3 MOA at 100m? There are lots of civilian AR15s doing a lot better than that.
What does this mean? Rifleman being issued what is effectively MG ammo with built in dispersion, or a rifle that won't shoot or both?
With a scope like the Elcan I just don't see how anyone can miss out to effective range of the round, assuming the scope mount is rigid of course. Makes me wonder how things would go with just iron sights.
You'd think a mount could be designed that is rigid, after all B&L designed one in the 1950s. But the whole concept is wrong anyway: the adjustments should be in the scope, not the mount, if only for ease and speed of adjustment.
What rubber bands and sloppy scope mounts do for troop morale and confidence I can imagine. Canadian snipers used rubber bands in WWI, so we're coming up for the centenary of the rubber band as well.
Accurate fire vs suppressive fire? Oh please. What's more suppressive than accurate fire?? The US DM who shot down 20 Taliban while rounds were landing all around him, didn't seem to be too affected by "suppressive fire" did he?! On other hand one old guy with a .303 who knew how to shoot would have "suppressed" him in no time.
Perhaps if troops are so busy that they don't have time to clean their rifles and everyone fires their course on the same 15 rifles, it's time something was done to encourage the troops to do some self-training outside regular hours.
Is there a pay incentive for marksmanship skills as there used to be in the British Army at least?
Unlike special forces units, the regular army has endured constant budget cuts resulting in shortages of ammunition. With the ever-increasing list of ‘mandatory’ training, commanders have continued to reduce range time, relying on the annual PWT as an acceptable standard of marksmanship proficiency. The minimum has become the standard!
Coaching, too, has degenerated to the point where rather than spending additional time trying to correct a shooter, range staff either resort to blaming the weapon and replacing it, or issuing more rounds with little or no effective advice so the individual can reshoot that phase of the PWT. So dire is the situation that few in the ranks have engaged targets beyond the 300 metre point, can spot or read swirl, or have ever shot at snap or moving targets. Indeed, there is a declining number of soldiers who have, or know how to, effectively engage the target using iron sights. It has been postulated by some that the CF writ large has lost the critical mass of marksmen capable of passing along the skill. This is no more in evidence than by the need for the 2007, 2008, and 2009 CF International Combat Shooting Teams to hire civilian coaches.
That quote speaks for itself.
Realistically, the 5.56 mm round using the C77 bullet assembly is limited to 400 metres. Beyond 400 metres it begins to loose too much power (read velocity).
And so we come full circle: if suppressive fire, the logic behind the smaller 5.56mm round, has been shown to be of little value in most combat scenarios and the effective range and power is plainly inadequate for open terrain, what is the point of retaining it?
The supposed advantage of more carried rounds per man is mute if the round is not accurate or powerful enough to reach the enemy or to penetrate obstacles. In close quarter scenarios such as urban warfare or fighting through defensive systems, the infantry has a variety of more effective weapons, in particular grenades. A burst capability in a full calibre rifle would cover the "suppressive fire" need, if it exists at all in the form it is currently understood.
For sheer power to kill the enemy, what package is there that exceeds the potential, not to mention the economy, of a soldier carrying 150 rounds of full calibre ammo and rifle that will fire it to 1MOA to at least 1000m? I submit there is no other package that even comes close to having the potential to kill 150 enemy.
The soldiers of the Boer War, WWI, WWII and Korea would be incredulous at the idea of having only two men per section who can engage enemy beyond 4-500m.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.56mm
