Poll: Best 7.62x51 Battle Rifle - You Can Only Have One - Poll

[Argonaut]

The SAS likes the MP5K.

tac

they liked Stens too...............

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Ura-Ki, you are right about the M-14! It is a betsh on full auto.
Only guy I ever saw that could control one was a lieutenant that was a former linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys, big dude! I on the other hand immediately turned into AAA!!! Spraying the sky indiscriminately! May sound funny, but we never saw a Mig after I fired!
Real life, the infantry unit that I was attached to made the switch from M-14 to M-16 and the 7.62 ammo was still in place. With literally a million rounds to practice with I developed the ability to fire from the hip very exactly! I once put nine holes through a little Asiatic deer, Cocker Spanial size, from the hip! Last time he'll jump up and challenge U.S. Troops face to face!

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

My narrow minded vote was the AR10; mostly because I've been with that basic design since 79....hey, that kinda rhymes .

 

[cookie]

I have shot them all and Battle rifle seriously? The RFB is whatever. I have shot them all except the RFB the late model M1A Springfields are turds and HKs seem to recoil similar to bolt action and the Garand, Old M1a and FN fal types are pretty nice. There is nothing like the 1903 series.

 

[DirectDrive]

Vintage :
Stoner 63 (not a 7.62)
From their reports, our Special Forces in the Nam liked 'em a lot.


Current :
LMT L129A1

 

[tac]

they liked Stens too...............

Chain-jerking again, Mr Argonaut? Ain't gonna work with this boy - I'm too old.

I'm guessing here, but the US Army has given up using the grease-gun, right? And the M1928?

Since the STEN, the British and Commonwealth military have used the Sterling. I did for a long time. It was a good smg with its double-stack roller magazine and controllable ROF. Even single shots could be accurate, and killing a row of 20 pingpong balls at 50m was a piece of pi- cake.

And now, because the L85-thing is short and handy, the main British military don't use a SMG of any kind.

Except for the two SF organisations that use whatever they like, and pick the best of the bunch.

I used to travel around with a MP5K, eight spare mags in doublers [and one on the gun], and a HP35 with four 20-round mags and a back-up. I was quite happy that I was going to cause some fairly serious mayhem if necessary.

tac

 

[tac]

Current :
LMT L129A1
View attachment 398359

How strange that those poor Brits use exactly the same rifle...



I guess they must have borrowed it.

tac

 

[Argonaut]

I trained with the British Commandos several times in the late 70's. My forward deployment base for Reforger was at Baden. They were carrying Stens then. There wasn't a grease gun to be found in the US military outside of a museum (or a training detachment) in the US military since about our Korean War..........The Brits were good guys. One time we set up as defenders at an old missile site. They sent several nationalities of troops against us, one of the operations we used MARS (electronic scoring) equipment. We had a minor international incident when a silly French Officer didn't want to play the game correctly and pulled a knife on one of my SP dog handlers......the dog didn't know it was a "game" either.....anyway, We repelled most everyone pretty easily but the Germans, they went to the little village near by and stole a fire truck. Drove it through the front gate at 35 MPH and killed us all.........the Brits at that time were sort of like the Dutch. Not real serious about training. They were focused on Northern Ireland. Your guys (in that unit) carried mostly 9mm (Sterling?) sub guns. They weren't very effective against our M16 type weapons. It was like a hose without enough pressure. They had great squad automatic weapons. Those were great years. I also used to hang out with your Canabarra crews during joint bombing competitions here in the west, and trained with Prince Charles and the Canadians at Cold Lake Canada. It is fun pulling your chain.

 

[DirectDrive]

How strange that those poor Brits use exactly the same rifle...

View attachment 398438

I guess they must have borrowed it.

tac

Brits in both pics.
Not borrowed, issued.

 

[tac]

You wrote - 'It is fun pulling your chain'.

Be advised. Don't do it. It will just get you 'ignored'. You might just miss the conversations that we DO have without your sneaky comments spoiling them.

BTW, the STEN was withdrawn from service in October 1962. When I joined the Army in 1967 all we had as an SMG was the Sterling.

tac

 

[tac]

Brits in both pics. Not borrowed, issued.

Yup. I knew that. My comment was in the nature of a jest as the US Army refers to the British Army as 'The Borrowers'...

For use by the section designated marksman - not sniper - in support of the sub-unit.

tac

 

[DirectDrive]

US Customs seized his sense of humor.

 

[Argonaut]

You wrote - 'It is fun pulling your chain'.

Be advised. Don't do it. It will just get you 'ignored'. You might just miss the conversations that we DO have without your sneaky comments spoiling them.

BTW, the STEN was withdrawn from service in October 1962. When I joined the Army in 1967 all we had as an SMG was the Sterling.

tac

I am sure that you can explain the subtitle difference........but they look pretty much the same to us. Where is your Anglophile sence of humor? I am 78% British by genetics, they say the average Brit is closer to 60%. My people date to the Norman invasion on one side (Plantagenets) and the Picts on the other. What good is it if we can't play a little. By the way.....Charles has a great sence of humor and really liked hanging out with both his and our GI's. He was a good pilot too.

 

[tac]

An occasional gentle leg-pull or banter is one thing, but incessant p*ss-taking is quite another.

I'm sure you know the difference between both that and the STEN and Sterling.

tac

 

[Argonaut]

I suppose that is what my New Army (Cromwell) Captain grandfather told the Irish when he invaded that island............

 

[RicInOR]

7.62 x 51 is not the same as .308 is it? Interchangeable ?

Wikipedia:
7.62×51mm NATO. ... Although not identical, the 7.62×51mm NATO and the commercial .308 Winchester cartridges are similar enough that they can be loaded into rifles chambered for the other round, but the Winchester .308 cartridges are typically loaded to higher pressures than 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges.


Wiki is only a starting point, I wouldn't trust it as the definitive source.




7.62 NATO vs .308 Winchester Ammo, What's The Difference?

• They are different.
• They aren't different.
• They might be different.

AS to the poll. There are 2 different FALs - which should be included.
In the Falkland Island War in the 80s. We had one of those super rare cases where both sides had the "same" gun. FAL vs FAL. Only the British had Semi-Autos. The Argentinians had Select Fire.

 

[tac]

Because ours were all-British-made, using imperial measurements, we don't call them the FAL. To us they are the SLR - the Self-Loading Rifle, L1A1.

Furrin' versions you can call whatever you like, but if you have an L1A1, then you have an SLR.

tac

 

[tac]

Commercial .308Win, with its larger capacity case, produces higher pressure than the balloon-based 7.62x51 case. More powder = more pressure.

Here in UK, the 7.62x51 proof pressure is 19 tons per square inch, and the .308Win proof pressure is 21 tons per square inch.

Physics being the same all over the place, the same figures would apply to anything your side of the Water, too.

tac

 

[Boboclown]

The problem you'd have with .308 in the 7.62x51 chamber is less about pressure, more about the thin brass. If using 7.62x51 brass you could safely reload it, but if you use .308 in the same chamber all bets are off.

 

[Ura-Ki]

As to the "different FALs" kinda sorta. The Britt L1A is a an inch pattern rifle, where as the Argys are true FN metric. The differences are the Britt rifles take a slightly different magazine and can only run that mag, where as the Metrics can run both mag patterns! The only other difference is barrel mounting with a shim between the reciever and barrel, and there are other small details but nothing that matters much!