What do you think was the #1 rifle. Give reasons (most influential, Best, Coolest, Best shooting, Most used etc.)





I think that the overall best rifle was the AK-47. It's reliability was incredible (some have been rusted completly shut, kicked open and fired without jams), and it was easy to produce. Also more were made then almost any other rifle and were so cheap the USSR gave them out for free. Also the 7.62 X 39 mm ammo was exremely abundant and a very good shell for most miliatary uses.

SMLE

Just because

The M-1 Garrand won WWII

The "Mauser" is the coolest.. But I din't know why ;)

But the BEST is the Stg-77 I had in the Army.

It'S very lightwighted, and very easy to use, very fast to dis- and asamble...

It can get wet but shoot anyway...


And we shot on 20cm targets 300 meters away and still hit!

I didn't liked the Army, but this rifle was defenitely good.

I don't know guns, but I think the AK-47, for it is used all over the world...

AK-47 Kalashnikov. :ar15:

The Mauser is my favorite and I own one. But the M-16 and AK-47 are pretty good and shoot alright. Though the M-16 is better.

I believe the M16/M4 Family is the most accurate service rifle in general use today. While it may not be the most reliable/durable weapon, it is certainly amongst the best. After all, what soldier/marine would allow his weapon to go without cleaning and maintenance for a long period of time? Say it with me: This is my rifle. There are many like it...

Overall, the M16/M4 family. The AK is in widespread use for different reasons - mostly due to lower production cost and ability to work with less (or no) maintenance.

If you've gotten some trigger time on a MP5, I'd have to say that ranks up with one of the best firing weapons around. I can certainly see why it is the choice of police departments and anti-terror units in the US. IIRC, isn't the design based partly upon the old German MP44? Definitely the choice for use in close quarters.

When I was in the Army, I had the opportunity to train on the SAW - an absolutely fantastic weapon. If I had to hold a strongpoint or assault a fortified position, I'd opt for the SAW. Awesome rate of fire, and surprisingly accurate.

General use - M4 - compact enough for CQ, long enough to have an effective range. M16 is much the same, but a bit bulkier in confined spaces (say, a building for example).

And the question wasn't asked, but as a sidearm - Glock .40 cal, Sig Sauer P229, or HK USP.

i vote for the AK-47. why?

incredibly ceap to manufacture
easy to understand shooting principles
easy to maintain and clean
drop it, kick it, throw it in the mud, it works!!

that is why is used worldwide today, as teh most prolific rifle ever, is it the best best today? no, but the other attributes do help a lot....i heard the company behind the AKs have jsut developed a new rifle...ill see if i can get a pic, is pretty darn cool.

If you like big guns then maybe the american M-2 is your choice. Invented by John Browning this .50 (and it's little brother the .30) sure packs a wallop at ranges of up to 5 miles, and is the only rifle from WW2 still used in modern miliataries today.

PI8CH, did you use Iron sites or do all the rifles have scopes?

EL Tee, what was your MOS to fire all these guns. The funnest has got to be a weapons sergent if you've got a happy trigger finger.

AK-47...for all the reasons why listed above.

SA80... prehaps not :D

Ak-47, can't go wrong with it.

Originally posted by SGI Butch
If you like big guns then maybe the american M-2 is your choice. Invented by John Browning this .50 (and it's little brother the .30) sure packs a wallop at ranges of up to 5 miles, and is the only rifle from WW2 still used in modern miliataries today.

PI8CH, did you use Iron sites or do all the rifles have scopes?

EL Tee, what was your MOS to fire all these guns. The funnest has got to be a weapons sergent if you've got a happy trigger finger.

SGI Butch-

My MOS was Military Intelligence. I did wish sometimes to be assigned to the weapon's shop, though. :D

My unit rotated to Irwin for training when I completed MI school, and was fairly new (the butter on my bars was still wet :lol:), thats where I fell in love with the SAW. The M2 is outstanding, but I can't exactly carry it with me. If I need to shoot something from the cupola of a Hummer, well, that's a different story.

I got the opportunity to fire several MP5s as some of my best friends are police officers. Cops and soldiers get along pretty well, I've noticed - and through this connection, I got some time on the MP5. I got the chance to shoot the pistols the same way.

@SGI Butch: They all got scopes.

If you drop them (a Stg 77), they wont shoot straight anymore. Not that I hit anything anyway. I'm not sure, if other rifle's behave the same way, but during the first shooting training I hit occasionally. Then (sleeping in the upper bunk) it dropped once or twice so I had to aim far left, to hit anything. :)

Will you guys please allow me half of an OT-question?

There is a movie, starring James Stewart. Stewart is imprisoned, but is allowed to build a rifle in jail. The rifle is revolutionary. He starts a well-known company as soon as he gets out of jail.

I just can't remember, what brand it was? The movie claims to be based on real events. Can you confirm this?

Originally posted by SGI Butch
If you like big guns then maybe the american M-2 is your choice. Invented by John Browning this .50 (and it's little brother the .30) sure packs a wallop at ranges of up to 5 miles, and is the only rifle from WW2 still used in modern miliataries today.
The topic is rifles, not machine guns.

BTW, I used to teach the U.S. Machine Gun, .50 Caliber, M2 (Heavy Barrel, Oil Buffer). I know the difference between machine guns and rifles. Do you need an explanation?

For that matter, the poll mentions a couple of submachine guns and one pistol. Don't you folk know what a rifle is?

Since this is also about rifles, what do you think the best cartrige is. I'd have to go with the 5.56 for most miliatary uses. It's light, so you can carry more, when it hits flesh it tears it to pieces with great expansion and fragmentation (depending on round used), and it has an adequate range. Any target further then it's effective range, you won't be able to hit with the usual iron sites any ways.

definitely the AK-series, it's friggin indestructible, has zero maintinance requirements (besides a hard kick every now and then) and it has almsot total saturation among armed forces (meaning you can find the cartridge almost everywhere). Not to mention it is fairly accurate, packs a punch, and is extremely cheap to make.

I like the AK-47 and I voted for it, but if it is the best rifle, then why don't most modern militaries use it. I can see that it would be a PR disaster if in the cold war we used soviet rifles, but I think now that the M-16A2 is better then the AKs. Britain and France don't use it either in fact, I don't know any western europe countries that do.

The M4 is superior to the AK-47 IMO.

The AK-47 is prone to jamming, not that other rifles aren't. An M4 is also lighter, but has better range.

The AK47 is easy to clean and cheap to manufacture. But that doesn't mean it's a good gun.

Hmm… No H&K G3 7.62mm Assault Rifle, that’s my favourite. But of the few I selected AK-47… I once fired a Polish AK-something rifle… that was a blast.

here it is..can anyone tell me the name of the rifle?

Is that the fabled AK-100? It is an AK-model isn’t it?

Cimbri

it is an AK model, i dunno if it is the AK-100

its not ak-100, is the saiga-12

Originally posted by SGI Butch
I like the AK-47 and I voted for it, but if it is the best rifle, then why don't most modern militaries use it. I can see that it would be a PR disaster if in the cold war we used soviet rifles, but I think now that the M-16A2 is better then the AKs. Britain and France don't use it either in fact, I don't know any western europe countries that do.

Because it is cheaper and easier to mass produce. Clearly, modern assault rifles are better, but by it's power, accuracy, durability, and availability for it's price it is also my vote.

More modern AK rifles don't live up to the same standards as the 47 though, imo...

AK-47 was the best. Easy to produce, cheap, effective, and (very important) reliable.

About the Stg 77

PI8CH, did you use Iron sites or do all the rifles have scopes?
The Scope is a part of every type of this Rifle. Even the short-barrel versions the police uses against Terrorists have the scope. It is an unremovable part of the rifle.
Ther are circles in it so that it can also used to approx how far things are away. (e.g. a human who appars 2 circles tall in the scope is aprox xx meters away)
It makes things not larger than 1.5 times, so you can't realy use it as telescope. It's more for more-easy targeting, becuase if its adjusted well you can hit everyting...

If you disamble the rifle you see that the scope is atop of one of the main-interior parts (no idea how it's called in English)


@SGI Butch: They all got scopes.

If you drop them (a Stg 77), they wont shoot straight anymore. Not that I hit anything anyway. I'm not sure, if other rifle's behave the same way, but during the first shooting training I hit occasionally. Then (sleeping in the upper bunk) it dropped once or twice so I had to aim far left, to hit anything.
If the scope isn't adjusted anymore then there may be problems... but I think your problem was that yur rifle was already old and worn out ;) Then the adjustment isn' that exact anymore...

And did you have border duty? If you push around the rifle enough it my de-adjust as well, but I never exerpienced that. Even after "gefechtsmäßigem Laden" ("battle reloading") - that menas i pushed the rifle on to ground that hard that the rifle got loaded (They don't like it to see :lol: ) - my scope was still adjusted.


PS: test_specimen: Wo warstn Du stationiert?


PPS: In many Hollywodd movies the "bad guy" has a Stg 77. (e.g. Die Hard II).. It also appears in "Jackie Brown" when Samuel Jackson whatches the weapon-movies with the chicas at the beginning...

Ich war in Baden/Martinek-Kaserne ("Pension Martinek").

I didn't have to go on border duty, because I was sent to an ABC course in Linz/Hörsching. That really showed, how stupid you can be, and still be accepted in the military. Or did you know that rust produces radioactivity (claim by one of our "teachers").

No wonder that Austrians are not proud of their army and spend as little as possible: the people who get the money, are totally incapable of doing anything more difficult than getting drunk.

(but when they are drunk they produce the most beautiful car accidents ;))

How about the XM-29 I think it's called. The new gun made by Alliant Tech (in my home town). It takes a 5.56 assault rifle and mounts under it a 20mm cannon. The cannon shells can be set to explode at pre-determined distances or on contact so you can have them explode around buildings and over fox-holes. I think it weighs around 14 pounds when finished and will be in full production in around 2009.

I believe you're referring to the OICW (Objective Infantry Combat Weapon), part of the nextgen Army soldier's arsenal.

My concern is having to carry the 20mm shells around, adding weight to the infantryman's kit.

Otherwise, that much firepower with each soldier makes for a very devastating punch. I see infantry squads able to hold their own against a lightly fortified enemy or even light-armored vehicles without support.

The 20mm shells I would guess are no more heavy then the M203 grenades. And a infantry squad can already hold it's own against most armor with the AT-4 though it is a lot to carry.

Originally posted by SGI Butch
The 20mm shells I would guess are no more heavy then the M203 grenades. And a infantry squad can already hold it's own against most armor with the AT-4 though it is a lot to carry.

I would guess the same thing, but I didn't have to carry the grenadier's vest. The AT section of a infantry platoon is very effective against armor, but as you mentioned, the bulk of the weapon is considerable.

Armed with OICWs, scouts/forward obs/specops would have added lethality, which I like.

It will be interesting to see what the weapon is like when it is deployed.

In context I would say that the Henry Martini was the best rifle of its period. It was the weapon that helped the British conquer a large portion of the globe. It also had a very good range and rate of fire too.

Originally posted by test_specimen
Ich war in Baden/Martinek-Kaserne ("Pension Martinek").

I didn't have to go on border duty, because I was sent to an ABC course in Linz/Hörsching. That really showed, how stupid you can be, and still be accepted in the military. Or did you know that rust produces radioactivity (claim by one of our "teachers").

No wonder that Austrians are not proud of their army and spend as little as possible: the people who get the money, are totally incapable of doing anything more difficult than getting drunk.

(but when they are drunk they produce the most beautiful car accidents ;))
:goodjob: :goodjob:

I agree.. most of the Kader personal at our Army is dumb to the bone..

A Wachtmeister told me "The Infravision device gets cooled down to minus 400 degree celsius" :lol:

And after I told him that the invravision devices works with the temperature of the target he answered: "No, it works with infra red"


That comes from not having a pure Professional Army but a bunch of losers that command the drafted teenangers...


That's why I like this thread.. The Stg 77 is the only realy good part of our Heer....

My vote goes to the AK-47 because of reasons stated before. But the M-16 is one of the best but not cheap/easy to produce.

Not too sure about the Steyr myself. I have fired it many times and it is the rifle that is most prone to jamming. The plastic mag especially is very easy to damage. Saying that though it is unreal accurate at long range

Rumours that the AK-47 is accurate are rather misguided...

Originally posted by Cunobelin
Not too sure about the Steyr myself. I have fired it many times and it is the rifle that is most prone to jamming. The plastic mag especially is very easy to damage. Saying that though it is unreal accurate at long range

Uh.. with real ammunition I had absolutely no jamming problems...

Where i had much jamming was with the "fake ammunition" we used on meneuvers. The plastic cartridges of the fake ammuniotn was most likely to jam...


And I didn't experienced that it was easy to damage.... The rilfes are used for many years in the Austrian army.. And if you get a rifle it's most propably a well used rifle.. And it's still working fine....

Prob right about it being an old rifle. Irish Army is the best funded in the world. They are pretty expensive compared to other rifles arent they?

It's a kind of strange list - but cool weapons alltogether. I've had a chance to fire most of the weapons on the list, not the newer stuff except m-16 (and it was 22. caliber replica).

Before WWI - mauser, don't like the grip though
in WWI - Garand - I've heard it was reliable, good firepower for wwI
in WWII - BAR - I'm a tall big guy, so probably would be wise for me to carry something like this kind of support weapon.
After WWII- AK-47 or the newer versions (haven't tried newer though) - I liked the Finnish version when I was in the army. Thing was praised by Kalashnikov himself btw.

Sidearm would be colt45 and then ruger gp-161 .357, I had one once and there is no weapon which has felt more suitable in my hand.

Although I haven't fired a shot with anything else but hunting rifles in last five-six years and doesn't miss that very much I'd sometimes would love to try those new fangled assault rifles!