Quote:
Originally Posted by merrylander
Never understood why the military dropped the .303 in favour of the current pea shooters. Oh I know, you wound the enemy and so it takes two of his buddies to carry him off the field. Yeah, if we were fighting a reasonably civilized enemy and not the effing savages in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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The .303 was a Brit round, used in the Lee Enfield. The .30.06 was adopted before the 1st World War, and replaced with the 7.62 NATO after WW2.
The M16 and the 5.56 round was developed because the M14 was almost uncontrollable in full auto, and a soldier could carry app twice the ammo with the M16/5.56 as opposed to the M14/7.62 combo.
The M16 also eliminated the operating rod and designed so that the stock is in a straight line with the barrel, this is done to reduce recoil and muzzle flip.
I understand that the military is reissuing some M14's, and the M1911A1 .45 is more popular than the Beretta 9MM. I really don't care for the Beretta 92, would rather have a Hi Power. That said, I'd REALLY rather have a 1911 in .45ACP.
Now that's the kind of "Big Government" that I like. But I'm a wheelgun fan, and my GP100 and Python Elite are better suited to my purposes. Only real complaint about the .357 is the muzzle blast, I'm deaf enough already.
Chas