M16/AR-15 Clones

[StainlessSteelCynic]

One significant part of the reason for why many nations field the M16/M4 is that the US government has given them a price per unit that other suppliers can't match (either through concessions, cost savings through bulk manufacture, military aid packages and so on and so on). For example, nations such as Israel have often found it cheaper to buy M16s from the US than mass produce their own designs.

While waiting4something was having a bit of fun with the topic, a debate about the best service rifle is always going to be coloured by personal experience, national pride and a whole host of other biases and opinions. However, the debate about 5.56 vs 7.62 is one that I personally feel is best solved by asking what kind of war are you fighting.
In most conventional wars, smallarms account for a very small percentage of deaths & injuries (explosives & fragmentation account for the largest amount) so the individual rifle doesn't actually play a significant part in reducing the enemy manpower.

If you were involved in unconventional battles where you can't call in artillery, airstrikes etc. then personally I want something that's going to kill the enemy more often than not, something that 5.56 isn't so good at. The 5.56 round was introduced into service based on the rationale that if you injure one enemy soldier, it will take at least another two soldiers to remove the injured man from the battlefield therefore you have reduced enemy numbers by three for that fight.
It works fine with a conventional army that cares about its wounded but falls to pieces against an enemy that doesn't care about its wounded.
And the whole argument about 5.56mm weapons lighten the soldier's load - bollocks to that. Everytime they lighten the load of one thing, they find more crap for you to carry.