13 Comments
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DE's avatar

exit(”trigger pull”)

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Don K's avatar

As long as you remember that the "AR" in AR-15 stands for Armalite Rifle and not "Assault Rifle", this is a very informative article. 👍🏻

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The Anti-Gnostic's avatar

I have an almost religious attachment to the venerable Armalite/Colt platform. Truly the modern-day Brown Bess in the tradition of the citizen-soldier militia. ♥️

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Alan Devincentis's avatar

One of the factors if I’m not mistaken is the 5.56’s ability to wound, thereby taking two men out of action if fighting a moral country like say Russia. When fighting the future Islamic hordes we will be fighting, those cretins couldn’t care less about their brothers in arms. And that’s where I like 30-06. Of course it’s big and heavy, but it keeps the enemy back out to better distances, ya think?

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Jesse Slater's avatar

I have heard the wounding argument made but never in an official source. 🤔 I suspect it didn't work out too well against the NVA and Viet Cong, either.

They almost did switch back to a full power round with the Sig Spear (on the grounds of better penetrating body armor,) but seem to have decided against it for the time being.

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The Anti-Gnostic's avatar

From what I've read 62gr packs sufficient punch and I bought a Diamondback AR with a 1:8" twist for just that reason. Likewise, it's my SHTF gun, not my home defense gun.

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Jesse Slater's avatar

1 in 8 is The Way, nowadays. It does well enough with all the common bullet weights but there's really not much value to specializing further.

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Robert C Culwell's avatar

Thank you for showing the side by side pics of the various types of Ammo. Lugging ammo is heavy. Balancing what a human can carry, rate of fire and punching power is critical for the mission.

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Jesse Slater's avatar

Yes indeed. When I was researching for this article, I came on "The Soldier's Load," by S.L.A. Marshall, in which he goes into considerable detail about that. I haven't read as much as I'd like to yet, but the opening is fascinating.

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Jeff Melody returns's avatar

Assault rifle is what happens when people fall for harshly worded letters.

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Robert A Mosher (he/him)'s avatar

Oh, yeah, it’s really hard for example to imagine this with a “battle rifle”

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Dutchmn007's avatar

Kudos for pointing out the etymology of the term “Assault Rifle”. Have been making the very same point online for several years now. The “Assault Rifle” term has been burned out by very ignorant politicians (& a compliant & willing media) & totally bastardized.

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Gilgamech's avatar

I’m just loving this article series. Probably just because it confirms all my own biases.

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