It hadn’t really been shelved so much as back-burnered. The Right Arm of the Free World could have been the M14. The world came to know it as The Right Arm of the Free World. We know that rifle today as the brilliant FN FAL. A Belgian arms manufacturer filled it with a rifle it called the Fusil Automatique Léger. Army’s plan to equip a bazillion infantrymen with a select fire battle rifle, encouraged by two atomic bombs, the Japanese Emperor surrendered immediately.Īs soon as the guys with the rising sun flag ran up a white one, the War Department cancelled the order for the T20E2 and abandoned the field. Designated T20E2, the rifle was developed by Springfield Armory and ordered into production in mid-1945. The War Department turned to Springfield Armory and its top designer, John C. In other words, our fighting forces needed a select fire M1 Garand. The perfect replacement rifle would also have a manual of arms close to the M1 Garand so troops and armorers would need minimal retraining. What the War Department really wanted (and the boys in OD or khaki really needed): a lighter full-auto firearm that was handier that the BAR and yet more powerful than a submachine gun. When fired from the shoulder or hip, not so much. It fulfilled the Army’s need for effective, full-power “walking fire.” Shot from a tripod or lightweight bipod, the M1918 (and subsequent variants) were effective light machine guns. 30, Automatic, Browning, M1918″-had plenty of power. The Browning BAR-designated “Rifle, Caliber. While soldiers could lay down a curtain of fire the guns proved to be underpowered (i.e., not lethal enough) in many circumstances. infantrymen used submachine guns to great effect. In fact, the term refers to a fully-automatic rifle that fires pistol-caliber cartridges. Popular culture has decided that a submachine gun is any automatic rife.
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