Leader ranking among automats
Recently it has become fashionable to do ratings weaponsIt is not clear, however, that this is the cause, or a series of programs on the Discovery channel, or something else. In a word, I couldn’t resist fashion and autumn aggravation and decided to make my own small rating of automata, I hope that it will seem more objective to visitors of the site than the rating of foreign experts, well, and if I forget someone’s favorite toy, I’m asking to throw stones those that are easier. We will not make lists of TOP-100 and TOP-1000, we will limit ourselves to 7 prize places. Seven - and the figure is beautiful, and not very big, at least by the time you read the last lines of the shooting charts, the first will not be forgotten, well, and if the rating passes the test of the masses, then there will be machine guns broken by purpose, and not all heap, and pistols, and stuff. Not immediately, of course, but they will.
I just want to make an amendment to the fact that the rating is called “among the machine guns”, but there will be automatic rifles, but many people know that the term machine gun can only be attributed to an automatic rifle, and not to an automatic rifle. In turn, the carbine is a shortened version of a rifle, roughly speaking, many suggest measuring the barrel length with calibers and, on the basis of the measurement, make a conclusion: the carbine in front of us is automatic or a rifle, but, I think, there is nothing to show your mind where it is not necessary. If our domestic automatic rifles and automatic rifles are historically called automatic weapons, then they should be called that way, because everyone understands what kind of weapon they are, and even then, only we have automatic weapons, let everyone else get jealous with their long names and break their heads over what kind of weapon is a machine gun. But let’s go back to the rating, let's start not quite traditionally, from the first place, and it’s worth starting from the end, if it’s for intrigue, it’s not possible in this rating, because there can be only one unconditional leader and you can hardly find a weapon which could argue with him for first place.
1. Kalashnikov assault rifles.
In order not to single out one Kalashnikov assault rifle from all the variety, let's take everything at once. Why this weapon is in the first place to explain, I think, it is not necessary, here it is spread all over the world, and the durability of the machine gun, and a whole lot more. This weapon is not overshadowed and not the best characteristics in terms of accuracy by modern standards. In the end, the machine was created for mass weapons, and for this it fits perfectly. The simplicity of the design, maintenance and operation - all this made this type of weapon the most common in the world; moreover, one should not forget about the price during production, which allowed launching the production of Kalashnikov assault rifles in many countries, including the absence of a license for production and modernization . Since 1949, this weapon has managed to take part in all military conflicts on the globe, and in the near future it is unlikely that something can replace this weapon, since it is very much used in weapons that are in use in warehouses. innumerable. Officially, in more than 60 years of existence of weapons, more than 70 million units of various modifications were released, and this is only according to official data in the USSR, and after in Russia, how many Kalashnikov assault rifles “walk” around the world are unlikely to be able to tell, but this figure obviously will exceed many times the official one. Yes, and official data is also increasing, so quite recently a contract was signed with Venezuela for the supply of 100 thousands of AK103, and later it is planned to conclude an agreement for the supply of 920 thousands of automatic machines, that is, plus one million to the official statistics.
However, according to many, the Kalashnikov assault rifle is already at the end of its “life cycle”, since its design has been perfected and there will not be any serious breakthroughs in its improvement. In principle, it is difficult to disagree, indeed, the designers did everything to squeeze the most out of the weapon design, it remains only to make improvements sacrificing the reliability of the weapon, which naturally no one wants to do, because in this way the Kalashnikov assault rifle will turn into an ordinary sample, not much stand out from hundreds of others. On the other hand, it is difficult to believe that there is nowhere to move further in the development of AKs, especially since at the moment many interesting ideas have been accumulated, which are unlikely to affect the survivability and reliability of weapons, but at the same time will increase its effectiveness. For example, you can take the option with a two-mode shooting mode for different positions of the arrow without a cutoff, which German Alexandrovich Korobov proposed. The gunsmith suggested using a tempo in 500 rounds per minute for shooting from a flat prone position and a pace around 2000 thousand rounds per minute for shooting from uncomfortable positions. In practice, this increased the accuracy of fire one and a half to two times. Simplicity of implementation, a little more difficult to control weapons, but at the same time, a significant increase in accuracy of firing in short bursts. And if you add to this all the new ammunition caliber 6,5 or 6,8 millimeters, then it is possible to add another years 15-20 to the life of the AK. Another thing is that this will require very large investments, of which very little can be put in your pocket, because foreign weapons or non-domestic parts will be ordered.
However, no one will be able to challenge the fact that at the moment AK and any of its modifications is the best weapon for mass weapons even now without any changes to the design and additional priblud who want to fasten on the weapon in the near future. Of course, a lot of foreign models have now appeared that are not inferior in reliability to the Kalashnikov assault rifle, but all of them are either too expensive, or complex, or simply not "promoted" like our Russian AK. In general, the Kalashnikov machine gun is the number one machine gun in the world, if not by its characteristics, then by its prevalence and stories use in all military conflicts from the second half of the twentieth century.
2. Automatic rifle M16.
I think that no one will argue with the M16 weapon that also has a history with the second place in the rating, even if it is a little shorter than that of the Kalashnikov, but still quite long. Despite all the complaints about the not very high reliability of the first variants of the “black rifle”, this weapon was kept afloat and remains the main one for the US Army. In many ways, for this you need to say thanks to the designers, who managed to bring to mind not the best scheme for the operation of automation. And even though the latest versions of the M16 are still very far from the title of “the most reliable machine gun”, and this title is unlikely to ever belong to this weapon, the rifle shows reliable results for a strong four, in fact it’s not surprising. the second largest sample in its class. In total, more than 10 of millions of units of various modifications of the M16 for all the time have been produced and this is without taking into account various options from other manufacturers, in other words, the M16 is the second most popular rifle after the AK.
By the way, the M16 is also quite often copied as the Kalashnikov assault rifle, but only the majority of copies already have a slightly different type of automation, which increases the reliability of the weapon, so that these samples can be considered as relatives of the “black rifle” only conditionally. At the moment, М16 has completely captured two continents - North America and Australia, almost all the major countries of South America also use these weapons, but Eurasia and Africa are still holding on, preferring either domestic cheaper and more reliable AK, or using others without cheap weapon options. However, among these continents you can find countries in which М16 is well accustomed. Moreover, these countries with different levels of development from Zaire to Italy, where these weapons are in service with special forces. To understand the entire mass distribution of weapons it is enough to give a list of countries using it: USA, Australia, Argentina, Afghanistan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bahrain, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Great Britain, East Timor, Vietnam, Haiti, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Grenada, Greece, Georgia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Zaire, Yemen, Israel, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Iceland, Italy, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Qatar, Colombia, Costa Rica, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Liwa n, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Mexico, Moldova, Nepal, Nigeria, Netherlands, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Norway, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Republic of Korea, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay, Fiji, Philippines, France, Chile, Sri Lanka, Jamaica, Japan. Of course, in many of the above countries, the M16 is not the main weapon, many are used as a back-up in case of war, there are also many modifications and not the M16 specifically, but, nevertheless, this impressive list fully justifies the position of the weapon in the ranking. Especially since the M16 is a kind of “enemy” of AK, and the enemy must be respected and reckoned with, so despite all the cons of weapons that are getting smaller every year, the second place in my personal opinion legitimately belongs to the “black rifle”, although I am sure many here will argue with me, but if you find one more same mass model of the machine gun, then I will completely change my mind and replace the M16 with the weapon model you proposed.
3. Automatic rifles FN SCAR.
We walked through the oldies and long-livers, now we can take up new samples, and there are many of them and they are all interesting. If I gave AK and M16 the first two places of the rating for their history, as these are really the two most common and “long-playing” samples, then personally I found it difficult to choose who and where to distribute, since here they are already entering the arena relatively young models that are certainly interesting and unique in their own way, but each sample has its advantages and to determine what is more important and what is not very, very difficult. It is difficult, if only because in one particular situation plus a weapon does not play a decisive role, while in the other it becomes the main advantage of a weapon. So I don’t claim further objectivity, everything is distributed only at my discretion and is purely my weapon preferences. Well, it so happened that from the new designs I was most attracted to SCAR, and the reverse is also the 16 and 17, so this is not about the same weapon model.
Speaking honestly, when this weapon only appeared, I decided that here it is the “murderer” of the M16, even though the weapon was created under the order of the US Special Operations Forces Command. A sample seemed very promising to me, and on the assumption that the US Army was never deprived of funds and such a bold enough assumption was born. Weapons began to arrive in the army in the 2007 year, but already during this short service life it managed to establish itself as a reliable and effective means of exterminating enemy personnel in the most unfavorable operating conditions. The basis of this type of weapon was based on the principle of operation of automation with the removal of powder gases from the bore of the weapon with a short stroke of the piston. Barrel locking occurs when you turn the bolt on seven stops. But more about this weapon some other time. Outwardly, this image is a rather strange device, and the folding butttock of weapons that is considered to be the ugliest of all those offered during the existence of such a class of weapons as an automatic rifle looks especially strange. However, here it is necessary to ponder the question of whether beauty is necessary in weapons at all. It seems like the most important thing for a weapon is its reliability, accuracy, reliability and so on, but not beauty at all, especially for weapons intended for the army. By the way, the SCAR butt, although it looks strange, is quite comfortable, not perfect, but close to it. In particular, it lacks smooth adjustment in length instead of stepped. In terms of accuracy, this weapon surpasses the M16, both with a single fire and with an automatic one, but here the comparison can be made only if the barrels of the compared samples are the same length, and under the condition of the same cartridges.
Identical cartridges are marked with a separate item, since such a weapon as SCAR currently has two versions, under a standard NATO cartridge with a caliber 5,56, as well as with a cartridge 7,62х51, as well as a NATO standard. In addition, it is mentioned that the “heavy” version of the automatic rifle can be easily adapted to the Soviet-style 7,62x39 cartridges, while the weapons can be powered from AK and AKM stores. This was achieved due to the fact that the weapon fully meets the concept of "modular", so besides the fact that both the "light" and the "heavy" version of an automatic rifle can have different barrels along the length (three options each), the line between the X. 16 and X. 17 is very conditional and means only what ammunition feeds, even between these samples more than 70% of parts are identical. In general, if one chooses an ideal in such a parameter as “modularity” among automatic rifles / machine guns, then SCARs are out of competition, provided that the characteristics of the weapon are sufficiently high.
4. Automatic rifles NK 416 and NK 417.
These German automatic rifles are inherently the product of the M16 and G36 fusion. Having absorbed all the best from both models of weapons, they are easy to maintain, reliable in the most unfavorable operating conditions, and also possess fairly high performance. In terms of their ergonomics and the layout of the weapon control elements, the 416 NK and 417 NK weapons are completely similar to the M16, which makes them particularly suitable for use by those people who are used to the “black rifle”. Just like the SCARs, these rifles are made as modular as possible, as far as it was generally possible, taking into account the weapon design, so the repair of the 416 and NK 417 is usually a simple replacement of a separate module that has failed. The weapon is also equipped with trunks of different lengths, which makes it quite versatile. Four seats in the form of “Picatinny-type” slats allow you to install a wide variety of accessories on rifles, and in the case of the “heavy” version of a rifle chambered for 7,62x51 cartridges the bipods are installed on the lower bar. The butt of the weapon is made by analogy with the M4 butt, has 5 fixed positions to fit the anatomical features of the shooter, although a smooth adjustment would make the weapon more comfortable.
The basis for rifles NK 416 and Nk417 became the automation system with the removal of powder gases from the barrel with a short piston stroke. Despite the seemingly outward “leaky” German rifles are fairly resistant to dust and moisture. In other words, it is safe to speak about these weapons in the context of the well-known German quality, although it is possible to draw such conclusions so far, since the weapons have not yet shown themselves to be massively in combat. The main difference between the 416 model and the 417 is that the first rifle uses NATO standard 5,56 cartridges, while the 417 NC feeds on 7,62x51 cartridges. This makes the NN 417's weapon model more efficient, however, there are a few moments that immediately appear that reduce this effectiveness. First of all, it is the weight of the weapon, in the second - the recoil when shooting, well, and the third negative factor is the size of the weapon.
416 NK rifles and 417 NK rifles from detachable box magazines with a capacity of 30 cartridges for a small model and 10 or 20 cartridges for a larger sample feed on. The weapon is compatible with various models of grenade launchers, however, in the case of the 417 NC model, the bipods will have to be forgotten, and they are quite a necessary thing in this weapon, since the recoil when fired is really high, and in the case of firing in short bursts from a standing position, most shooters can only conduct a disturbing fire, although here, of course, it is a matter of habit, skills and weight of the shooter.
The 416 NK and 417 NK rifles are not widely used yet, although they appeared in the 2005 year, however, this is easily explained not by the fact that the weapon is bad or something else, but only due to the lack of funds for mass supplies to the army. Also, do not forget that at the moment the issue of replacing 5,56 ammunition with a more powerful cartridge with a large caliber, but not as powerful as 7,62х51, is quite acute. As I understand it, the manufacturer relied on those munitions that are already in service, not counting on the rapid spread of the new ammunition, but apparently forgot to take into account that if a new weapon will appear, it will be calculated only for new cartridges, except that in exceptional cases the rule will be violated. However, the new more powerful ammunition recently forgotten and not in a hurry with the same zeal as a couple of years ago to shout about them at every corner. Apparently, they are saving money for a complete rearmament, which, in principle, is not required, since at the moment a cartridge has been developed that is fully compatible with the old weapon chambered for 5,56 and requires only a barrel and bolt replacement, which can be done in NK 416, and in NC 417.
5. Barrett REC7 automatic rifle.
Despite the fact that many people treat this weapon with a rather large degree of skepticism, I think that it is worthy of taking a 4 place in the ranking of the best machines. The reasons for this are quite enough. Firstly, the weapon was made for a new, promising cartridge, which shows itself more efficiently compared to 5,56 cartridges, and secondly, these are Barrett products, which personally cause only positive emotions in me. However, the second point is precisely the reason why many people do not take this sample of weapons seriously. The fact is that the company Barrett made a name for itself in the production of sniper rifles, mostly large-caliber, and in the production of automatic machines is, to put it mildly, a novice. Indeed, this is the first machine that the company ventured to produce en masse, the reason is that before Barrett REC7 there were two more weapons that did not go into mass production. Thus, in the first version, the company showed “this is what we can”, in the second it brought the weapon to perfection, well, and the third, already taking into account the wishes of the servicemen after a short “run-in” in the army, has already appeared as a fully finished model. In my opinion, such an approach in the production of weapons is fully justified, and no one can blame Barrett REC7 for either low reliability or any other sins. In the case, if the company immediately gave to the broad masses their weapons in the first version, then it would be impossible to avoid talking about the fact that everyone should do their job, and if the company began to produce sniper rifles, then it is they who should be engaged in and not to go into other weapons niches. Yes, and subsequent versions of automatic rifles from the company Barrett, no matter how beautiful they were, would have been perceived clearly with an underestimate, if the company immediately started producing the first version of the weapon, however, this question is too complicated to talk about something with 100% a guarantee.
The basis of the automatic rifle Barrett REC7 was a new cartridge that was offered by Remington, the new ammunition with the metric designation 6,8x43 proved to be not only much more effective in comparison with 5,56, but also as close as possible to it in terms of its dimensions, which makes it possible to use it in the weapon, originally designed for cartridges under 5,56 after replacing the barrel and bolt. However, here the same problem may arise that arose with the appearance of cartridges for the .357SIG pistol, which, it seems, can be used in weapons chambered for .40S & W after replacing the barrel, but this significantly increases the wear of the weapon. In the case of the Barrett automatic rifle, the weapon was originally designed for a new ammunition, but at the same time it can be adapted for a standard NATO cartridge of 5,56 caliber, that is, in principle, there can be no problems when operating weapons with new ammunition. since it was designed for him. But if you look at all this taking into account the fact that 6,8x43 have not yet been adopted for service, then we can say that it is unlikely that this weapon will be adopted in the US Army under its "native" cartridge, although, of course, those who if they want this weapon, they will get it, after all, the US army, and not the countries in Central Africa.
The basis for the new Barrett REC7 automatic rifle, as it is not difficult to guess, was again the principle of operation of the automation with the removal of powder gases from the barrel of the weapon and with a short piston stroke. Despite this, many people call the Barrett REC7 a further development of the M16 rifle, but this, of course, is a delusion. Simply, the fact is that the weapon is made with the greatest possible compatibility with the M16, apparently, in view of the fact that it will someday be put into service, this makes the two rifles quite similar to each other in terms of individual elements, but if you take the picture in In general, these are two different samples, even when compared by the appearance of the weapon. In general, for the new ammunition, high quality and the correct approach to the production of weapons, the automatic rifle Barrett REC7 deserves to take the honorable fifth place in the ranking.
6. Automatic rifle NK G36.
In 1995, the NX G36 automatic rifle begins to enroll en masse in the German army, and later it conquers Spain, at the same time being supplied to a number of other countries, including the United States. To be honest, I even wanted to push the novelties of the arms market and put NK G36 in third place in the rating, but I still hope for the promise of a new weapon, well, probably, it’s not just doing it and producing, apparently counting on higher characteristics Compared with previous models, although, of course, not always the new means the best. But, despite the fact that a new weapon is being produced, G36 NC does not plan to give up its positions so far.
This weapon, though not at all old, has already proven itself in many military conflicts, although its presence there was not as extensive as other models. It uses the NATO standard 5,56 cartridges, while it has quite a lot of different options for picking, which suggests that this automatic rifle is multitasking. In general, we will not pull causal places for the cat, these weapons are worthy of their place in the rating and hardly anyone will argue with that.
7. Steyr AUG automatic rifle.
This weapon takes its place in the rating not because it turned out to be better than some samples or worse, but because, in my opinion, it is one of the most successful variants of automatic rifles in the bullpup layout, and simply does not allow such a weapon to bypass conscience. By the way, if the positions were 10, then Steyr AUG and then it would be in last place, as I repeat, there are better options for weapons, but in the classic layout. Of course, here it can be argued that the domestic A-91M, with the same layout, is devoid of many of the drawbacks that are inherent in weapons with such an arrangement of basic elements. But do not forget about the fairly wide distribution of these weapons, their various options, even to the point that the Australian "promising" rifle complex was made on the basis of these weapons. In general, the 7 place behind the Steyr AUG automatic rifle and I think that many would agree that the place occupied by this weapon belongs to the right for at least the same layout, at which it received the most widespread.
In conclusion, I would like to say that this rating is purely my personal opinion, it does not claim to be the only correct one. In addition, the irregularity in the selection of criteria for evaluating weapons also does not allow to fully display the full picture, therefore if the main parameter is to choose the spread of weapons throughout the world, the result will be one, and if we take the effectiveness of the weapon as a basis for another, reliability is the third and so on. But I hope that my rating turned out to be more objective than the rating of the Discovery channel.
I just want to make an amendment to the fact that the rating is called “among the machine guns”, but there will be automatic rifles, but many people know that the term machine gun can only be attributed to an automatic rifle, and not to an automatic rifle. In turn, the carbine is a shortened version of a rifle, roughly speaking, many suggest measuring the barrel length with calibers and, on the basis of the measurement, make a conclusion: the carbine in front of us is automatic or a rifle, but, I think, there is nothing to show your mind where it is not necessary. If our domestic automatic rifles and automatic rifles are historically called automatic weapons, then they should be called that way, because everyone understands what kind of weapon they are, and even then, only we have automatic weapons, let everyone else get jealous with their long names and break their heads over what kind of weapon is a machine gun. But let’s go back to the rating, let's start not quite traditionally, from the first place, and it’s worth starting from the end, if it’s for intrigue, it’s not possible in this rating, because there can be only one unconditional leader and you can hardly find a weapon which could argue with him for first place.
1. Kalashnikov assault rifles.
In order not to single out one Kalashnikov assault rifle from all the variety, let's take everything at once. Why this weapon is in the first place to explain, I think, it is not necessary, here it is spread all over the world, and the durability of the machine gun, and a whole lot more. This weapon is not overshadowed and not the best characteristics in terms of accuracy by modern standards. In the end, the machine was created for mass weapons, and for this it fits perfectly. The simplicity of the design, maintenance and operation - all this made this type of weapon the most common in the world; moreover, one should not forget about the price during production, which allowed launching the production of Kalashnikov assault rifles in many countries, including the absence of a license for production and modernization . Since 1949, this weapon has managed to take part in all military conflicts on the globe, and in the near future it is unlikely that something can replace this weapon, since it is very much used in weapons that are in use in warehouses. innumerable. Officially, in more than 60 years of existence of weapons, more than 70 million units of various modifications were released, and this is only according to official data in the USSR, and after in Russia, how many Kalashnikov assault rifles “walk” around the world are unlikely to be able to tell, but this figure obviously will exceed many times the official one. Yes, and official data is also increasing, so quite recently a contract was signed with Venezuela for the supply of 100 thousands of AK103, and later it is planned to conclude an agreement for the supply of 920 thousands of automatic machines, that is, plus one million to the official statistics. However, according to many, the Kalashnikov assault rifle is already at the end of its “life cycle”, since its design has been perfected and there will not be any serious breakthroughs in its improvement. In principle, it is difficult to disagree, indeed, the designers did everything to squeeze the most out of the weapon design, it remains only to make improvements sacrificing the reliability of the weapon, which naturally no one wants to do, because in this way the Kalashnikov assault rifle will turn into an ordinary sample, not much stand out from hundreds of others. On the other hand, it is difficult to believe that there is nowhere to move further in the development of AKs, especially since at the moment many interesting ideas have been accumulated, which are unlikely to affect the survivability and reliability of weapons, but at the same time will increase its effectiveness. For example, you can take the option with a two-mode shooting mode for different positions of the arrow without a cutoff, which German Alexandrovich Korobov proposed. The gunsmith suggested using a tempo in 500 rounds per minute for shooting from a flat prone position and a pace around 2000 thousand rounds per minute for shooting from uncomfortable positions. In practice, this increased the accuracy of fire one and a half to two times. Simplicity of implementation, a little more difficult to control weapons, but at the same time, a significant increase in accuracy of firing in short bursts. And if you add to this all the new ammunition caliber 6,5 or 6,8 millimeters, then it is possible to add another years 15-20 to the life of the AK. Another thing is that this will require very large investments, of which very little can be put in your pocket, because foreign weapons or non-domestic parts will be ordered.
However, no one will be able to challenge the fact that at the moment AK and any of its modifications is the best weapon for mass weapons even now without any changes to the design and additional priblud who want to fasten on the weapon in the near future. Of course, a lot of foreign models have now appeared that are not inferior in reliability to the Kalashnikov assault rifle, but all of them are either too expensive, or complex, or simply not "promoted" like our Russian AK. In general, the Kalashnikov machine gun is the number one machine gun in the world, if not by its characteristics, then by its prevalence and stories use in all military conflicts from the second half of the twentieth century.
2. Automatic rifle M16.
I think that no one will argue with the M16 weapon that also has a history with the second place in the rating, even if it is a little shorter than that of the Kalashnikov, but still quite long. Despite all the complaints about the not very high reliability of the first variants of the “black rifle”, this weapon was kept afloat and remains the main one for the US Army. In many ways, for this you need to say thanks to the designers, who managed to bring to mind not the best scheme for the operation of automation. And even though the latest versions of the M16 are still very far from the title of “the most reliable machine gun”, and this title is unlikely to ever belong to this weapon, the rifle shows reliable results for a strong four, in fact it’s not surprising. the second largest sample in its class. In total, more than 10 of millions of units of various modifications of the M16 for all the time have been produced and this is without taking into account various options from other manufacturers, in other words, the M16 is the second most popular rifle after the AK.By the way, the M16 is also quite often copied as the Kalashnikov assault rifle, but only the majority of copies already have a slightly different type of automation, which increases the reliability of the weapon, so that these samples can be considered as relatives of the “black rifle” only conditionally. At the moment, М16 has completely captured two continents - North America and Australia, almost all the major countries of South America also use these weapons, but Eurasia and Africa are still holding on, preferring either domestic cheaper and more reliable AK, or using others without cheap weapon options. However, among these continents you can find countries in which М16 is well accustomed. Moreover, these countries with different levels of development from Zaire to Italy, where these weapons are in service with special forces. To understand the entire mass distribution of weapons it is enough to give a list of countries using it: USA, Australia, Argentina, Afghanistan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bahrain, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Great Britain, East Timor, Vietnam, Haiti, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Grenada, Greece, Georgia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Zaire, Yemen, Israel, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Iceland, Italy, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Qatar, Colombia, Costa Rica, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Liwa n, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Mexico, Moldova, Nepal, Nigeria, Netherlands, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Norway, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Republic of Korea, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay, Fiji, Philippines, France, Chile, Sri Lanka, Jamaica, Japan. Of course, in many of the above countries, the M16 is not the main weapon, many are used as a back-up in case of war, there are also many modifications and not the M16 specifically, but, nevertheless, this impressive list fully justifies the position of the weapon in the ranking. Especially since the M16 is a kind of “enemy” of AK, and the enemy must be respected and reckoned with, so despite all the cons of weapons that are getting smaller every year, the second place in my personal opinion legitimately belongs to the “black rifle”, although I am sure many here will argue with me, but if you find one more same mass model of the machine gun, then I will completely change my mind and replace the M16 with the weapon model you proposed.
3. Automatic rifles FN SCAR.
We walked through the oldies and long-livers, now we can take up new samples, and there are many of them and they are all interesting. If I gave AK and M16 the first two places of the rating for their history, as these are really the two most common and “long-playing” samples, then personally I found it difficult to choose who and where to distribute, since here they are already entering the arena relatively young models that are certainly interesting and unique in their own way, but each sample has its advantages and to determine what is more important and what is not very, very difficult. It is difficult, if only because in one particular situation plus a weapon does not play a decisive role, while in the other it becomes the main advantage of a weapon. So I don’t claim further objectivity, everything is distributed only at my discretion and is purely my weapon preferences. Well, it so happened that from the new designs I was most attracted to SCAR, and the reverse is also the 16 and 17, so this is not about the same weapon model.Speaking honestly, when this weapon only appeared, I decided that here it is the “murderer” of the M16, even though the weapon was created under the order of the US Special Operations Forces Command. A sample seemed very promising to me, and on the assumption that the US Army was never deprived of funds and such a bold enough assumption was born. Weapons began to arrive in the army in the 2007 year, but already during this short service life it managed to establish itself as a reliable and effective means of exterminating enemy personnel in the most unfavorable operating conditions. The basis of this type of weapon was based on the principle of operation of automation with the removal of powder gases from the bore of the weapon with a short stroke of the piston. Barrel locking occurs when you turn the bolt on seven stops. But more about this weapon some other time. Outwardly, this image is a rather strange device, and the folding butttock of weapons that is considered to be the ugliest of all those offered during the existence of such a class of weapons as an automatic rifle looks especially strange. However, here it is necessary to ponder the question of whether beauty is necessary in weapons at all. It seems like the most important thing for a weapon is its reliability, accuracy, reliability and so on, but not beauty at all, especially for weapons intended for the army. By the way, the SCAR butt, although it looks strange, is quite comfortable, not perfect, but close to it. In particular, it lacks smooth adjustment in length instead of stepped. In terms of accuracy, this weapon surpasses the M16, both with a single fire and with an automatic one, but here the comparison can be made only if the barrels of the compared samples are the same length, and under the condition of the same cartridges.
Identical cartridges are marked with a separate item, since such a weapon as SCAR currently has two versions, under a standard NATO cartridge with a caliber 5,56, as well as with a cartridge 7,62х51, as well as a NATO standard. In addition, it is mentioned that the “heavy” version of the automatic rifle can be easily adapted to the Soviet-style 7,62x39 cartridges, while the weapons can be powered from AK and AKM stores. This was achieved due to the fact that the weapon fully meets the concept of "modular", so besides the fact that both the "light" and the "heavy" version of an automatic rifle can have different barrels along the length (three options each), the line between the X. 16 and X. 17 is very conditional and means only what ammunition feeds, even between these samples more than 70% of parts are identical. In general, if one chooses an ideal in such a parameter as “modularity” among automatic rifles / machine guns, then SCARs are out of competition, provided that the characteristics of the weapon are sufficiently high.
4. Automatic rifles NK 416 and NK 417.
These German automatic rifles are inherently the product of the M16 and G36 fusion. Having absorbed all the best from both models of weapons, they are easy to maintain, reliable in the most unfavorable operating conditions, and also possess fairly high performance. In terms of their ergonomics and the layout of the weapon control elements, the 416 NK and 417 NK weapons are completely similar to the M16, which makes them particularly suitable for use by those people who are used to the “black rifle”. Just like the SCARs, these rifles are made as modular as possible, as far as it was generally possible, taking into account the weapon design, so the repair of the 416 and NK 417 is usually a simple replacement of a separate module that has failed. The weapon is also equipped with trunks of different lengths, which makes it quite versatile. Four seats in the form of “Picatinny-type” slats allow you to install a wide variety of accessories on rifles, and in the case of the “heavy” version of a rifle chambered for 7,62x51 cartridges the bipods are installed on the lower bar. The butt of the weapon is made by analogy with the M4 butt, has 5 fixed positions to fit the anatomical features of the shooter, although a smooth adjustment would make the weapon more comfortable.The basis for rifles NK 416 and Nk417 became the automation system with the removal of powder gases from the barrel with a short piston stroke. Despite the seemingly outward “leaky” German rifles are fairly resistant to dust and moisture. In other words, it is safe to speak about these weapons in the context of the well-known German quality, although it is possible to draw such conclusions so far, since the weapons have not yet shown themselves to be massively in combat. The main difference between the 416 model and the 417 is that the first rifle uses NATO standard 5,56 cartridges, while the 417 NC feeds on 7,62x51 cartridges. This makes the NN 417's weapon model more efficient, however, there are a few moments that immediately appear that reduce this effectiveness. First of all, it is the weight of the weapon, in the second - the recoil when shooting, well, and the third negative factor is the size of the weapon.
416 NK rifles and 417 NK rifles from detachable box magazines with a capacity of 30 cartridges for a small model and 10 or 20 cartridges for a larger sample feed on. The weapon is compatible with various models of grenade launchers, however, in the case of the 417 NC model, the bipods will have to be forgotten, and they are quite a necessary thing in this weapon, since the recoil when fired is really high, and in the case of firing in short bursts from a standing position, most shooters can only conduct a disturbing fire, although here, of course, it is a matter of habit, skills and weight of the shooter.
The 416 NK and 417 NK rifles are not widely used yet, although they appeared in the 2005 year, however, this is easily explained not by the fact that the weapon is bad or something else, but only due to the lack of funds for mass supplies to the army. Also, do not forget that at the moment the issue of replacing 5,56 ammunition with a more powerful cartridge with a large caliber, but not as powerful as 7,62х51, is quite acute. As I understand it, the manufacturer relied on those munitions that are already in service, not counting on the rapid spread of the new ammunition, but apparently forgot to take into account that if a new weapon will appear, it will be calculated only for new cartridges, except that in exceptional cases the rule will be violated. However, the new more powerful ammunition recently forgotten and not in a hurry with the same zeal as a couple of years ago to shout about them at every corner. Apparently, they are saving money for a complete rearmament, which, in principle, is not required, since at the moment a cartridge has been developed that is fully compatible with the old weapon chambered for 5,56 and requires only a barrel and bolt replacement, which can be done in NK 416, and in NC 417.
5. Barrett REC7 automatic rifle.
Despite the fact that many people treat this weapon with a rather large degree of skepticism, I think that it is worthy of taking a 4 place in the ranking of the best machines. The reasons for this are quite enough. Firstly, the weapon was made for a new, promising cartridge, which shows itself more efficiently compared to 5,56 cartridges, and secondly, these are Barrett products, which personally cause only positive emotions in me. However, the second point is precisely the reason why many people do not take this sample of weapons seriously. The fact is that the company Barrett made a name for itself in the production of sniper rifles, mostly large-caliber, and in the production of automatic machines is, to put it mildly, a novice. Indeed, this is the first machine that the company ventured to produce en masse, the reason is that before Barrett REC7 there were two more weapons that did not go into mass production. Thus, in the first version, the company showed “this is what we can”, in the second it brought the weapon to perfection, well, and the third, already taking into account the wishes of the servicemen after a short “run-in” in the army, has already appeared as a fully finished model. In my opinion, such an approach in the production of weapons is fully justified, and no one can blame Barrett REC7 for either low reliability or any other sins. In the case, if the company immediately gave to the broad masses their weapons in the first version, then it would be impossible to avoid talking about the fact that everyone should do their job, and if the company began to produce sniper rifles, then it is they who should be engaged in and not to go into other weapons niches. Yes, and subsequent versions of automatic rifles from the company Barrett, no matter how beautiful they were, would have been perceived clearly with an underestimate, if the company immediately started producing the first version of the weapon, however, this question is too complicated to talk about something with 100% a guarantee. The basis of the automatic rifle Barrett REC7 was a new cartridge that was offered by Remington, the new ammunition with the metric designation 6,8x43 proved to be not only much more effective in comparison with 5,56, but also as close as possible to it in terms of its dimensions, which makes it possible to use it in the weapon, originally designed for cartridges under 5,56 after replacing the barrel and bolt. However, here the same problem may arise that arose with the appearance of cartridges for the .357SIG pistol, which, it seems, can be used in weapons chambered for .40S & W after replacing the barrel, but this significantly increases the wear of the weapon. In the case of the Barrett automatic rifle, the weapon was originally designed for a new ammunition, but at the same time it can be adapted for a standard NATO cartridge of 5,56 caliber, that is, in principle, there can be no problems when operating weapons with new ammunition. since it was designed for him. But if you look at all this taking into account the fact that 6,8x43 have not yet been adopted for service, then we can say that it is unlikely that this weapon will be adopted in the US Army under its "native" cartridge, although, of course, those who if they want this weapon, they will get it, after all, the US army, and not the countries in Central Africa.
The basis for the new Barrett REC7 automatic rifle, as it is not difficult to guess, was again the principle of operation of the automation with the removal of powder gases from the barrel of the weapon and with a short piston stroke. Despite this, many people call the Barrett REC7 a further development of the M16 rifle, but this, of course, is a delusion. Simply, the fact is that the weapon is made with the greatest possible compatibility with the M16, apparently, in view of the fact that it will someday be put into service, this makes the two rifles quite similar to each other in terms of individual elements, but if you take the picture in In general, these are two different samples, even when compared by the appearance of the weapon. In general, for the new ammunition, high quality and the correct approach to the production of weapons, the automatic rifle Barrett REC7 deserves to take the honorable fifth place in the ranking.
6. Automatic rifle NK G36.
In 1995, the NX G36 automatic rifle begins to enroll en masse in the German army, and later it conquers Spain, at the same time being supplied to a number of other countries, including the United States. To be honest, I even wanted to push the novelties of the arms market and put NK G36 in third place in the rating, but I still hope for the promise of a new weapon, well, probably, it’s not just doing it and producing, apparently counting on higher characteristics Compared with previous models, although, of course, not always the new means the best. But, despite the fact that a new weapon is being produced, G36 NC does not plan to give up its positions so far.This weapon, though not at all old, has already proven itself in many military conflicts, although its presence there was not as extensive as other models. It uses the NATO standard 5,56 cartridges, while it has quite a lot of different options for picking, which suggests that this automatic rifle is multitasking. In general, we will not pull causal places for the cat, these weapons are worthy of their place in the rating and hardly anyone will argue with that.
7. Steyr AUG automatic rifle.
This weapon takes its place in the rating not because it turned out to be better than some samples or worse, but because, in my opinion, it is one of the most successful variants of automatic rifles in the bullpup layout, and simply does not allow such a weapon to bypass conscience. By the way, if the positions were 10, then Steyr AUG and then it would be in last place, as I repeat, there are better options for weapons, but in the classic layout. Of course, here it can be argued that the domestic A-91M, with the same layout, is devoid of many of the drawbacks that are inherent in weapons with such an arrangement of basic elements. But do not forget about the fairly wide distribution of these weapons, their various options, even to the point that the Australian "promising" rifle complex was made on the basis of these weapons. In general, the 7 place behind the Steyr AUG automatic rifle and I think that many would agree that the place occupied by this weapon belongs to the right for at least the same layout, at which it received the most widespread.In conclusion, I would like to say that this rating is purely my personal opinion, it does not claim to be the only correct one. In addition, the irregularity in the selection of criteria for evaluating weapons also does not allow to fully display the full picture, therefore if the main parameter is to choose the spread of weapons throughout the world, the result will be one, and if we take the effectiveness of the weapon as a basis for another, reliability is the third and so on. But I hope that my rating turned out to be more objective than the rating of the Discovery channel.
Information