AHC/WI: US Army adopts AK47 for the Infantry during Vietnam?

So a pre-M249 SAW then, I have heard that the Brits are moving away from the 5.56 MG and replacing them with 7.62 mm Nato DMRs. You know why that is?

original 5.56 fire team for the british army was 3*L85 +1 * L86

with SF support from GPMGs

the A2 rebuilds of the L85 and L86 also brought in a UGL model for the L85 , then there;s been the use of the minimi as a belt fed 5.56 LMG , and both 5.56 and 7.62 DMRs ...

it all depends what you want to do - for reaching out and touching the enemy 7.62 has definite advantages
 
original 5.56 fire team for the british army was 3*L85 +1 * L86

with SF support from GPMGs

the A2 rebuilds of the L85 and L86 also brought in a UGL model for the L85 , then there;s been the use of the minimi as a belt fed 5.56 LMG , and both 5.56 and 7.62 DMRs ...

it all depends what you want to do - for reaching out and touching the enemy 7.62 has definite advantages
true on 7.62, it seems that the situation got complicated weapons wise, I can see why they would do this. A DMR is more accurate weapons than full auto and probably able to hit targets better.
 
true on 7.62, it seems that the situation got complicated weapons wise, I can see why they would do this. A DMR is more accurate weapons than full auto and probably able to hit targets better.

Experience from the recent wars showed that calibre for calibre - accurate aimed fire had greater suppression characteristics than 'hosing down the tree line' with a SAW

Also carrying around 2 SAWs per Squad is a serious weight penalty

Regarding the LSW (L86A2) apparently the L85A2 is as near as dammit as accurate - so the current proposal for a British 'light' Infantry Section is 1 Fire team with 3 L85A2s and one 7.62 Marksman rifle and the 2nd fire team with 4 L85A2's - each fire team with a L320 USGL

This is in an effort to reduce the increasing weight burden (everything from body armour to batteries) that light infantry where increasingly finding that made them "too light to fight and too heavy to move" and also in the face of the 'Heroic restraint' type combat that modern soldiers increasingly find themselves undertaking where because they are supposed to be on the same side as the local population using overwhelming firepower was no longer viable.

The USMC has introduced the M27 IAR (a glorified HK 416) to largely replace the SAW for the same reasons

It will be interesting to see if SAWs will make a come back at Fire team level "if and when" the LSAT LMG (which is about 5kgs!) and Carbine (which are about the same weight as an M4 apparently) are introduced.
 

Driftless

Donor
A decade earlier the US Army adopted the rifle of the Norwegian designers Krag-Jorgensen & approx 500,000 were built in the Springfield arsenal in the next ten years.

I expect others can come up with a few more.

The Krag's saw a lot of military service in the Span-Am & Philippine's Wars. Those old .30-40 Krag carbines "soldiered on" as effective deer hunting rifles in the US for most of the 20th century. Not an ideal weapon, but well built and handy. In similar fashion, it was common (maybe still is) for old Lee-Enfield jungle carbines to be used in the US Midwest as deer rifles into this century.
 
Experience from the recent wars showed that calibre for calibre - accurate aimed fire had greater suppression characteristics than 'hosing down the tree line' with a SAW

Also carrying around 2 SAWs per Squad is a serious weight penalty

Regarding the LSW (L86A2) apparently the L85A2 is as near as dammit as accurate - so the current proposal for a British 'light' Infantry Section is 1 Fire team with 3 L85A2s and one 7.62 Marksman rifle and the 2nd fire team with 4 L85A2's - each fire team with a L320 USGL

This is in an effort to reduce the increasing weight burden (everything from body armour to batteries) that light infantry where increasingly finding that made them "too light to fight and too heavy to move" and also in the face of the 'Heroic restraint' type combat that modern soldiers increasingly find themselves undertaking where because they are supposed to be on the same side as the local population using overwhelming firepower was no longer viable.

The USMC has introduced the M27 IAR (a glorified HK 416) to largely replace the SAW for the same reasons

It will be interesting to see if SAWs will make a come back at Fire team level "if and when" the LSAT LMG (which is about 5kgs!) and Carbine (which are about the same weight as an M4 apparently) are introduced.
personally just to be safe, and this is just me I would want two 7.62NATO capable weapons with me, I can see in mountain and urban areas them covering the open areas at longer ranges than any 556NATO weapon
 
Probably because of the ranges involved in Afghan and Iraqi deserts. 7.62 NATO is better for medium-range fighting while 5.56 mm is better for short-range (e.g. house-clearing).
 
The Krag's saw a lot of military service in the Span-Am & Philippine's Wars. Those old .30-40 Krag carbines "soldiered on" as effective deer hunting rifles in the US for most of the 20th century. Not an ideal weapon, but well built and handy. In similar fashion, it was common (maybe still is) for old Lee-Enfield jungle carbines to be used in the US Midwest as deer rifles into this century.

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Canadian Army Arctic Rangers (mostly traditional Inuit hunters) still us WW2-surplus .303 Lee-ad field rifles. In 2015, the Canadian Army signed contracts to replace worn-out Lee-as fields with new-production bolt-action rifles firing 7.62 NATO ammo. At arms length the new rifles look like Lee-Enfields.
 

Driftless

Donor
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Canadian Army Arctic Rangers (mostly traditional Inuit hunters) still us WW2-surplus .303 Lee-ad field rifles. In 2015, the Canadian Army signed contracts to replace worn-out Lee-as fields with new-production bolt-action rifles firing 7.62 NATO ammo. At arms length the new rifles look like Lee-Enfields.

Isn't there an India based armory that makes/made Lee-Enfield's with 7.62 Nato, for the Indian Army?

I had to answer my own question: Ishapore 2A1 Rifle
 
Isn't there an India based armory that makes/made Lee-Enfield's with 7.62 Nato, for the Indian Army?
Yeah, because the INSAS competition has once again, proven why nobody wants to invest in India.

Seriously, how did they manage to screw up a AK derivative?
 
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