Army equipment that shouldn't have seen service

[stephen the barbarian]

Undoubtedly the Lanchester could have been simplified like the Thompson was, from the M1928 to M1

yes, it's called the sterling

Enfield No. 2 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Why the bloody hell in the 1930's was the British Empire adopting a revolver when they could and should have adopted the Browning Hi Power? Then there's the fact that the Government stole the design form Webley.

money, it's cheaper to change the webley to .38 then to set up new tooling for a sa pistol, and they didn't want to pay royalties to Webley & Scott

 

[BlackDragon98]

Pffft its a modern AK47 with modern furniture

Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck......

Edit: And your wrong as they replaced it at the time with 'Old Aks' and not the AK203 as they have only just put that gun into production

So there!

Still AKMs.
Very few AKs out there are actual AK-47s as it's production was rather limited compared to the AKM.
Modern furniture yes but it can be adapted to fit many different calibers compared to the original AK.

 

[Cryhavoc101]

Still AKMs.
Very few AKs out there are actual AK-47s as it's production was rather limited compared to the AKM.
Modern furniture yes but it can be adapted to fit many different calibers compared to the original AK.

I know

I also don't care

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

yes, it's called the sterling

money, it's cheaper to change the webley to .38 then to set up new tooling for a sa pistol, and they didn't want to pay royalties to Webley & Scott

That's an argument for keeping the existing .455 Webley Mk VI not designing and producing a new underpowered revolver.

 

[Mike D]

Vector, a protected mobility vehicle with a flat bottom and the crew sitting right on top of the front wheels when the most likely thing it was going to face was IEDs

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

Long after the Home Guard was properly armed and the invasion threat was over these were actually made and issued to units. Why?

 

[jsb]

Long after the Home Guard was properly armed and the invasion threat was over these were actually made and issued to units. Why?

Security theatre?

Or we really want you as observers, deal with looters, clear up bombing rouble or to round up shot down LW crew and we dont think its worth wasting real weapons to equip you with anything better?

 

[jsb]

That's an argument for keeping the existing .455 Webley Mk VI not designing and producing a new underpowered revolver.

Had they not decided in WWI that they wanted something smaller and easier to train to use? 38 was also used by lots of people including most US police so really cheap and available.

 

[Crowbar Six]

The M60 GPMG. In Australian service it was defeated during the competition to replace the Bren LMG by the FN MAG58. A political decision was made by politicians to allow "interoperablity" with US forces as so we ended up with the M60 GPMG. The M60 in turn was replaced by, guess what? The FN MAG58 in 1989... A decision that was based upon reliability and ROF.

The M16 series of rifle in Australian Army service. Chosen, during the Vietnam War to replace the Owen SMG, the M16 was in many ways a disaster. It was unreliable, it used to spit magazines when firing blanks and it used to foul excessively with it's Llungmann direct gas impingement system. It should have been abandoned as soon as it appeared on the scene but it wasn't. Thankfully it never replaced the service rifle the L1a1. A favourite amongst the gun boys and the SASR simply because of the Gucci stuff you can hang off it.

A lot of those issues was down to the wrong propellant being used in the US ammo - they simply used the same powders they used in the 7.62 M14 despite the specification being for a completely different powder, either the Australian Army were using US supplied ammo or loading their cartridges with the wrong powder . There was a long investigation once reports from Vietnam came to light, the US Army were looking at it as deliberate sabotage but there were no charges brought , with the right propellant the AR15/M16 was/is very reliable nor is it not an actual direct impingement system there are some changes made to it which Gun Jesus details in numerous posts.

 

[Father Maryland]

The worst assault rifle ever made

No...no not that one they got it to work

No I mean this one

15 years after it replaced the AK47 in Indian Army service it was largely replaced with...the AK47

Man the Indian defense industry/ defense research/ defense procurement systems are fucked beyond belief. Apparently on the INSAS rifles the build quality varied incredibly wildly. Some were apparently pretty decent but many were not. One reviewer I remember reading about mentioned that the serial numbers, makers mark, and the like looked like they had been literally scratched in place with a fucking nail.

The INSAS is so fucking bad that India has actually tried to give them away for free to their smaller, poorer, and weaker neighbors and has had a great deal of trouble doing so.

 

[BlackDragon98]

Man the Indian defense industry/ defense research/ defense procurement systems are fucked beyond belief. Apparently on the INSAS rifles the build quality varied incredibly wildly. Some were apparently pretty decent but many were not. One reviewer I remember reading about mentioned that the serial numbers, makers mark, and the like looked like they had been literally scratched in place with a fucking nail.

The INSAS is so fucking bad that India has actually tried to give them away for free to their smaller, poorer, and weaker neighbors and has had a great deal of trouble doing so.

I'd rather buy an $100 AKM from Africa.
At least the AKM works.

 

[Father Maryland]

Pffft its a modern AK47 with modern furniture

Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck......

Edit: And your wrong as they replaced it at the time with 'Old Aks' and not the AK203 as they have only just put that gun into production

So there!

The Indians much like the Soviets have a habit of keeping kit in service or storage for near an eternity. I believe some of the Indian paramilitary forces just recently discarded their Enfields (or at least the Indian made copy in 7.62 NATO that they made all the way into the 70s) a year or two ago. I believe the Indians also make a lot of use out of WW2 era (or surplus) 40mm Bofors cannons.

 

[Crowbar Six]

Had they not decided in WWI that they wanted something smaller and easier to train to use? 38 was also used by lots of people including most US police so really cheap and available.

The .38/200 used in the Enfield pistol is less powerful than .38 special and was not interchangeable. There were still stocks of .455 calibre pistols in stores which were issued to 2nd line forces, Homeguard, Police etc.

 

[Father Maryland]

Long after the Home Guard was properly armed and the invasion threat was over these were actually made and issued to units. Why?

View attachment 532539

They didn't do it long after the Home guard was already armed. The pikes were produced very early in the program. And they seem to have been the unfortunate result of someone in the MOD taking something Churchill said metaphorically literally.

 

[BlackDragon98]

The Indians much like the Soviets have a habit of keeping kit in service or storage for near an eternity. I believe some of the Indian paramilitary forces just recently discarded their Enfields (or at least the Indian made copy in 7.62 NATO that they made all the way into the 70s) a year or two ago. I believe the Indians also make a lot of use out of WW2 era (or surplus) 40mm Bofors cannons.

Same situation in Canada.
Arctic Rangers only recently acquire a modern replacement for their WW2 era Enfield Mk. IIIs.
The 40mm Bofors on the Kingston-class patrol boats are former museum pieces that saw service in WW2.

 

[173rd LRRP]

The Indians much like the Soviets have a habit of keeping kit in service or storage for near an eternity. I believe some of the Indian paramilitary forces just recently discarded their Enfields (or at least the Indian made copy in 7.62 NATO that they made all the way into the 70s) a year or two ago. I believe the Indians also make a lot of use out of WW2 era (or surplus) 40mm Bofors cannons.

Have an Ishapore in 7.62 x 51. It shoots better than minute of angle

 

[Father Maryland]

Same situation in Canada.
Arctic Rangers only recently acquire a modern replacement for their WW2 era Enfield Mk. IIIs.
The 40mm Bofors on the Kingston-class patrol boats are former museum pieces that saw service in WW2.

Well at least in that case the older simpler bolt action rifles were considered more reliable in the incredibly harsh conditions. And since they were mostly used for scaring off polar bears the Rangers didn't need something much more capable.

Similarly the Danish Sirius Sledge Patrol (a small special forces unit that patrols the largely unpopulated Eastern part of Greenland) was still using American made M1917 Enfield rifles chambered in 30:06 until a couple years ago. For some reason the Sledge Patrol is really fond of the old 30:06 round and still uses them in their new more modern rifles. Making them I believe the only professional military force that still uses the 30:06 round.

 

[yulzari]

Nylon socks.

 

[Matt Wiser]

For the Germans? Tiger II or Royal Tiger. A beast so heavy that many bridges couldn't support it, very maintenance intensive, and a gas hog to the extreme.

 

[Cryhavoc101]

Same situation in Canada.
Arctic Rangers only recently acquire a modern replacement for their WW2 era Enfield Mk. IIIs.
The 40mm Bofors on the Kingston-class patrol boats are former museum pieces that saw service in WW2.

I am considering getting into shooting and one option I have investigated is getting a Tikka T3 Artic (the same rifle as made for the Ranger by Colt Canada - the C19)

Or I may save myself a load of money and buy a No4 LOL