01-03-2012, 05:37 AM
sgt_murf Wrote:While Stanc meant this as humor what I find humorish is that the British placed in the running a cartridge it was the .280 British in varying versions up to the new and improved .30 British to get their caliber into trials to satisfy the Americans. The US army then 7.62x51 was selected over it (.280 Brit). The British used the .280 for a short time until Winston Churchill dictated the use 7.62x51. The Air Force later chose the 5.56mm and then SEC DoD Robert Strange McNamara dictated the Army to use the M16 and the 5.56mm even though the Army never wanted the 5.56mm at the beginning.
SF, Airborne, Airmobile, and other Infantry units liked the M16/5.56 quite well actually. It's probably the only caliber the military ever adopted that was done outside the corrupt procurement process, and has benefited the services more than any other caliber/system that I can think of. 7.62 NATO should have never left the drawing board, as the British .280 would have been much better, or a .276 Pedersen derivative shortened to a 38-42mm case for DMR's and LMG's in the 1950's. The institutional pillars of wisdom had other thoughts in mind, none of which paid much attention to what had shifted in terms of maneuver land warfare and logistics chains, as well as terminal performance. The SCHV concept was the best thing to counter-balance the old guard of Army ordnance corps thinking, and the M16 family's success has proven itself longer than any other shoulder-fired system in the US military's history.