Now, this isn't a TL or even a vague hint about it, though I am brainstorming on an early Cold War timeline. Because, in that timeline, things will eventually be messed up greatly, I want to give it a bit of a silver lining.
One of those 'improvements over OTL' (which sounds odd and rather silly, I know) is making it so that the British .280 calibre round becomes the NATO standard (as 7mm NATO) in about 1953, just in time for the Korean War equivalent a few years later. This is very close to the one the gun nuts of today have the hots for, and is an intermediate cartridge that has a bot more punch than the 5.56mm while not as heavy and comparatively uncontrollable at firing fully automatic.
Now, the main problem is, of course, that the Americans pushed a much different round that made fully automatic fire hard to control, which of only secondary importance to the Americans. Due to American persistence the Canadians and later the British gave in and the 7.62mm NATO round was established.
I wonder how this outcome may be changed; it was more of a political decision than a military one. I was considering my TL to feature a small political split between the US and the European countries in OTL NATO, with the latter forming a European Defence Community instead, but the first would be rather unlikely, and I wonder if the EDC would be able to make such decisions about standard rifle calibre without Americans interfering. Perhaps there's a way the Americans could be convinced .280 is superior?
One of those 'improvements over OTL' (which sounds odd and rather silly, I know) is making it so that the British .280 calibre round becomes the NATO standard (as 7mm NATO) in about 1953, just in time for the Korean War equivalent a few years later. This is very close to the one the gun nuts of today have the hots for, and is an intermediate cartridge that has a bot more punch than the 5.56mm while not as heavy and comparatively uncontrollable at firing fully automatic.
Now, the main problem is, of course, that the Americans pushed a much different round that made fully automatic fire hard to control, which of only secondary importance to the Americans. Due to American persistence the Canadians and later the British gave in and the 7.62mm NATO round was established.
I wonder how this outcome may be changed; it was more of a political decision than a military one. I was considering my TL to feature a small political split between the US and the European countries in OTL NATO, with the latter forming a European Defence Community instead, but the first would be rather unlikely, and I wonder if the EDC would be able to make such decisions about standard rifle calibre without Americans interfering. Perhaps there's a way the Americans could be convinced .280 is superior?