M1955 Battle Rifle
Specifications
Type: Battle Rifle
Country of Origin: United States of America
Introduction: 1955
Action: Short-stroke gas piston, tilting breechblock.
Cartridge: 30-53 (7.62x52mm) Winchester
Feed System: 20 or 30 round box magazines
Rate of Fire: 650-700 rounds per minute
Effective Range: 600 meters
The M1955 Battle Rifle, also known as the Right Arm of the Americas, was the standard infantry rifle for the United States Armed Forces from it's adoption in the mid-1950s until their ultimate replacement by the M1985 Assault Carbine in 1986. The origins of this gun would go back to the Second Great War, when Dieudonne Saive, was working on a .30 carbine select-fire variation for his M1940 Battle Rifle, but got nowhere. In 1947, a US Military whitepaper would be published that another war with Japan might be possible in a period of 10 years, in which it would state that the US Armed Forces should invest in a new battle rifle which was to chambered for a new intermediate round, must have a detachable box magazine, and to have select-fire capability. The Department of Defense would make the decision to pursue development of a new service. In the period from 1948 to 1952, the US Government would sponsor a program for the development for the new rifle, in which a new cartridge, the 30-50 (7.62x45mm), would be developed. Several rifles from different companies and induvial would be submitted, including Springfield's T41 rifle, which was designed by Dieudonne Saive, which would ultimately be the winner of the trial in late 1952. The T41 would be briefly be adopted as the M1953 Battle Carbine. However, the ordinance board would reject the 30-50 round, and would make the requirement that the new rifle must be in a more powerful cartridge. The engineers at Springfield Arsenal would design the T41 for the newly developed 30-53 round (which was a slightly shortened version of 30-06,) which the new variant was now designated the T44, which would undergo trials before being finally accepted into military service in 1955. The rifle would prove to be popular in US Military and serve with great distinction throughout much of the Frozen War until it's retirement in the infantry rifle role in the mid 1980s by the M1985 Assault Rifle, though it still remains in use as a designated marksman's rifle in the US Army and as a line throwing rifle for the US Navy. The rifle would also serve in a host of different nations such as Alaska, Guatemala, Chile, Venezuela, New Zealand and was even licensed produced by countries like Brazil, Australia, and Mexico.