POTD: WW2 WTF.

No Rifle Could Beat The M1 Garand. (War Is Boring.)

Well the article is correct. It was like the AK-47 of its time, cheap, accurate, reliable as fuck and hits like a fucking truck.

Its only drawback was the clip feed system. That part is a little archaic.

The M1 Garand was neither cheap or simple to manufacture. An M1 Garand in 1940 cost 81$ to make. Which puts its cost at 1,300$ today. It also took longer to manufacture in numbers to adequately supply all of our forces with it. Quite a few of our forces entered world war II with Springfield M1903's. By the end of the war though we certainly had enough of them.

However it was a generally reliable and effective weapon. Only things I would change is from en bloc to stripper clip and maybe include a 10 shot removable mag. Basically a semi-auto Lee Enfield.

I thought M1 Garland was more like HK series; reliable, but at the cost of...well, cost.

^ It was cheaper to make than any German or Soviet contemporary.

@Tuffel: Considering M-16s brand new these days can cost over two grand that cost argument rings quite hollow. $81 is dirt cheap compared to 270 for a Thompson given 1942 pricing.

edited 9th Oct '15 4:24:00 PM by MajorTom

Nothing in your argument about cost is accurate. Considering it doesn't cost 2k to make an M-16 that is an even worse argument. Try not to conflate civilian market prices with actual manufacture costs. The military gets the M-16 at costs close to what the Garand would cost today so no your statement doesn't hold up at all. The costs would still be close if we kitted out the M-1 one with the same general gear that gets attached to an M-16. So unlike your statement the argument is actually rather solid and a lot more accurate then your appeal to the past.

I stand corrected. The M-16 in 2012 was $673 per new rifle. So the M-16 cost about half of what the M1 Garand did. The M-14 is over $450 cheaper as well.

edited 9th Oct '15 5:37:43 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Seems my favourite Russian rifle is getting more time in the sun, or the snow, or whatever, oh hell just look at the pictures:

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/10/09/potd-the-an-94-in-use-today/

I. Fucking. Want. One. Of. Those.

I want to take a it apart just to see how all the bits go together and pull and push on each other.

Either that or a well made cutaway view example would be nice.

edited 9th Oct '15 9:06:58 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Well, this article from teh Firearm Blog has a video showing an animated manual for the rifle.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/02/11/mind-bending-94-rifle-yesterdays-rifle-tomorrow/

Interesting mounting bracket. I've never seen one like that before.

That rifle also looks like it's seem some wear and tear. They're not still using the original batch of AN-94s are they? I mean I know they're ludicrously expensive but still.

Tam: Cool. still a live cut way would be cool to tinker with. Just something about seeing the pieces in motion directly. That or tearing it down to the screws.

It seems the XM-25 is Not Quite Dead.

And under a new manufacturer apparently. I could have sworn three years ago it was HK doing that. Now it's Orbital ATK.

Wow. I knew they sidelined it for issues uncovered in its field use. I hope they fixed that nasty feed and round safety issue. It still has that hefty weight. I want to know what its recoil system is like.

Pike UBGL fired laser guided missile Tested range is over a mile. Still requires a two man team to fire it one to designated one to fire.

edited 14th Oct '15 10:08:42 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Surely it can't be that difficult to guide the missile from a laser mounted on the rifle?

Also since when are underbarrel missiles a thing?

Since weapons like Switchblade and smart UBGL grenades were a thing.

So when are we getting broop troops again?

Not for a little while yet. That was just the first test of the projectile as a guided weapon. I give it five years. Even then I would hope they find an alternative to having to paint the target like the Spike mini missiles optical guidance as well as laser if needed.

Too bad it can't be fire and forget. It'd give infantry a bit of Anti-Air against things like helis without having to lug around a big heavy Stinger missile launcher.

Yep. The Navies Spike Missile is basically a mini missile that can also be fired at low flying drones. The test launcher unit is rather compact. It has dual targeting modes. An optical image tracking mode and a laser guided mode. It is also reportedly a rather accurate weapon.

I think the idea is to give troops a weapon that has reach and enough punch that they don't to lob off more expensive TOW missiles like we have been doing in the mountains of Afghanistan.

Interesting that they're looking at frangible and expanding bullets. I thought the Hague Convention banned those?

Only under certain conditions. That and subsequent treaties, practices, and overall changes have made them more acceptable in certain circumstances. Like in urban combat or to reduce collateral from ricochets.

^ That and the US isn't technically a signatory.

"Expanding bullets" was just the Kaiser getting butthurt that, once again Tommy Atkins had curbstomped his troops.

The reality is that Hollow Points (most are Jacketed Hollow Point or JHP) and Soft Points (SP) are used a lot by police and, in many cases required, by hunters.

The .223 got a bad rep because many early AR adopters and shooters used mil-surp ammo or Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) .223 on game. The rounds went right through.

A high school friend tells me of the time he was with his dad and shot a coyote with a .233 FMJ round while they were out plinking. The coyote got up and ran off, only to bleed to death a mile away, in the desert scrub. His dad simply told him to "go get it".

Full Metal Jacket can go right through most game, but HP/SP bullets will stop it dead in it's tracks if the right caliber is used. Even .233/5.56mm performs well with JHP.

And before anyone gets upset, most people out in the Southwest consider coyotes a pest. Heck, the federal government will let you shoot as many as you want on federal lands.