The best two Rifles from the Cold War

What was the best two rifles of the Cold War?


  • Total voters
    73
Choose two
AR-15/M16
AR-10
M14
H&K G3/CETME
Styer AUG77
FN FAL
AK-47/AKM
AK-74

Which two were the best rifles of the Cold War?
 
Chose the FAL/SLR/L1A1 and the M16 in all its derivatives. Why? First should need no reasoning, just a superlative combat firearm with a knockout punch. The second due to its capacity for development and utilisation. The AK is a bad rifle just happens to be ubiquitous. I know quantity has a quality all of its own but just ask Gun Jesus on Forgotten Weapons and he'd be picking the same. I think he would also be pushing the AR10 and an outside for the Stoner AR63. I always liked the Stoner.....but hardly anyone else did.
 
The FAL is, without a doubt, the most legendary weapon of the Cold War. Its combat record has included use in some of the most demanding environments in the world, from Vietnam with the Australians to South Africa and Rhodesia to Brazil and, of course, both sides of the Falklands War. The only platform that comes close to in reputation is the M16, which was what finally replaced the FAL in many countries and has essentially supplanted the FAL as the new "right arm of the free world."

For both rifles, the length of service speaks to the quality of the platforms, in terms of reliability, cost, and usability. The AR-10 was a good gun, but it simply came too late to the battle rifle category to compete with assault rifles. The M14 was simply old when it was introduced and was far too heavy for the era. The AUG is another good gun but it simply does not have the Cold War-era combat record to prove it. The G3 came close to the FAL and was actually far more widely produced, but was not able to achieve the FAL's legendary status; I would personally point to the G3's much more complex operating system compared to the FAL or even the M14. The original AK-47s were fairly good rifles, though simply not on the level of the FAL or M16; the AKMs were basically throwaway guns that could be paralyzed by mud. The AK-74 made a lot of improvements over the AKM, but the 5.45mm round was weak and it never saw much use outside the Soviet Union and the successor states.
 
The AK-47 has problems mostly with the round it fires.Nobody else used a shortened rifle round in their assalt rifles,for a reason.
 
So the AKs are doing very well, but the FN FALs in the single category have won nice. The African combo.
 
The FN FAL has a good reputation because it was a good gun but also because generally it was in the hands of very good troops.

For me the best gun is the M16 - in its original form it is very light, very accurate and reliable (early fouling problems which is down to 'User Error' in that case telling troops that the weapon didn't need cleaning!) - in its current form (which I would say is the M4 carbine version) it is still very light, accurate and reliable with lots of mods and the design has been perfected in the form of premium versions such as the HK416 / M27 (other Piston clones are available) that the USMC have adopted as their IAR and the French Army to replace their FAMAS among others.
 
The AK-47 has problems mostly with the round it fires.Nobody else used a shortened rifle round in their assalt rifles,for a reason.
Czechoslovak vz. 58 used same ammunition in order to unify ammo usage in Warsaw pact. Some 920 000 manufactured.
 
Czechoslovak vz. 58 used same ammunition in order to unify ammo usage in Warsaw pact. Some 920 000 manufactured.

It is also my understanding that the "taper" of the case of the 7.62x39 round helped contribute to the reliability of the AK47 and the AKM.
 

Redbeard

Banned
Best for what?

A finely crafted weapon that will have everybody on the firing range envy you is best for that, but will have your most useful insurgency army only be armed with a fraction of the arms they need and they wouldn't be able to utilise the refinements of the "Luxury" model anyway.

In this context I simply can't overlook the AK-47 for the numbers it has been produced in and the impact it has made on history. Nothing beats it here - it even has become part of contemporary heraldy.

As a well balanced compromise the AR15/M16 could be the other nominated rifle however. Although it started out as a near disaster it after all now form the basis for modern, widespread and sufficient rifles in a lot of armies. Not bad.
 
Best for what?

A finely crafted weapon that will have everybody on the firing range envy you is best for that, but will have your most useful insurgency army only be armed with a fraction of the arms they need and they wouldn't be able to utilise the refinements of the "Luxury" model anyway.

In this context I simply can't overlook the AK-47 for the numbers it has been produced in and the impact it has made on history. Nothing beats it here - it even has become part of contemporary heraldy.

As a well balanced compromise the AR15/M16 could be the other nominated rifle however. Although it started out as a near disaster it after all now form the basis for modern, widespread and sufficient rifles in a lot of armies. Not bad.

I will predictably continue beating the drum about the Finnish Rk-family assault rifles. Considered some of the very best AK variants along with the Galil (that in itself was based heavily on the Rk62), they can also be seen as a compromise between a simple AK and a more finely crafted, more accurate weapon with generally better production standards. It is a pity we did not get any new domestic rifles after the Rk95 production was prematurely ended.
 
Best for what?

A finely crafted weapon that will have everybody on the firing range envy you is best for that, but will have your most useful insurgency army only be armed with a fraction of the arms they need and they wouldn't be able to utilise the refinements of the "Luxury" model anyway.

In this context I simply can't overlook the AK-47 for the numbers it has been produced in and the impact it has made on history. Nothing beats it here - it even has become part of contemporary heraldy.

As a well balanced compromise the AR15/M16 could be the other nominated rifle however. Although it started out as a near disaster it after all now form the basis for modern, widespread and sufficient rifles in a lot of armies. Not bad.

I'm not bashing the AK but it took nearly 10 years to get the Ak right and it did not enter mass production until the introduction of the AKM in 1959 - so if you are going to critique the M16 for a couple of years of teething problems then we must do the same for the AK!

Also for a Western style army its no good having a gun that you throw away after 10,000 - 15,000 rounds and replace with a new one - that's fine for a tribesman who wraps his Ak in a blanket in the corner of his Mud hut and rarely ever fires it - or a conscript army that does not put thousands of rounds through the weapon every year in training like most western armies do.
 
I will predictably continue beating the drum about the Finnish Rk-family assault rifles. Considered some of the very best AK variants along with the Galil (that in itself was based heavily on the Rk62), they can also be seen as a compromise between a simple AK and a more finely crafted, more accurate weapon with generally better production standards. It is a pity we did not get any new domestic rifles after the Rk95 production was prematurely ended.
Kekkonen may be dead and gone, but the old RK keeps soldiering on regardless: https://static.ylilauta.org/files/w3/orig/x1hwbewp/ukIN6hY.jpg
 
Kekkonen may be dead and gone, but the old RK keeps soldiering on regardless: https://static.ylilauta.org/files/w3/orig/x1hwbewp/ukIN6hY.jpg

I would have rather had most of the existing stocks replaced with Rk95s or some further development version than see this cosmetic modernization of the Rk62. We Finns have a strange tendency to either sell off or discontinue the production of any and all successful products we manage to come up with... As it is, in the case of war many Finnish soldiers especially in supply formations, etc, would be armed with cheap Chinese AK-47 knock-offs, a state of affairs which to me has pure comedic value given how solid weapons our own Rk rifles are.
 
It had more to do with politics than anything else, as so often is the case with arms manufacturing. Giving the RK62 program an upgrade is rather cost-efficient way to maintain the usability of a weapon system that hasn't really seen any ground-breaking updates in decades. Tactically the squad-level direct firepower comes mainly from TRG-42s and PKMs anyhow. But I digress from the OP, so enough of this. Just a curiousity to show that derivates of the old AKM keep soldiering on.
And not only in Finland, I may add: https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/special-operations/sofins-french-gign-gets-new-rifle/
 
Best rifle for what? Each one of these is a solution to the demands of the type of army, tactics, training and logistics make. Soviets were nothing but pragmatics in their weapons procurement and had they felt that FAL was a better solution to their demands they would have copied it in a heartbeat.
 
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