Poll: Service Rifles

[Audun54]

I have a soft spot for the M1 Garand

I have 2 at home.

So pretty ... gotta love the classics, also, I am now very jealous that you have two.
In regards to the poll, since the Belgian FN FAL is not there, I will go with the G36.
FN FAL: The West's AK-47
http://www.armyrecognition.com/europe/Belgique/Armes/FAL/FAL_FN_Belgium_06.jpg

 

[Zacharine]

Other: Rk-95 Tp.
Country of Origin: Finland
Based upon the Rk-62, whyich in turn is based on the AK-47.

ammo: 7.62x39mm
muzzle velocity: 715 m/s (2,346 ft/s)
weight (without magazine):3.7 kg
magazine size: 30 rounds. Fully interchangeable with most AK-47 variants.
lenght (stock extended): 935mm
lenght (stock folded): 675mm
effective killing range: up to 400m with iron sights.

Other: Robust and reliable. Extremely easy to clean and maintain (I've personally done field-cleaning in 2 min. Includes disassembly and assembly.)

pic (here with optics attached):

A word about stopping power and penetration with plain standard infantry round:

Fresh tree, 20cm. Actual lenght required to stop the bullet/make it non-lethal: >50cm
Construction brick, 13cm. Commonly used as wall material.
Building foundation brick, 29cm. Commonly used to lay building foundations or wall cellars.
Steel, 8mm.
And finally, the only one it failed to penetrate. The mighty sandbag.

In all cases but that last, the bullet retains lethality against unarmored target.

 

[TheTim]

Israel's Tavor is an amazing gun.

 

[supagama]

TAR has some of the best penetration and stopping power. plus its bullpup design prevents the clip from being ripped off by the enemy

 

[Ben Finestone]

SIG SG-550
Switzerland
Safe/Semi/3 Round Burst/Automatic (S/1/3/20)
GP-90(5.6 mm)/5.56 NATO
Rear Sight:Rotating Drum Diopter
Front Sight:Hooded Post with flip up night sight
Standard issue of the Swiss Army

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIG_SG_550

 

[Jonluw]

I know little to nothing about real guns, so I'll refrain from voting, but the ones I like the best are the TAR-21, the G36 and the Steyr AUG. I like bullpup-designs.

Edit: Looks like people have a tendency to choose the rifles from their own country. Maybe because of experience with them in the armed forces.

 

[Pyre00]

Apparently Russian service rifles aren't important enough to be included.

 

[P.Tsunami]

I'm not sure what criteria to use. The only service rifle I've used personally is a local variant of the H&K G3; the Norwegian service rifle named AG3. It performs reliably, and calls the AK47 to mind in terms of stability in poor conditions. I like it.

Going by my imagination and impressions of the design, I'm going to hand it to the Steyr AUG. It just looks really space age, without looking like a lump of plastic.

 

[SteinFaust]

the HK-416, hands down, for me.

has anyone seen the demo firing for it?? fires full of water, full of dirt, full of mud-- no problems! accurate, dependable, AND has an absurdly low chance of overheating.
you can put 4 mags through it on full auto and then take out the the bolt with your bare hands!

 

[Daverson]

AN-94 'Abakan' (Russian, though in limited numbers)
It's essentially an AK, but has some fancy bits on it to eliminate the recoil/accuracy issues that are often associated with these rifles! (though, to be fair, the accuracy issues are often due to low quality ammunition than the rifle itself, still...)

Also, not to be pedantic, but the 416 isn't a service rifle. It has been adopted by the USMC, but as an LMG, rather than a rifle. The SCAR was chosen over it as the replacement for the M4 by the US army, however, the replacement project has been scrapped, presumably to fund some new crap like the XM25... you'd think after the example set by Ze Gehrmahns in WW2 we'd have learnt that wars are won by reliable weapons in the hands of trained solders, rather than $2bn "wonderweapons"... or as for the replacement of ACUPAT with multicam, because of some whiny walts...

To quote a famous, yet anonymous, squaddie 'Anyone who thinks that "the [SA80] has no problems" is invited to fire 10 rounds rapid from the left shoulder and attempt to survive this challenge without breaking their face, and also to explain to [censored] why he is being paid by squaddies to produce solid metal A2 cocking handles for them after the plastic breaks off the "perfect" originals.'

 

[Continuity]

I also heard that the first L85's were shit, but that the variants since the first lot are alot better.

Very accurate, not so good in the field.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Well, the FAMAS obviously.

Introduced in the early 1970s, served that entire time with only three minor revisions (new trigger guard, picatinny rails, 25 to 30 round STANAG magazines). Served in several theatres, reliable, accurate. Very adaptable, one frame can be rebuilt as a standard rifle, squad marskman rifle, heavy barrelled support weapon, carbine and long barrel marksman's rifle.

Even the AK series has gone through many changes (mostly of calibre) to stay effective, the FAMAS is basically the same gun that came out in 1972.

Of all the modern assualt rifles, it has been the most trouble free and is unlikely to be replaced in the near future for precisely that reason.