What is the most powerful U.S. military assault rifle?

Question

besides the present m-16 w/ grenade laucher. if there is a greater rifle why isn't being issued to troops now. pictures and/or links would be helpful...

Answer 1

More powerful doesn't mean better necessarily.

5.56mm is by far the most common calibre for standard issue NATO country rifles.

Some NATO countries use rifles chambered in 7.62x51mm which is quite a bit more powerful than 5.56mm. However, more powerful rounds usually = heavier ammo for troops to lug around, much higher recoil, and other setbacks.

I read somewhere that firearm designers and military experts have concluded that for the most part, small arms weapons have reached their technological limit, any improvements now are for the most part ergonomic in nature (ie. lighter materials, more advanced sighting systems, stuff like ambidextrous controls, smaller weapons). A round from a rifle 100 years ago will do just as much damage as one from a modern assault rifle.

There are always new rifles being designed and I'm sure the military is always looking at them, but the bottom line is, the cost of replacing the several million M16 family rifles in service right now isn't worth the marginal benefit that would be gained from adopting one of the newer rifle systems out there. Such a move would cost billions of dollars. Money is always the biggest factor in any decision of this nature.

And for the above guys, the Barrett .50 BMG isn't an assault rifle.

Answer 2

The Most Powerful U.S. Military Assault Rifle is the Springfield Armory M14 Rifle, which was issued from 1957 to 1965, it is a shoulder-fired, air cooled, .308 Caliber assault rifle that uses a 20 round clip and can kill the enemy at up to 857 yards. It is still being issued as a sniper rifle known as the M-21 and is being used by our military in Iraq and Afghanistan. The M-14 is also being issued to the U.S. Navy Seals, and is their long-range weapon of choice. The reason the M-16 was picked over the M-14 is because in 1964, then Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara gave the military ordnance generals an order to begin issuing the M-16 Rifle to the U.S. Military, but the U.S. Marines Carried the M-14 for the most part in the early years of the Vietnam War, and the Army continued to train with the M-14 until 1967, when the improved M-16 was adopted by the army to replace the M-14 as the standard issue assault rifle. The reason the M-14 is not standard issue anymore is because the M-14 has a bad kick and it is heavy, weighing almost 10 pounds with a full magazine of ammunition. Basically, during the Vietnam War, the M-16 was the U.S. Answer to the AK-47 used by the North Vietnamese troops because it could fire full automatic with very little kickback and it was lightweight weighing in at 7 pounds with a full 20 or 30 round magazine.

Answer 3

The US armed forces uses the M16 as the standard assault rifle, not the M4. The M4 is a smaller, lighter, and automatic version of the M16. It has drawbacks though, such as range. The M16 is far more accurate at longer distances. The M14 was disbanded because it was heavy as hell and the wood on the gun would swell in the humidity of the Vietnam jungle. It had an automatic firing setting but it was a bd choice because of the recoil that came with it. The M14 used the 7.62 round which is twice as heavy as the 5.56 round which the M16 and M4 use. The 7.62, while it has infinitely more punching power than the 5.56, isn't nearly as effective as the 5.56 because of the raw killing ability the 5.56 possess. The 5.56 has a weighted tip so when it enters the body it starts to rotate end over end, completely destroying any muscle tissue it comes in contact with. The exit wound is tremendous. If the 5.56 hits a bone, it'll use the bone fragments as shrapnel which creates one hell of a mess to mix. So the M16 is actually extremely powerful. In my opinion i would employ the HK416 or the ACR as the new assault rifle. The ACR can use both the 7.62 and the 5.56 and is an incredible instrument of death.

Answer 4

Tom L, that would be the 1903 Springfield and the M-1 Garand, which are two entirely different rifles, although eventually chambered for the same round (.30-06). The 03 Springfield bolt-action rifle was originally chambered for .30-03 (also known as .30-45), and rechambered to .30-06 in 1906. The M-1 Garand, which came into service in the 1936, was the first semi-automatic infantry rifle to be commonly issued in an army, and was chambered for the same .30-06 round.

In my opinion the M-14 is a better weapon than the M-16/M4. It is a derivative of the M-1 Garand, although it has a 20 round detachable box magazine instead of an 8 round internal magazine, and was chambered for the 7.62x51mm round (.308 Winchester) instead of the .30-06 round.

Answer 5

Actually the M-14 (7.62mm or .308) was NOT the most powerful US military assult round. The 1906 Springfield / M-1 Gerand (30-06) was.

But the AR-30 (.338 Lapua or .30-338) http://www.accuratepowder.com/data/PerCaliber2Guide/Rifle/Standarddata(Rifle)/308Cal(7.82mm)/308%20Norma%20Magnum%20pages%20270%20and%20271.pdf#search='.308%20norma' would have to be the biggest never issued assult weapon on the shelf (get that big might just as well go with the Barrett .50 )
http://www.tmcarms.com/images/ar30m.jpg

.

Answer 6

The M-1, but the military went to wound instead of kill. Since Arabs don't care about their wounded, just their dead, the U.S. should just go back to kill. The idea behind wounding the enemy is their comrads would take their buddies off the battlefield and elimate more than one person off the battlefield for every wounded soldier. Now a wounded Arab is more dangerous than a healthy one, since they would just set off thier explosive vests, killing civilians in the process.

Too bad the M-1 is bottom fed so you couldn't fire prone with a big clip. 500 rounds is fairly heavy and they could probably burn that many round in an hour or less.

My dad uses the M-16 round and the slightly larger 6mm to hunt squirrels and cat sized animals at long range.

Answer 7

U.S. military are also using .50 Cal sniper rifles, there is also word that a .60 Cal with explosive is being looked into (hearsay from some buddies). Look first in long range attributes and ballistic aspects as to why this weapon (50 Cal) was called upon.

Answer 8

M14 and it is issued

Answer 9

barret light 50

http://world.guns.ru/sniper/sn02-e.htm