after ww2 lots of people figured that you don't need a big bullet in a big gun, which we call today battle rifles, because most of fighting happens at distances where advantage of big bullet isn't there. instead, it's much better to give out lots of smaller bullets than less of bigger bullets. initially that meant machine pistols and then it converged to something we call today intermediate cartridge rifle. soviets went big on that and made ak-47, which was a fast firing rifle that also was lighter, shorter, cheaper to make and soldier could carry more ammo with about half of energy per bullet than what they used before, which is still good enough. which generally works well
a lot of other people also figured it out, including americans, but they were stuck with their big bullets and didn't want to move away from them, because NO WOKE COMMUNIST WILL TAKE AWAY BIG MANLY BULLET. but they made a faster firing rifle, M14, and because it uses a big bullet it has a lot of recoil, and that means most of soldiers can't fire it accurately, but it's on them because they're not BIG and MANLY enough. they were allowed to glide on that until vietnam war, then it turned out that their ideas were hot dogshit, and some less lead poisoned people in army made smaller bullet and rifle for it. that's 5.56 and M16, very successful design used even today, with other countries copying general size/shape of bullet, including soviets
as a historical trend fighting happens on farther distances, and good idea fairy told someone in army to make a rifle to match. and also future adversary might have bulletproof vests. and 7.62 is a century old design, maybe it's time to reengineer it from scratch using all these things material scientists gave us. so americans have reinvented big heavy long rifle with big bullet, that is heavier than what they had before, that allows soldier to carry less ammo for no good reason and also as a bonus burns out through barrels quickly because it's also a very fast bullet. that's M7 rifle in top panel, and it repeats all the mistakes avoided by not being an idiot stuck in the old ways like above. it was already ditched for shorter M8 version
bottom one is century old M2 heavy machine gun bolted to a drone. this one isn't modernized because it just works and the only advantage would be weight reduction, but it doesn't matter because it's bolted to a vehicle anyway. russians and chinese didn't have large stockpile of their 12.7mm guns so they reengineered them over time, and now have similar weapons with half of M2 weight that are now also somewhat man-portable
The second one is of an improvised land drone using an old, widely available, and reliable machine gun. Iirc it's Ukrainian and similar to the one that held Avdiivka for so long.
It's like the "boiling water" of the arms race. Or the crab endpoint. It all comes down to accelerating a hunk of metal and delivering it COD. Pay for the deceleration at the destination.
6 Comments
certified_expert@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 2d
Cauld explain to a non gun-savvy?
rain_enjoyer@sopuli.xyz · 26 pts · 2d
after ww2 lots of people figured that you don't need a big bullet in a big gun, which we call today battle rifles, because most of fighting happens at distances where advantage of big bullet isn't there. instead, it's much better to give out lots of smaller bullets than less of bigger bullets. initially that meant machine pistols and then it converged to something we call today intermediate cartridge rifle. soviets went big on that and made ak-47, which was a fast firing rifle that also was lighter, shorter, cheaper to make and soldier could carry more ammo with about half of energy per bullet than what they used before, which is still good enough. which generally works well
a lot of other people also figured it out, including americans, but they were stuck with their big bullets and didn't want to move away from them, because NO WOKE COMMUNIST WILL TAKE AWAY BIG MANLY BULLET. but they made a faster firing rifle, M14, and because it uses a big bullet it has a lot of recoil, and that means most of soldiers can't fire it accurately, but it's on them because they're not BIG and MANLY enough. they were allowed to glide on that until vietnam war, then it turned out that their ideas were hot dogshit, and some less lead poisoned people in army made smaller bullet and rifle for it. that's 5.56 and M16, very successful design used even today, with other countries copying general size/shape of bullet, including soviets
as a historical trend fighting happens on farther distances, and good idea fairy told someone in army to make a rifle to match. and also future adversary might have bulletproof vests. and 7.62 is a century old design, maybe it's time to reengineer it from scratch using all these things material scientists gave us. so americans have reinvented big heavy long rifle with big bullet, that is heavier than what they had before, that allows soldier to carry less ammo for no good reason and also as a bonus burns out through barrels quickly because it's also a very fast bullet. that's M7 rifle in top panel, and it repeats all the mistakes avoided by not being an idiot stuck in the old ways like above. it was already ditched for shorter M8 version
bottom one is century old M2 heavy machine gun bolted to a drone. this one isn't modernized because it just works and the only advantage would be weight reduction, but it doesn't matter because it's bolted to a vehicle anyway. russians and chinese didn't have large stockpile of their 12.7mm guns so they reengineered them over time, and now have similar weapons with half of M2 weight that are now also somewhat man-portable
aldhissla@piefed.world · 22 pts · 2d
The first picture is of the new US Army standard M7 (formerly XM5) assault rifle. I've never used it, but have only heard bad things from people who know much more than me.
The second one is of an improvised land drone using an old, widely available, and reliable machine gun. Iirc it's Ukrainian and similar to the one that held Avdiivka for so long.
yakko@feddit.uk · 8 pts · 2d
The futuristic war robot has been fitted with a gun almost a century old, which is still deadlier than anything Mega Man ever got.
Aquila@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2d
New bad. Old gud
rbos@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 2d
It's like the "boiling water" of the arms race. Or the crab endpoint. It all comes down to accelerating a hunk of metal and delivering it COD. Pay for the deceleration at the destination.