History UsefulNotes / ModernBattlefieldWeapons

** '''Squad automatic weapons (SAW)''' are a subtype of light machine gun, usually issued at the squad level (hence the name) for fire support. . They are typically chambered in intermediate-power rounds like the 5.56x45mm, typically the same round as the squad's rifle. In fact, their design may even be based on the squad's standard rifle (adapted for sustained fire). Examples include the FN Minimi/[=M249=] and the Russian RPD and RPK.

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* The M1917 revolver, produced by both Colt and Smith & Wesson and sharing a designation. Based off of both companies' large-frame models that were previously chambered in .45 Colt, the M1917 was rechambered for the .45 ACP round to share ammo commonality with the M1911 pistol. Due to the nature of the rimless cartridge (because they load from a box magazine, semi-auto cartridges need to be rimless so they can stack properly), it is difficult to eject the empty casings from a revolver, as the ejector star depends on a rim to catch on. An engineer at S&W came up with a solution in the form of moon clips that hold multiple cartridges together and serve as a contact point for the ejector to catch, making reloads much faster.

* The M82 Barrett, your characteristic BFG, this is a .50 caliber rifle most often used for unexploded ordnance disposal and interdiction of ''light armored vehicles'' and has been used at distances of two kilometers and beyond. This weapon stands on the border between "anti-personnel" sniper rifles and...

* New Israeli designs counteract the problem of subpar armor by actually using tanks; the Achzarit was a converted version of captured T-54 and T-55 tanks, while the from-scratch Nammer is essentially a Merkava with the turret ripped off, and the weight savings put into actually giving it '''heavier''' armor than a main battle tank.

The Americans developed the M1 Bazooka—a long but light long reloadable tube with a rocket in it that so greatly resembled [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazooka_(instrument) a particular type of musical instrument]] that it stole the name. Recoil was reduced by the simple principle of letting all the exhaust escape out the back of the weapon, creating a huge cloud of hot gas behind the firer, which both gave away his position and severely hurt anybody stupid enough to stand right behind him, but gave the weapon an impressive effective range. Theoretically the rocket was supposed to finish burning by the time it left the tube. [[RunningGag Many American veterans without eyebrows will tell you that this was not always the case]]. The bazooka was issued in improved versions until the 1970s.

* The AKM (or, officially, the ''modernizírovanny Avtomát Kaláshnikova'', "modernised Kalashnikov automatic rifle") and all its descendants. [[MemeticBadass Memetically tough and nigh-indestructible]], this weapon family entered mass production around 1948 and is widespread around the world and has more licensed copies / unlicensed knock-offs than can be easily recounted, including some in use by Western-aligned nations (designs based on it but not outright copies have been manufactured in Israel, Finland, and South Africa, among other countries). According to some estimates, more than thirty million [=AKM=] and [=AK74=] pattern rifles have been manufactured worldwide since 1960. Often crudely made--the definitive mass-produced variations in Soviet service, the AKM (in 7.62x39mm caliber, appearing in 1960) and [=AK74=] (in 5.45x39mm caliber, appearing in 1974) have a receiver made from stamped sheet metal riveted together and most often a buttstock and handguard cut roughly from plywood, even the military issue ammunition in these calibers is usually loaded in lacquered steel cases instead of more expensive brass (though the bores, chambers, and gas cylinders are usually chrome-lined to reduce wear and protect them from corrosive primer residue).

* The AK-47 (or, officially, the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' or "Kalashnikov automatic") and all its descendants. [[MemeticBadass Memetically tough and nigh-indestructible]], this weapon family entered mass production around 1948 and is widespread around the world and has more licensed copies / unlicensed knock-offs than can be easily recounted, including some in use by Western-aligned nations (designs based on it but not outright copies have been manufactured in Israel, Finland, and South Africa, among other countries). According to some estimates, more than thirty million [=AKM=] and [=AK74=] pattern rifles have been manufactured worldwide since 1960. Often crudely made--the definitive mass-produced variations in Soviet service, the AKM (in 7.62x39mm caliber, appearing in 1960) and [=AK74=] (in 5.45x39mm caliber, appearing in 1974) have a receiver made from stamped sheet metal riveted together and most often a buttstock and handguard cut roughly from plywood, even the military issue ammunition in these calibers is usually loaded in lacquered steel cases instead of more expensive brass (though the bores, chambers, and gas cylinders are usually chrome-lined to reduce wear and protect them from corrosive primer residue).

* The Webley family of revolvers. A series of top-break self-extracting revolvers, these became symbols of the British Empire throughout the late 19th century and were used throughout both World Wars. The most famous chambering was the .455 Webley round, a very powerful cartridge frequently compared to the American .45 ACP round.

* The Smith & Wesson K-frame, essentially S&W's designation for a medium-sized frame. The most famous is the Model 10, first introduced in 1899 and still in production today. The K-frame revolver may very well be the longest-serving military revolver in history. Carried by Allied forces throughout both World Wars (with the "Victory Model" WWII variant being one of the most well-known), the K-frame continued to serve well into the 20th century. American pilots in the Vietnam War often carried a Model 10 (or a Model 15, a version with adjustable sights instead of fixed) as an EmergencyWeapon to use in the event of a shoot-down. U.S. Air Force Security Forces up until the [=90s=] were issued Model [=10s=] for guard duty at ballistic missile silos stateside. The K-frame was perhaps the final revolver still seeing military service in the 21st century, due to the U.S. Air Force using the Model 15 to train military working dogs by accustoming them to the sound of gunfire. [[https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2019/04/04/us-air-force-to-retire-remaining-service-revolvers/ In 2019]], the Model 15 was finally retired in favor of the semi-automatic SIG Sauer M18 pistol.

The most common "sidearm" in modern military service is some model of semi-automatic pistol with a detachable magazine. Fulfilling functions from purely ceremonial to close-range self-defense to "fighting your way back to your rifle", pistols offer fair firepower at short range and are among the lightest, most portable firearms.

Note that there are, for historical reasons, some rather different attitudes in different militaries about these. In many European militaries prior to World War II, the pistol was symbolic of a commissioned officer's authority; it meant that if he drew it in battle, its purpose was to shoot one of his own soldiers for failing to obey orders, and the idea of actually using it to shoot at the enemy seemed in these military establishments rather strange. In some other militaries--the UK and US militaries come immediately to mind--due to 19th Century colonial warfare and warfare against the Plains Indians, the pistol was regarded as a vitally important instrument of close quarters combat. Which is why so many European armies prior to NATO issued tiny little .32 caliber pocket pistols to their officers, whereas the US and UK militaries favored big revolvers and/or big semiauto pistols in calibers beginning with a ".4" The Germans, having observed this, and suspecting (correctly) that close quarters battle was going to be commonplace in the next big war, created the perennially popular 9x19mm pistol cartridge, which is still in use by NATO and many governments around the world.

Military revolvers were common up until after World War II (and in both World Wars, the US military purchased revolvers from Colt and also Smith & Wesson due to insufficient production of the M1911 semiauto design), but since then, they have all but disappeared from service. Common examples include:

Military revolvers, though not unknown up until after World War II (and in both World Wars, the US military purchased revolvers from Colt and also Smith & Wesson due to insufficient production of the M1911 semiauto design), have all but disappeared from service, though even in the 1980s they were sometimes seen in use by the US Air Force and US Navy. Common examples include:

Appearing in the late stages of World War I, submachine guns, [=SMG=]s saw wide use during the Second World War; shortly thereafter, it was supplanted by selective-fire assault rifles. Although they were first considered to be the equivalent of giving every soldier his own machine gun, experience showed that the pistol calibers and detachable magazines used meant [=SMG=]s could not attain the range or sustained fire capability of proper machine guns, and the invention of intermediate caliber automatic weapons (the assault rifle, as famously coined by Adolf Hitler himself) pushed them away from their primary weapon role. Today, [=SMG=]s are seeing a sort of resurgence in two fields: first, as a special-operations weapon, as sound suppressors can make pistol-caliber weapons surprisingly quiet. Today, they have been almost completely overtaken by assault rifles in military use.

A further evolution of the submachine gun is the '''Personal Defense Weapon''', or PDW. [=PDWs=] are intended for use by rear-echelon and support troops, such as combat engineers and truck drivers, and is intended to be shorter, lighter, and handier than an automatic rifle, yet still capable of penetrating the soft body armor that is becoming increasingly common on the modern battlefield. In practice, the concept has not been particularly successful, due to the popularity of compact assault rifles which use regular 5.56x45mm ammunition, don't need proprietary magazines or cartridges, don't need much retraining, and are a lot more affordable. Because of this, [=PDWs=] mainly see use not in their originally intended role as a defensive weapon for rear-line troops, but as the weapons of VIP bodyguards, special forces units, and police SWAT teams.

These appeared in World War I and were in widespread use until the 1970s. They were extremely heavy and unwieldy, using tanks of compressed gas to propel a stream of burning napalm at a target up to 40 or 50 meters away. The US Marine Corps made very heavy use of them in jungle fighting in the South Pacific during the Second World War, but flamethrowers have become much less common since then, for various reasons--like, their limited range, the extreme weight, and advances in technology providing more efficient methods of dealing with stubborn bunkers and machine-gun nests, like laser-guided artillery shells, infantry rocket launchers with thermobaric/fuel-air-explosive warheads, and so on. Flamethrowers are still manufactured in some countries but the US military has not issued them since the 1970s, and by the 21st Century their extreme weight, and also the high level of training necessary so that the user won't be more of a danger to himself and the friendly troops around him than to the enemy, have made them an uncommon sight in the present day.

Carbines may also be purpose-built weapons with shorter barrels. They were intended for cavalry, engineers, etc., who weren't expected to advance in lines at enemy position, but still needed something for self-defense, essentially an ancient PDW. Examples of these older carbines include: Today they are something of a historical anomaly, having been replaced by more advanced weapons. Examples include:

* The M16, the primary rifle of the United States military, and many of its allies. It suffered from a troubled development history, plagued by mismanagement and deliberate sabotage. Fortunately, the M16 survived those horrible first years and has eventually become a widely adopted and copied weapon itself. The now steadily more popular M4 variant is described under Carbines. The weapon's design also proved to be extremely modular; the M16's design is relatively easy to customize, allowing it to accept a large number of accessories.