#TGIF

B. Background

The basic weapon that the U.S. Army adopts as standard for its infantrymen has always been an object of interest to the American public. Of the eight "rifles" the U.S. Army has adopted as standard since the Revolutionary War, at least three have been the subject of great controversy: the Krag-Jorgensen, the Ml Garand and the Colt's Ml6A1. A review of the history of American rifles will show that the U.S. Army before World War II did not take advantage of the latest improvements in weaponry before adopting a new rifle. The first standard infantry weapon of the U.S. Army, the flintlock musket, adopted in 1795, almost duplicated the Charleville musket brought from France by Lafayette 20 years before, yet American gunsmiths were in many respects ahead of their European counterparts in weapon design. The French Charleville smoothbore musket, Model 1762, caliber .69, was the first production of Springfield Armory, and continued to be manufactured with little modification until 1842. The next weapon adopted was the 1841 caplock rifle, often erroneously called the "1842." This was the first U.S. Army standard rifle adopted, although the British had armed a brigade of their 95th Regiment with Baker Flintlock rifles as early as 1800, which, in 1815 at the battle of Waterloo, were used to wipe out several brigades of Napoleon's artillery.

During the Civil War, the Union Army had a variety of breechloaders and even some repeating rifles, but little use was made of them because ordnance officers considered them unreliable. "The most famous was the Spencer repeater, which the Union Army tested only after President Lincoln ordered it." After turning down several repeating rifles, the Army adopted the .45 caliber single shot breechloader - the Springfield Model 1873. This action was taken 32 years after the Prussian Army had first adopted a breechloader, and at a time when European armies were rearming with repeaters. Not the least of General Custer's problems at the Little Big Horn in 1876 was the fact that some of the Indians had Henry and Winchester repeaters, while his troops had only the carbine version of the single-sh6t 1873 Springfield.

The next standard U.S. Army rifle was the caliber .30 Krag-Jorgensen bolt action repeater. Its adoption in 1892, about 25 years after repeaters were available, caused a great furor because "the United States was in a sad state, indeed, when it had to rely on a foreign-designed rifle."

The Krag, as it,was called, proved no match for the 7mm Mauser, used by the defenders of San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War, and was replaced by the Springfield Model 1903. Although many Americans believe the Springfield to be an American product, it was so similar to the 1898 German Mauser, that Mauser was paid $200,000 for the manufacturing rights. The Springfield eventually became a fine weapon, but for a long time there were problems. The first major problem was that of barrel fouling, and the second was exploding rifles. The barrel fouling was solved by a change in the metal used for bullet jackets; the second fault was corrected by a change in the heat treatment of the barrel, and in later models by a change in the steel used for barrels. Correction of the barrel problem, however, was not completely accomplished until after World War I.

Perhaps the greatest controversy over the adoption of a rifle for the U.S. Army arose when the Ml Garand was standardized. Ranged against the M1 Garand, in addition to the people who perennially oppose any change on general principles, were the supporters of the only real contender, the Johnson semiautomatic rifle. The relationship of the Johnson rifle to the Ml Garand in the 1930's was very similar to the relationship of the AR15 to the M14 in late 1950's. The original Garand was designed in 1919 in caliber .276 and used the primer-activated mechanism (Roth primer system). In that system the primer is blown back against the head of a heavy striker (firing pin) which continues to the rear, unlocking the bolt from the receiver and recycling the weapon. (The primer activated system is used today in a leading contender for the Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW).) John C. Garand decided, or was persuaded (it is not clear which), to redesign his M1 rifle for the standard caliber .30-06 cartridge.

In July 1928 the War Department appointed a board of officers "to recommend a specific caliber for the future development of the semiautomatic shoulder rifle." This board, called the "Pig Board" because in the course of its investigations wound ballistics tests were conducted using live pigs as targets, investigated three calibers of projectiles, caliber .30, .276, and .256. It concluded that if a semiautomatic rifle were developed using the standard .30-06 cartridge, it would be as heavy, if not heavier, than the then standard Springfield M1903; that in order to develop a lighter weapon, the Army would have to go to a small caliber, higher velocity round; and finally, that the small caliber, high velocity bullets were more lethal within the normal effectiveness range of a rifle. The board recommended adoption of caliber .276, and that a semiautomatic rifle be developed in that caliber. In 1929 the Garand (caliber .30) was tested against several semiautomatic rifles, all caliber .276. The Army Ordnance Department did not want a new cartridge, and cited problems in supply and increased costs, and the fact that all caliber .30 weapons on hand and the machine tools for the weapons and ammunition would become obsolete.

In 1932 the Army Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur, sided with the Ordnance Department position and decided that any future weapon would use the standard .30-06 cartridge. The Garand M1 was adopted in 1936 at the time the first working models of the Johnson semiautomatic rifle were introduced. During the period 1936-39 "dozens of minor alterations (in the MI), to improve functioning or facilitate manufacturing," were made. A complete redesign of the gas cylinder was accomplished in 1939-40 to improve performance and reduce malfunctions. In 1940, when over 50,000 Garands were already in use in the Army, the Johnson rifle was tested against the Garand. Although the Johnson supporters charged that the tests were rigged in favor of the Garand, the fact is that Johnson's almost untried rifle came out second best against the thoroughly tested, modified design of the Garand.

The Garand Ml, fortunately for the United States, was to be the best general service rifle in World War II. The United States had caught up with and passed other world powers in the adoption of a modern rifle. As with all other weapons, the Ml continued to be modified and improved the entire time it was in production.

The development of the M14 rifle began in June 1945, when the U.S. Army stated a requirement for a lightweight automatic rifle. During the period 1946 - 50, feasibility studies were conducted and 10 different rifle designs were evaluated in an attempt to satisfy the requirement.' The prototype M14 emerged as the best candidate, and from 1952 to 1956 was tested competitively against the Belgian Fabrique Nationale (FN). The development of the M14 rifle, of course, was restricted to the standard 7.62mm (caliber.30) NATO round, which had been adopted in 1953, thus all but precluding the development of a truly lightweight weapon. Development of the M14 was slow because of "a lack of emphasis and a scarcity of funding."

The M14 rifle as finally developed and standardized in 1957, was a minor improvement over the Ml which it replaced. It did not weigh less, nor was it really acceptable in the fully automatic role when fired from the shoulder. Although with the selector lever the M14 could be fired in the automatic mode, only those men designated as automatic riflemen and equipped with a bipod were issued the selector lever. The standard M14 was in reality a semiautomatic rifle with a 20-round magazine, too heavy and too long to replace effectively the M2 caliber .30 carbine and the M3Al caliber .45 submachine gun.

Concurrently with the standardization of the M14, the AR15 was being designed. While Springfield Armory was tooling up for production of the M14, the initial comparative evaluation between the ARI5 and the T44E4 (M14) was conducted. The AR15 did exceptionally well in its first trial aginst the M14, thereby igniting the controversy between the "big bore" advocates and those who believed that a significant advance in weaponry could only be achieved by development of a lightweight, high velocity, small caliber weapon. The similarity of the conflict between the Johnson/Garand and the M14/ARI5 is readily apparent.

Immediately after World War II, the Soviet Government introduced the AK47 assault rifle which has since become the standard shoulder weapon for all Soviet and Satellite armed forces. Although its caliber is also 7.62mm, he Soviet cartridge is shorter than the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) cartridge and therefore more limited in effective range, velocity, and penetration than the NATO cartridge. The Soviet cartridge is also lighter than the NATO cartridge, has a logistical advantage in shipping and handling, requires less material to manufacture, and permits the weapons designed for that cartridge to be shorter and lighter. The AK 47 weighs approximately 8 3/4 pounds empty, and because of the reduced energy cartridge, it can be fired more effectively from the shoulder in the automatic mode than can the M14. Perhaps because of the Soviet adoption of the assault rifle and because of American experience in Korea, where U.S. caliber .30 rifle proved inconvenient because of its weight and inadequate in coping with human wave tactics because of its relatively low volume of fire, the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps began investigation of high velocity, small caliber cartridges for use in rifles and carbines in 1952.

In 1955, U.S. Continental Army Command (USCONARC) Board 3 (the Infantry Board) conducted an evaluation of an M2 carbine modified to fire a high velocity caliber .22 cartridge. The report of the project recommended that investigation of the high velocity, small caliber principle be given a high priority and that a lightweight rifle utilizing the high velocity, small caliber concept be developed.

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