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What was the best long gun used in each of America's major wars?


fortyofforty
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Revolution? British Ferguson breech loading flintlock rifle. Should have been the Garand of the Napoleonic era. I think that if Ferguson had not been killed, we would be buying Vickers Grey Glocks, not Vickers Gray Glocks. Hard to say. I think the British industrial system could have produced them in quantity while the American cottage industry type of production could not have adapted.

 

 

Civil War? Not as up on that, but the British Whitworth rifles had an excellent reputation and I believe saw enough use to be mainstream. Again, I discount the early cartridge stuff, the ammo was too short, too fat, mostly rimfire? All rimfire? and not powerful enough. I repeat, not a Civil War buff so I know little more than the basics.

 

The British Lee Enfield was the best WWI rifle, hands down.

 

Obviously the Garand was the best of WWII with the exception of some stuff that didn't see much service. The German Stg44 comes to mind. Too little, too late and compromised by the desire to not introduce a new bore diameter. Same as the AK47 and the 7.62x39mm. Make those weapons from the ground up in a 6.5mm and I think they would have been even better.

 

Korea? Meh. Garand was on it's way out, but probably still the best in the conflict. At least it worked in sub zero temps.

 

Vietnam. M16. AR18 was too late to the party but I think could have been refined into the better weapon. But the M16 and it's light weight ammo made a lot of sense for the time. I still can't warm up to them and still don't own one. Yet.

 

 

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Agree on the Ferguson in the Revolutionary War.

Civil War, the Spencer had the most going for it with similar energy as the Sharps and Springfield in a reliable accurate repeater.

The Krag was a beautifully made rifle, but couldn't match the Mauser's flatter shooting round.

By WWI IMO the British had the best balance of accuracy, range and capacity along with that fast rear locking bolt in the Lee Enfield.

WWII had to be the Garand by a long shot.

By Vietnam I believe the AK was a superior weapon although the AR would mature to a comparably capable gun by the end of the war...id still lean AK until the M16A2 came along. From that point I vote M4 for the most recent engagements in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

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I don't know if the STG 44 was superior for its purpose than the Garand.  The Garand was long, heavy, and required en bloc loading.  It was certainly far superior to the bolt action rifles then in use by all the major armies.  However, the capabilities were more suited for long range warfare, not the close and quick urban warfare the was common in the Second World War.

300px-MP44_-_Tyskland_-_8x33mm_Kurz_-_Ar

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12 minutes ago, geeorge said:

The bolt action is very smooth too.  I need to go shoot mine again, still got a couple of boxes of ammo for it

I've heard from others as well, that the actions operated very smoothly. I've owned a lot of US surplus rifles. Never one of those though. I need to pick one up.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/10/2017 at 10:27 PM, geeorge said:

The bolt action is very smooth too.  I need to go shoot mine again, still got a couple of boxes of ammo for it

I walked into my LGS the other day and ... guess what they had sitting on display...yup, a Spanish-American War era made Krag. It was AWESOME. In beatiful condition with the original armory markings, etc. Dry as a bone, but no rust or pitting. I had always wanted to handle one. The sights were great, the bolt was smooth as butter, even without any oil on it. The feeding system is really amazing and allowed for instant reloads on the fly.

Would love to shoot one some day, but just get to handle one and take a really, really close look at it was amazing.

It was impressively compact.

A great carbine.

Edited by JJHNSN
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On 9/27/2017 at 5:50 PM, JJHNSN said:

I walked into my LGS the other day and ... guess what they had sitting on display...yup, a Spanish-American War era made Krag. It was AWESOME. In beatiful condition with the original armory markings, etc. Dry as a bone, but no rust or pitting. I had always wanted to handle one. The sights were great, the bolt was smooth as butter, even without any oil on it. The feeding system is really amazing and allowed for instant reloads on the fly.

Would love to shoot one some day, but just get to handle one and take a really, really close look at it was amazing.

It was impressively compact.

A great carbine.

It didn't find its way home with you, then?

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On 9/20/2017 at 5:03 PM, ewell44 said:

As my first official post I'll chime in for WWII and say the British Enfield in bolt action and M1 Garand in semi auto. The German K98 gets high marks as well...

Enfields were still in use by Indian security forces, at least until fairly recently.  They were on display during the 2008 Mumbai attack several years ago.  Not too many other weapons can make the same claim to longevity (1911 comes to mind, but it's a handgun).

bombay-burning-51.jpg

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  • 8 months later...

Prior to World War I      Mosin-Nagant  Yes I know how crude they were/are.  But they are powerful, rugged as can be and supremely reliable.

World War I     Springfield 1903     Very high quality and very accurate and reliable

World War II    M1 Garand    General Patton's comment:  In my opinion, the M1 Rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised

Korea              M1 Garand     Korea was only four years after WW II  so all the statements about the M1 were still valid at that time

Vietnam           AK 47    What can you say?  It's record in so many conflicts is unparalleled.

 

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On 8/13/2017 at 1:35 PM, fortyofforty said:

And was the M16 superior to the AK-47 during Vietnam?

I would say it’s superior to it NOW. But during Vietnam, the AK was the superior weapon, not only for its reliability, but was better suited for that environment. 

 

Both the rifle, and the ammo of today’s AR platform is much improved. 

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