Hello everybody.™
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What do you guys think of the comparison of the new profile of the m4 compared to most current sub-guns. Is the m4(possibly the whole m-16 line of arms) just an overgrown, body armor piercing, sub-machinegun? Don't flame me out of existince but it really is. What about the p-90? Does the fact that it defeats armor make it an assault rifle? My understanding was that a sub-guns shoot pistol calibers(no armor penetration: mp5).As I understand an assault rifle fires something larger than a pistol but smaller than a battle rifle. The assault rifle usually(?) defeats body armor. Basic question I am getting at. Does the ability of a round to defeat armor change the gun from a sub-gun to an assault rifle .This atleast seems to be the trend in todays military. Body-armor defeating sub-gun sounds like an oxymoron to me. In my opinion they all go bang just at different rates and decibels .
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1. I think the M4 is nothing more than a scaled down M16, and it is.
2. The M4 is not a submachine gun. A submachine gun fires fully automatic pistol bullets. While the M4 fires the 5.56x45mm assualt round from a shortened barrel, that makes it more like a carbine. But then even carbines are usually chambered in smaller rounds than the M16 rounds.
3. An MP5
could penetrate Level I body armour at close range.
4.
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Does the ability of a round to defeat armor change the gun from a sub-gun to an assault rifle
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No. The armour penetration ability doesn't change the class of the rifle.
Typically:
Battle rifle: Big, grown-up rounds like 30-06, .308, 7.62x54R, etc. Barrel is usually greater than 16 inches.
Assualt rifle: Smaller than a Battle rifle, and fire Intermediate rounds like 5.56x45, 7.62x39R, 6.8mm SPC, etc. Barrel length is usually around 16-14 inches.
Compact Assualt Rifles: More compact than assualt rifles, and usually fire the same rounds. More recoil, noise, and muzzle flash. Barrel length is usually less than 14 inches.
Submachine Guns: Fire pistol calibers, from the American-180 .22 SMG to the .45 cal Thompson and etc... Barrel length can range from around 6 inches to 14 inches.
Machine pistols: All fire pistol cartridges. All are select fire, from the 3 round burst Beretta M93, to the F/A Micro Uzi, MAC-10, MAC-11, etc.
Note: All claims are approximations. Do not any of the above as fact. Thank you.
-Brick