Assault rifles: SA80 vs M4 - which is better?

They're hot. I have no understanding, though.

 

Actually, not all SMGs fire pistol rounds. The AKSU-74 fires the 5.45mm rifle round from the AK-74. The Colt Commando and similar models fire the 5.56mm x 45 round used in the M-16. There's some kind of poor-quality Chinese SMG (Type 85?) that fires the 7.62mm x 39 used by the AK-47, I believe. The FN P-90 fires what I would call a pistol round on steroids.

 

And there are pistols that shoot 45-70 Government, 30-30, .22 Hornet, and others. And there are rifles that shoot .357 Magnum, .45 Long Colt, .44 Magnum, etc.

But in general, submachine guns are small pistol caliber carbines that are capable of fully automatic fire.

 

The M4 doesn't have the accuracy or range to be called a rifle, or even an assault rifle, in my opinion. It fits more in the submachinegun category. Ian V. Hogg would seem to agree with me.

The OICW seems cool on paper. "OMG machinegun + GRENADES and super computerised scopes ownzor joo!!1". But it's big, complicated, and expensive. Not to mention ugly.

I think the G36 would make a better replacement for the M16.

 

^^ Agreed. Not to mention the fact that, in addition to extra magazines and about 100lbs. worth of gear and armour, the soldier would also have to carry heavy replacement batteries for the FCS. I really don't think the M16 or M16/M203 need replacing, but if they have to be, the G36 would indeed be a good choice.








»Who dares wins«

 

I'm liking the new FN rifle. The FN2000. It's a bullpup, and I like bullpups because they can give a long enough barrel in a short overall package, but they've got their problems, mainly the fact that the ejection port is right by the shooters face, so you can't switch which shoulder you're firing it from without doing some reconfiguring.

I think caseless or semi-caseless ammo would be a good solution to this, but people seem to be scared of adopting a really new round.

The FN2000 uses the 'safer' route of solving the ejection problem. It has a system that moves the spent cases towards the muzzle and ejects them there. I'm not sure how complicated and/or prone to damage the system is though.

I hear Canada is gonna replace the C7 soon, with either the G36 or the FN2000. It'll be interesting to see how the ejection system of the FN rifle stands up to field conditions.

I still think caseless ammo is the way to go though. Maybe I've just read too much ShadowRun.

 

Canada has an Army?

Whoa!!! Who would have thought.

I just thought the invasion force from Canada on South Park the Movie was about as close as it could get.

 

Canada has a pretty good military. Not as big or as rich as the US forces, but they have very good training, I hear.

 

That is cool. Actually I think i do remember somebody talking about the Canadian Airforce and how they are pretty good or something like that. I just never see Canada as like a warring nation. They are so nice and peacefull.

 

You've never met AT60, have you?

Anyway. Caseless ammo presents it's own problems, of course. Mainly the danger of cook-off in the chamber. The absence of a case between the propellant and the chamber walls means that when a round is fired the chamber gets hotter than with normal ammo, and when a new round is chambered, the hot chamber walls can ignite the propellent all the easier, since there's no case between them.

I'm aware of two ways to solve this. One is to use a different propellent composition that has a higher temperature of ignition. This is how H&K solved it.

The other way is to use semi-caseless ammunition. The is a round without a seperate case and bullet, both parts are made of one piece, and the 'case' portion is hollow and holds the propellent. The bottom of the round is open. When the round is fired, the entire round comes out of the barrel. So it works like caseless ammo, eliminating the need for the extraction and ejection phase of the operation, but solves the problem of chamber overheating since there's a case between the propellent and the chamber walls.
This was used by an Italian submachinegun. As I hear it, it worked great, but as usual people were spooked at the new round.