mentioned in the article concerning the M1 always makes me smile.

The fact that it makes a distinctive "PING" when it ejects the empty clip, and an enemy soldier can hear it and know that the GIs rifle is empty..

Did you notice in the picture that the GI firing his M1 had an extra clip slipped on his sling where it would be handy to grab for a reload ? A trained soldier could probably reload an 8 shot clip in about two seconds... The opponent who hears the PING better be REAL close and REAL fast if he's going to close the distance on the soldier before that rifle is cocked, locked, and ready to rock...

[ants]

One thing that was mentioned in the article concerning the M1 always makes me smile.

The fact that it makes a distinctive "PING" when it ejects the empty clip, and an enemy soldier can hear it and know that the GIs rifle is empty..

Did you notice in the picture that the GI firing his M1 had an extra clip slipped on his sling where it would be handy to grab for a reload ? A trained soldier could probably reload an 8 shot clip in about two seconds... The opponent who hears the PING better be REAL close and REAL fast if he's going to close the distance on the soldier before that rifle is cocked, locked, and ready to rock...

 

 

I also heard stories about G.I.'s purposely  throwing empty clips to the ground. The enemy would hear that PING! and think the soldier had fired to empty. The bad guy would pop out to advance on the soldier only to find that the G.I. had plenty of rounds left to ruin his day.

[CuseHunter]

No doubt the 30-06 is superior at distances where the 556 doesn't pack the punch, but it is tried and true to be successful. I wouldn't mind a 7.62 M4 platform to use, I don't know anyone who takes their rifle off of semi in a fire fight, burst is nearly impossible to control, and you can put more rounds on target down range on semi than you'd think. There standard issue m4 and AR platform rifle over seas doesn't have a full auto fire selection. Unlike call of duty makes it seem, it's safe, semi, and burst.