The Battle Rifle.

The Battle rifle concept is one that is sometimes not fully understood. Some mistake the battle rifle and assault rifle as the same thing, but in reality they are much different.

An assault rifle fires an intermediate cartridge, usually designed for ranges around 400 meters, sometimes less, rarely more. The standard NATO assault rifle round is 5.56mm, though a quick sidenote the Russians use a 5.45 round. An assault rifle usually has medium to small levels of recoil. Some assault rifles have shorter barrels or stocks, usually referred to as Carbines. An assault rifle usually is lightweight, and easy to maintain in field conditions.

The battle rifle fires a large caliber bullet, usually 7.62 NATO, but there is 7.62 x 54Rmm and even 30 06 variants. Battle Rifles use full length barrels and are made to be extremely accurate. They are expected to deliver lead at ranges over 600 meters, sometime exceeding even that range. Most are fed from 20 magazines, but some use 30 rounds or more. The weapon is usually heavier than an assault rifle, to the annoyance of troops. A battle rifle offers higher penetration, easily breaking bricks and striking the enemies behind them. When America's enemies are most commonly using a rifle in the AK series, which is a weapon useful up to 300 meters, a battle rifle could strike an enemy rapidly before he got into an effective AK range.

Of course with any weapon concept it has it's disadvantages. The first was mentioned before, it's weight, a troops worst enemy is weight. They are also long, heavy recoil, awkward in close quarters, and the ammunition is heavy and bulky. So the battle rifle is not perfect for every situation.

A few examples of the battle rifles is the M14, the M1A, the G3, the FN FAL, the AR 10, the Sig SG510, and the Howa Type 64. These are the more common battle rifles in use today. The grandaddy to these guns are weapons like the M1 Garand, the SVT 40, and the Gewehr 43. Some little known battle rifles are the Fedorov Avtomat and the M1941 Johnson rifle. The future of this concept belongs to guns like the H&K 417.

While the Battle Rifle has it's weaknesses it does have it's friends. In Iraq the weapon is being used to stop eliminate enemies at long ranges, and penetrate everything from bricks to cars. It's effective in putting a round in an engine block, in which it has been used to effectively stop vehicles at checkpoints. The weapon may be ill suited for mass issuing to all troops, it has been useful when issued one or two per squad. In conclusion while the Battle rifle concept is an old one I do believe it will last well into twenty first century war.