It's All About Follow-Up
Mr. Thomas,
First, let me thank you for your service. I understand you reluctance to use semi-automatic rifles and disdain for supressive fire, based on your wartime experiences. I'm not going to try to talk you out of your stated position, but to tell you a bit about my war and hopefully provide you with a bit of take-away from it.
Here in Baghdad, an IED is sometimes used as a trigger for a more coordinated attack, similar to initiating an ambush with the most casualty producing weapon. In an enclosed area with fire coming from multiple points, with many other potential points of fire (some with the advantage of height), the vicinity around the patrol must be cleared. Windows, doorways, alley entrances, roof lines, et al that have been ID'd as having active shooters are fired upon or supressed in order to allow an assaulting element to get into a positively ID'd building. It is not the "mad minute" that you know. Supressive fire is less precise fire, I grant you. But in an urban environment, this fire is not indiscriminant. The fire focuses on small areas within a Soldier's individual sector of fire (as dictated by METT-T). Automatic and semi-automatic weapons allow an adequate volume of fire to cover the movement of an assault element to an objective building. Once that assault element is in place and ready for it's final move into the building, the fire stops and shooters only engage targets of opportunity that should appear.
Which leads me to my next point. Exposure times are fleeting, sometimes measured in the barest of seconds. The snap shot that you just took will require an immediate better-aimed shot just afterward. A bolt-action rifle precludes this shot. With a '50's vintage semi rifle (FAL/M14) the shot comes too late because of the slower action. The current family of M16/M4 rifles because of their in-line design and lack of a gas piston allows for a faster follow-up shot.
Mr. Thomas, in one of your earlier posts in this thread you reference an incident in Pittsburgh. I am guessing that you live near there if not in an urban area, a suburban one. An area with many structures both personal and commerical, no doubt. Most SHTF scenarios are based on incidents happening in an urban/suburban setting. A semi-automatic rifle firing a middle-weight cartridge of sufficient length should fit the requirements of home defense/SHTF/target-proficiency shooting.
AATW,
Mike
