[dsk]

Originally posted by Kevan:
Hard to believe we've gone from the 45-70 to a souped up .22 in just a little over a hundred years.

It's the result of current military thinking. While a lot of old timers are disgusted at the concept of "spray and pray", the fact is it's an accepted practice. Both the US Army and the Soviets had conducted post-war studies on the effects of small arms fire during World War Two, and each of them had discovered that roughly 70% of soldiers wounded/killed by small arms fire in combat received hits by unaimed projectiles. In other words, the average bullet didn't have somebody's name on it, but instead was addressed to whoever it may concern. By standing up and being exposed you were less likely to have an enemy draw a bead on you as simply get hit by errant ordnance!

And so, in the current scheme of things the idea is to carry a LOT of ammo and send it all downrange, rather than make accurate hits with each shot. Besides, it's easier to teach recruits to close their eyes and yank the trigger, as long as the barrel is pointed the right way.

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D. Kamm
USGI M1911/M1911A1 Pistols Website
http://www.geocities.com/M1911_M1911A1

 

[dsk]

Remember, there's what the pros like to carry, then there's what you'd recommend to the average soldier. We'd all carry a 1911, except that the military dumped it so we could shoot a smaller, cheaper caliber like the rest of NATO. The 5.56 is an okay combat round (certainly better than the .30 Carbine!!!), but it would be my choice only because I am of small stature. If I was 30 pounds heavier I'd go M-14 or FN-FAL 7.62 all the way!

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D. Kamm
USGI M1911/M1911A1 Pistols Website
http://www.geocities.com/M1911_M1911A1