Poll - Favorite Battle Rifle

[Sanjuro]

Weather permitting I'm taking the SMLE to Bisley next week, first time on the 600 yard range of Century. Hope I can live up to that standard (and that's without having to cope with semi-auto...)

[James Langham]

Originally Posted by Sanjuro

Weather permitting I'm taking the SMLE to Bisley next week, first time on the 600 yard range of Century. Hope I can live up to that standard (and that's without having to cope with semi-auto...)

Just stay out of Magpie Alley!

[kcdusk]

I'm not a firearms owner/user, although i have spent some nights out shooting rabbits and foxes. So while i come from very much a begginer backgroud, I have a thought on all the statements about accuracy that appear in any "best rifle/pistal etc" thread.

Lets say a person/PC who has an ingame/real life shooting skill of 85% accuracy takes any rifle onto a range, sites it in, and for the most part I think that person/pc would make between 83 and 87% of their shots. With the variation from 85% being the accuracy +/- of the rifle. I think the variation would be small.

But with all that said, i dont think much of the above counts "in battle" or "under fire", where the conditions are just so different. No sighting in, firing quickly (if at all), moving targets, cramped shooting postion etc ...

I think our 85% shooter above would see his hits drop dramatically.

All i'm saying is, from my non-shooting background, is that a rifles shooting accuracy on a range is not the most important factor "in battle". I think other qualities would be higher on my list (like how comfortable any rifle/pistal is in terms of weight, length, reliability etc).

[Ronin]

I have to go with the M14/M1A. As it is basically an external magazine fed, M1 Garand. Which (And I agree with) George S Patton described as "the greatest implement of battle ever devised." I'll be damned if he wasn't right.

[bobcat]

Originally Posted by kcdusk

I'm not a firearms owner/user, although i have spent some nights out shooting rabbits and foxes. So while i come from very much a begginer backgroud, I have a thought on all the statements about accuracy that appear in any "best rifle/pistal etc" thread.

Lets say a person/PC who has an ingame/real life shooting skill of 85% accuracy takes any rifle onto a range, sites it in, and for the most part I think that person/pc would make between 83 and 87% of their shots. With the variation from 85% being the accuracy +/- of the rifle. I think the variation would be small.

But with all that said, i dont think much of the above counts "in battle" or "under fire", where the conditions are just so different. No sighting in, firing quickly (if at all), moving targets, cramped shooting postion etc ...

I think our 85% shooter above would see his hits drop dramatically.

All i'm saying is, from my non-shooting background, is that a rifles shooting accuracy on a range is not the most important factor "in battle". I think other qualities would be higher on my list (like how comfortable any rifle/pistal is in terms of weight, length, reliability etc).

it depends a bit on the way you marksmans mind works. i know people that can barely qualify on the range, but put a bit of stress on them and they suddenly can't miss.(i still wanna find a way to get this combat ability to translate to more garrison concerns though)

[Rockwolf66]

A friend of mine just got a FN SCAR 17S. I know it's not in the TW2K Timeline but it feels nice in ones hands. Plus it is much more ergonomic and accessory friendly than the M14. Hopefully after the hollidays I can get off graveyard and try it out. Their SCAR 16S was a really nice shooter.

[95th Rifleman]

This one has to come down to nationality. If you are Americanit's the M14, if you are European it's the FAL (and if your British or commonwealth then it's the legendary SLR).

[Panther Al]

Not quite:

I'm a US Vet, and I picked the G3.

[Schone23666]

Hmm, once again old poll. What is it with me and old polls? That's polls, mind you, not strip club poles....er, nevermind, back on topic.

But it seems I picked the G-3. Oh well, hey, you can't go wrong with German engineering, right? Don't want to sound like an H&K fanboy, but they do make some pretty decent firearms. That plus, G-3's along with spare parts and the ammunition can be found in various parts of the world and aren't too hard to find. Perhaps not as common as the FN FAL, but they're around.

Then again, in all honesty, perhaps the best answer to "favorite battle rifle" would be, IMHO, whatever is actually AVAILABLE, is reasonably accurate, and above all else, DOES THE JOB.

[CDAT]

I went with the M-14 as it is the only one I have any experience with.

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Along this line, what do you think the possibility that that drop-in auto sear kits (such as those that used to be for sale for the AR-15 back in the mid-1960s) would make a comeback? Would governments start making them again to give out to their militias?

I would say some place between none and zero, I know it is the cool thing with the games (both rpg/table top and video type) to have full auto, but in real life it would be almost useless on most of these. Short of using it as a replacement for the LMG/SAW, most people would not be able to hit anything with it on full auto.

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

It have the accuracy of a Brown Bess, it can get hot enough to burn your hand under sustained fire, say what you will, drop it in sand or mud, take it from the tropics to the artic and back, lose parts and have some 3rd World blacksmith beat out a replacement part, but the AK has one thing going for it...its works under any and all conditions. Something that can't be said for a lot of high tech wonders that the West/NATO issues to its troops.

I hear things like this all the time from fans of the AK, but my first hand experience with them in Iraq, does not back up most of this. Yes it will get hot enough to burn you, it can do it within one magazine on semi-auto if fired quickly enough (not a selling point to me), most of the ones that I got to deal with the accuracy went from OK (for the best of them) to shooting patterns out of a bench rest. We also had several that had to be chopped up as they would nor work due to lack of maintenance, we had more of the AK's go down due to lack of maintenance than AR's. So my experience with them is they are not something I would trust my life to, unlike the AR.

[.45cultist]

Originally Posted by CDAT

I went with the M-14 as it is the only one I have any experience with.


I would say some place between none and zero, I know it is the cool thing with the games (both rpg/table top and video type) to have full auto, but in real life it would be almost useless on most of these. Short of using it as a replacement for the LMG/SAW, most people would not be able to hit anything with it on full auto.


I hear things like this all the time from fans of the AK, but my first hand experience with them in Iraq, does not back up most of this. Yes it will get hot enough to burn you, it can do it within one magazine on semi-auto if fired quickly enough (not a selling point to me), most of the ones that I got to deal with the accuracy went from OK (for the best of them) to shooting patterns out of a bench rest. We also had several that had to be chopped up as they would nor work due to lack of maintenance, we had more of the AK's go down due to lack of maintenance than AR's. So my experience with them is they are not something I would trust my life to, unlike the AR.

After action reports indicated poor repair of Ak's as a major factor in the poor performance of various insurgence actions. Yes its rugged but it needs PM too. Od Soviet policy was to loan out older weapons when new stuff was issued, so one wants to take care of it. An M14 with a synthetic stock and a scope is a handy thing to have. I went with an AR10 variant since 60% of the parts are AR15/M16.

[LT. Ox]

Hmmm went through Basic with the 14 went through AIT as well.
Then go to Nam and get a 16......... er wtf?
buy browning auto five and get permission to carry. Happy again.
My SWAT team started out with a L1A1 as heavy support weapon carried by the 6'5" 245 lbs middle linebacker of our team.
Me ... shortened mini 14 and restocked as I was the happy Scout.
I do love that garand action ( have one) and have the 30 carbine and m1a1 scoped as well.
It is a very good and dependable design as seen by the use as a sniper weapon now.
I will say I think you members of HER Britanic forces are just biased
PS I can not spell and am taking pain meds so there.

[.45cultist]

Originally Posted by LT. Ox

Hmmm went through Basic with the 14 went through AIT as well.
Then go to Nam and get a 16......... er wtf?
buy browning auto five and get permission to carry. Happy again.
My SWAT team started out with a L1A1 as heavy support weapon carried by the 6'5" 245 lbs middle linebacker of our team.
Me ... shortened mini 14 and restocked as I was the happy Scout.
I do love that garand action ( have one) and have the 30 carbine and m1a1 scoped as well.
It is a very good and dependable design as seen by the use as a sniper weapon now.
I will say I think you members of HER Britanic forces are just biased
PS I can not spell and am taking pain meds so there.

I once was looking online and a British possession had a defense force with Mini14's. Don't know which island.

[LT. Ox]

When we put the team together the Boss ( Sheriff) did not have military background and did not like military "types". but he sure wanted a trained group to respond to and reduce any problems.
Ergo, no money support, as in you guys get it together , equip and I will 'let" you have paid time to train...maybe.
the others were into and had the ar 15 I I did and do not like that action or configuration of that weapon, sooooo
I bought the mini 14. I did not trust the head space from the factory and had it checked it was not within what I considered specs and I wanted a bit shorter weapon so I had an inch taken off the chamber and an inch taken off the muzzle re-chambered and re-crowned,
restocked with a top of the line folder and man what a weapon, oh yeah it had the four power Buris(sic) scope.
Our location put us between Denver and Salt lake airports and at the time skyjacking was a threat, our airport could land the big stuff sooo We received our training and some grant money from the Feds and were the fast response to our airport for any such emergence until the FBI could get on scene.
Great training and super experience.
Oh yeah and a whole bunch of pretty good war stores.

[.45cultist]

I do like the AR platform, but Ruger has supposedly fixed the barrel harmonics of the Mini 14 and tightened the average groups. New rifles don't need the little gizmo from Firearms News(old Shotgun
News). I think new rifles have 1-9 twist barrels as well. but for Real world price, I can build a nice AR-15 and have a lot of accessories, or buy a used AR-10. A new Ranch Rifle could be a nice truck rifle otherwise.

[Raellus]

Based on the new responses on the Favorite APC/IFV thread, I thought a bit of thread necromancy might be in order.

[mpipes]

My HK-91 remains probably the most accurate rifle I own. I can shoot 1" groups easily at 100yds, and it has never malfunctioned. It would outshoot the Remington Mdl 742 deer rifle I use to own is what I usually try to hunt deer with if shooting out as far as 300 yds.

I recently bought a new ParaFAL and can hardly wait to see if it can better the HK.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by mpipes

My HK-91 remains probably the most accurate rifle I own. I can shoot 1" groups easily at 100yds, and it has never malfunctioned. It would outshoot the Remington Mdl 742 deer rifle I use to own is what I usually try to hunt deer with if shooting out as far as 300 yds.

I recently bought a new ParaFAL and can hardly wait to see if it can better the HK.

Stop it! You're making me extremely envious (I would love to own either or preferably, both, of those rifles. Alas, both those rifles are restricted in my country).

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

Stop it! You're making me extremely envious (I would love to own either or preferably, both, of those rifles. Alas, both those rifles are restricted in my country).

Beyond restricted. Those few people allowed to have anything like that are rarer than unicorns.