Quote:
Originally Posted by Tegyrius
The Brits wanted to go with a 7mm or .280 round (139 grains at 2,550 fps) and developed the Enfield EM-2 around it. The U.S. had to be obstinate about it and refused to standardize on anything smaller than .30, thanks to Garand-induced caliber bigotry. Damn shame; the EM-2 was a couple of decades ahead of its time and I don't think wasn't anything fundamentally wrong with the .280's ballistics.
I'm wildly speculating here, but if that 7mm round had been adopted, we might never have seen 5.56 and 5.45 become military standards.
- C.
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The reason the 7mm round (and anything else NATO came up with) wasn't adopted was pure bullying by a now-superpower US. "We're not asking you what opinions you guys have -- we're telling you what your opinions are, and if you want to join in the Marshall Plan party, you'll agree!"
The EM-2 was so far ahead of its time that most people couldn't get ahead of its looks. Most of NATO liked the 7mm round -- the FAL and CETME-58 were originally chambered for it -- but they just thought the EM-2 looked too "sci-fi" to be taken seriously. Makes you wonder what they would think of the L85 and FAMAS.