Greatest Battle Rifle Ever

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Battle rifles are, and it can be a religious thing sometimes, generally described as using a "major" cartridge while assault rifles use an intermediate cartridge.

Let us not forget these words of truth by TexRifleman.
Gimme a 7.62 or .30-06 over 5.56 anyday!

Of these 'top 10 lists' of battle rifles that were compiled, the beloved G3 is not mentioned. The FAL is awesome, but has it's lesser points. (Gas system, etc.) And Israelis had problems with sandy combat conditions and their FALs in wars past. Not an issue with a G3. Absolutely rugged, brute, practically indestructible and reliable. (And accurate)

"Whichever rifle you choose, train with it.. Hard, and often"
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Give me a M-4 any day of the week and 2 on sunday. Best dang battle weapon ever made (in my opinion). Small, light, reliable, great firepower, can put anything on it, ammo for it is everywhere, a 13 year old girl can field strip it put if back together and preform a function check in 56 seconds, what more could you want?


*disclaimer* the M-1 Garand was the best gun of world war 2 and in my humble opinion the best 30-06 weapon ever made.
 
Of these 'top 10 lists' of battle rifles that were compiled, the beloved G3 is not mentioned. The FAL is awesome, but has it's lesser points. (Gas system, etc.) And Israelis had problems with sandy combat conditions and their FALs in wars past. Not an issue with a G3. Absolutely rugged, brute, practically indestructible and reliable. (And accurate)
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It wasn't on mine because it's influence was relatively low.
It produced no other major tangential designs (with the exception of the MP5).
I could fight the FAL for the last spot, I suppose.
But, definitely, if there was an 11th place, the G3 would have had it on my list.
Almost made it, but then I remembered the Martini-Henry.
 
Hi Nolo

It wasn't on mine (list) because it's influence was relatively low.
Click to expand...

"Not true..."​


From Modern Firearms website..
Since that time and until the 1995 the G3 in various modifications served as a general issue shoulder weapon not only for German Armed forces, but also for many other countries. Those include Greece, Iran, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey and many other countries. Total of more than 50 countries during the last 40 years issued the G3 to its forces. The G3 was or still is manufactured in countries like the Greece, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Portugal and others. The key reason of high popularity of the G3 is that it is much simpler and cheaper to manufacture, than its major contemporary rivals - Belgian FN FAL and US M14.

Come on up to DFW.. You can shoot mine, Nolo.
 
"Not true..."


From Modern Firearms website..
Since that time and until the 1995 the G3 in various modifications served as a general issue shoulder weapon not only for German Armed forces, but also for many other countries. Those include Greece, Iran, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey and many other countries. Total of more than 50 countries during the last 40 years issued the G3 to its forces. The G3 was or still is manufactured in countries like the Greece, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Portugal and others. The key reason of high popularity of the G3 is that it is much simpler and cheaper to manufacture, than its major contemporary rivals - Belgian FN FAL and US M14.

Come on up to DFW.. You can shoot mine, Nolo.
Click to expand...
Just ask Deer Hunter, I like the G3 more than the FAL.
However, it is my understanding that the FAL is, and has been, a more prominent firearm than the G3.
I could be wrong. It's certainly possible, if any two rifles are neck-and-neck, it'd be the G3 and FAL.
But I said relatively uninfluential.
Relative to all other rifles from number 7 on up on that list? Oh, yeah, it's impact has been kinda low.
 
HK doesn't still do buisness with Iran, do they?
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They had a production license back in the pre-Ayatollah days, and then the Islamic Revolution inherited the tooling and such and started making unlicensed copies.
 
AK and G3 are the best, given the standards to judge from. Both implement economics, cost-effectiveness, simplicity, and many other things into their designs. They also set the bar for their respective classes and platforms. The G3 is/was the epitome of the long-range battle rifle; the AK is what defined the term 'intermediate' in combat. Kinda hard to beat those without spending too much money.

But, going by what is today's best, in a world where the cost of an M14 isnt a big problem...things change.
 
The M1 Garand is not that far behind technologically than what we have offered to us today.

True, but the 8mm Lebel used the first smokeless round, does that make it revolutionary? The M1 is special to Americans, but it certainly isn't the best, most used, or most recognized rifle. Although the AK meets two of those requirements
Click to expand...

What makes a modern "battle rifle/assault rife" a modern battle/assault rifle? A non-manual action? A full-auto switch? .308 caliber or less? Detachable magazines? If that's the case then the M1 Garand is one switch, about 24 oz.'s and 12 rounds away from being almost equal to today's modern "battle/assault rifles".
Like I said the M1 Garand is not that far behind technologically than what we have offered to us today.

The M1 is special to Americans
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Whom else matters I think quietly to myself.

Everyone here has their reasons for picking their favorite battle rifle, there's no need to crap on those that didn't pick your rifle and nitpick their reasons to death.
 
For a full power cartridge rifle in WW II, the German FG-42. Selective fire, detachable box fed magazine.

For an intermediate cartridge WW II rifle, the German MP-44.

For post World War II, AK-47. Reliable and the Timex of guns.
 
I think that was the first time it ever happened though

HB
 
Although the FAL and G3 are fine weapons, the greatest battle rifle ever is the M1 Garand.

It doesn't even require much discussion...

Oh, wait, did I already say that...?

Deja vu all over again...

:)

Forrest
 
Horsesoldier says: M1A isn't a military rifle and never was.

Yeah, but it gets production numbers up a bit. Let's add the mini 14 too. Seems like I remember reading somewehre that singapore or macau, or someplace like that uses the mini 14 as their standard issue rifle. So now we can add mini14 production numbers to my number 7 as well.

Now does M14 make the cut?

No, I'm still not buying the vz 58, sorry.
 
:confused:

That's like saying we should add a ton of hunting rifles because they are based off Mauser actions? Your essentially bending the rules to fit your choices

HB
 
Really? Does singapore issue bolt action hunting rifles to their military?
 
Anybody interested in what the Military Channel has to say about the Top Ten Battle Rifles? They are as follows:

1. AK-47
2. M-16
3. SMLE
4. M1 Garand
5. FN FAL
6. Mauser K98k
7. AUG
8. 03 Springfield
9. STG-44
10. M-14

I find it interesting that the G3 isn't even mentioned.
 
How about length of service of a battle rifle and ammo, in two separate categories?

Would it be Mauser, Mosin Nagant and Lee Enfield? The Russian 7.62x54R might be the longest-serving combat round in history. Reportedly some Russkies with Mosins beat some Marine sharpshooters in a competition not long ago, but we can't include bolt-actions and semis in any one group.

Somebody mentioned aircraft. In WW2 the British used the .303 in their fighters and bombers' turrets etc.
But the US used .50 caliber in our Wildcats, P-47, 51 etc. Mostly machine guns instead of typical mg + cannon (Me-109, Fw-190, Japanese 'Zero' and 'George').
 
"I find it interesting that the G3 isn't even mentioned."

I find it interesting that the AUG was. I think that list needs to have the AUG replaced by mosin-nagant, and STG44 replaced with G3/CETME. Then I'd go along with it. That list is actually not too far from my list in post #81
 
Way back in this thread age was brought up! Yep this old F..T votes
Garand. By the way it happens to be the parent of the M-14 still in
demand and being used in sand country with high success. Remains
remains a reliable with an adequit round in most cases:evil:
 
Other than being available on the US market and being associated with the HK hype, I'm not sure what distinction the G3 really has.

It's not a particularly breathtaking design; a delayed-blowback, stamped-receiver rifle. The roller system is neat, but that's about the only interesting aspect to the mechanism. It's definitely better suited to smaller calibers than 7.62 NATO.

The G3 may have been adopted by a bunch of countries, but what serious combat record does it have? How many big conflicts have Germany and Portugal and Norway and Greece been in since the G3 was developed? It seems to show up here and there across Africa, but only as second fiddle to AKs and FALs.

The M14 can at least be made into a decent precision rifle without having to weld big reinforcing bars to its receiver. :)
 
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