View Single Post
Old April 12, 2013, 02:08 AM   #4
Regolith
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 30, 2008
Location: Pacific Northwest
Posts: 400
Quote:
A "battle rifle" is often defined as a rifle that fires a "full powered cartridge", as opposed to an "assault rifle" which is often defined as a rifle that fires a "reduced power cartridge" (then there are sub-machineguns and carbines that fire pistol cartridges). Full powered compared to what? That definition works pretty well when talking about the Gew43 and the SKS and the AK in all its variations, because those fire cartridges which were reduced in power from the standard service cartridges. OK, ready? Here's a problem with that definition. That means that the M16/M4 platform is a "battle rifle", since it fires a full-powered cartridge. Yes, the 5.56X45mm NATO is not a "reduced power" cartridge", in fact it is a higher powered cartridge than the parent cartridge, the 222 Remington. Same with the M1 Carbine, the 30 M1 cartridge is actually higher powered than the parent 32 WSL cartridge.
The term is "intermediate cartridge" not "reduced power cartridge". An intermediate cartridge is just a cartridge that is between a traditional military rifle cartridge - like the 7.62x51mm or the .30-06 - and a pistol cartridge in terms of power and range.

Last edited by Regolith; April 12, 2013 at 02:15 AM.
Regolith is offline  
 
Page generated in 0.02079 seconds with 8 queries