Is the standard issue Australian Reserve Army rifle sufficient?

The most common discussion about rifles is the 5.56mm (.223cal) round.

And believe me, a 5.56 round is more than enough to take anyone down, it has more muzzle velocity and stopping power than a .45cal pistol round and a .45 will take anyone down as well...

The 5.56x45mm rounds produce terrible wounds and they are mainly designed to wound, but they can kill very well as well...

the Russian 5.45x39mm was called the "posion" bullet in Afghanistan by the Afghani's during the Russian/Afghan war

Link to Royal Marines site - Has a pretty good flash game, as well as plenty of information on the Royal Marines (Commando)

As can be seen, the Royal Marines are not just Marines, but Commandos too.

The 5.56x45mm rounds produce terrible wounds and they are mainly designed to wound, but they can kill very well as well...

They claim that this wounding is just an inherent 'side effect' of the design, unlike the soviet 'fireball' round', which was specifically designed with the centre of gravity off-centre to induce tumbling when hitting a person, thus slicing up their insides. The 'fireball' round is banned under international law.
(i read this in janes small arms 95 a the library)

[edit on 25/11/04 by minimi]

I used to hunt rabbits with a Winchester lever-action .22 over open sights and Brno bolt-action with a Tasco 'scope.

The Winchester was okay for between 50 and 70 metres. The Brno/Tasco combination guaranteed a hit out to 100. After that a .22 loses all its power.

That was spotlighting off the back of a ute. We just needed the food for a pet Wedgie!

The old man had a Chinese SKS which he traded for a Lee Enfield 'cause it was the most uselss thing he'd ever had the misfortune to use.

I was using a Styre AUG...with the 10X optical site

Lying prone I would expect that kind of accuracy with a Steyr Aug. You've got a military round and a 'scope as standard. The problem is when you have to do it when other people are firing at you. It's like photography, some people are naturals, others are not.
After WW2 one American seriously po'd the army and marines by doing a study. He read after-actin reports and interviewed grunts, a lot of them. His conclusions were that roughly one round in ten (or even less) found a target or even had a target. He said man's disinclination to kill led him to shoot high or to the side. After that targets were changed from bullseyes to human cut-outs. But it still takes training to make a shooter relax properly. There's a serious technique to shooting, something most people don't understand.

>>As for 300m, that's about all you can expect from most people, trained or not. Even with that little 1.5x scope on the top most people won't hit their target if it's that far away. It takes a lot of practice as well as training and let's face it, Sergeants have been quoted as saying the SLR scared recruits, just because a gun can kill at 1200m doesn't mean the soldier using it can.

>>The original Commandoes were Boer irregulars, mounted farmers fighting guerilla style against empire forces.

I was reading a magazine called "Guns combat annual 2003" and they ran an artical with a heading of " failure of the 5.56". Here's a quote,

"....the troops want a round that will put the enemy down with one hit, the currant issue 5.56 round is proving itself to be woefully inadequate as a man stopper".

They ran a report after Operation Anaconda about the 5.56x45mm. They claimed troops are scoring hits, in many case's multiple, centre-of-mass torso hits, but the bad guys are not going down. That is the last thing a soldier needs, to hit a target not have him stay down. If his up to it he could give you the bird, when he should be dead.

The M16's rifling twist rate of 1 : 7 inches makes the weapon stable, accurate and can pierce body armour. However, the bullet has a tendency to remain stable, even after striking an adversary, with a resultantly small wound channel. This effect the bullet has put together with the fact that most if not all the Afghanistan people are slim built, have little to eat, and malnurished there is'nt much for the bullet to warp on.

well thats my two cents hope it helps. Also if you want to find out a bit about the SAS read some of the books X-members are putting out they quite an intresting read.
Stay safe.

I am also looking forward to joining the military when I finish school. Year 11 and 12 left still lol. Either RAIC or RAAC is for me and one day I wouldhopefully like to be SAS or Commando. Royal Australian Intelligence Corpse is something I would like to be apart of aswell.

Now days the ADF are starting to use M16 and such like the yanks do we still use the good old Steyer and IMO its a pretty good gun.

22 ASAS are the special forces who get to do all the fun jobs and die in places like Iraq.

Btw to the guy who said that.. As for Australia the only casualty we have had during the war on terroism was an SAS member in Afghanistan he lost his life on a patrol due to a land mind ripping through the landrover he was in.

Why is it that bullpups are crap, could it be that noone you know has shown you a good way to load one in combat?
In response to the original question the steyr is a very very good rifle. I don't know maybe I'm just partial because I fire lefty and brass in the face while tolerable has never become a favorite experience of mine. Also the steyr Aug has multiple barrell options in mil spec use.

Originally posted by 7mm08
>>The original Commandoes were Boer irregulars, mounted farmers fighting guerilla style against empire forces.

Originally posted by HowlrunnerIV

Originally posted by 7mm08
>>The original Commandoes were Boer irregulars, mounted farmers fighting guerilla style against empire forces.

we can argue all day about what weapon to use in combat. I served for a number of years, and used multiple weapons during that time. I also trained with numerous other countries militaries and their weapons. I scored consistantly perfect on the range with both the M4 and the M16, and expert with the the M14 and the G3. I cant hit squat with the Styer, or the IW80A2, nifty little gun the brits use. Yet some of their guys were the same when it came to switching weapons with me. A lot of it is the user and the training. As far as ballistics, Id prefer a 7.62 over a 5.56, but then, ive carried 1000 rounds of each, and Guess what round id rather carry? I dont know many people willing to keep their head up when bullets are flying over it, so unfortunately, spray and pray is one of the most effective fire fight techniques ive encountered. A good sniper a few hundred meters behind nailing the guy thats keeping your head down helps too. Another thing, I was also a machine gunner. the 240B is a superior weapon with a 7.62 round. The guy thats knocked down byt the 556, gets back up in a daze, only to get cut in half by a hail of rounds from the gunner. Most militaries know what they are doing, and thats why they use a small round for most, and a heavy round for a few.
Good luck with your military career, remember he has to reload sometime, thats when your gunner covers you, and you head tap the dirty rat.

Why do you want to join an amry that is controled a few cooperations and big banks?

Do you just want shoot and forget what your fighting for?

Hi "thinker" nice of you to be here, representing the soap dodging hippys, and with such an ironic name too...

Seeing as you are so knowledgeable on the subject of militaries, perhaps you can tell us something about the Commonwealth Bank's Amry? How about the American State Bank's, or the Bank of Englands Amry? I can't speak for everyone here, but i sure would like to hear about the Amries that are "controled a few cooperations and big banks"

Perhaps you should read your posts before posting them, so that you don't make spelling, and grammar mistakes which detract from your argument. (Which in this case was 2 lines, and not very convincing anyway.)

For anyone who was wondering, last time i checked, the Australian Army Reserves, and the Australian Army in general are being run by the department of defence.

Cheers,
Reflector

Holy moly, look at this version of the gun. Talk about a close combat gun!

Nice! Never seen that before. Clear a room with that no worrys. Anyone know any of the specs of the weapon? Could be made for the soldiers that are not in the front line but still need a weapon with punch.

[edit on 4-1-2005 by Die Trying]

I might be able to help with the specs for that gun that is above in the picture :-

Calibre - 6mm BB PELLETS
Powered by ELECTRICITY
Is a MINI ELECTRIC AIRSOFT fun gun

Most definitly NOT A REAL GUN

Tell me, when you saw it, did you not notice the Tag on it?

It also has a sticker on it, and the file has the name Mauri on it, which is a company that make BB Airsoft Guns.

LOL, You Lot are so Gulible

Oh and just one more thing before I die of laughter... do you REALLY think that the magazine on that thing could fit 5.56mm bullets?!

LOL!

That toy could very well have been a PDW version of the AUG if it was real. Im not sure if they make a PDW version but I imagine it would look similar, if not slightly bigger..but I doubt it exists. But if it did, that mag would house 9mm or perhaps a customised 4.6mm round like the MP7 takes. A 5.56mm through a tiny barrel like that would be impractical obviously.

edit: PDW's (Personal Defense Weapon) are used by VIP s and other personnel, as an above poster asked, who may not be in a combat role. I think they are also used by tank crews and chopper crews, such as the P90 or MP5k. I gather the MP7 will replace the MP5k because of its smaller size and custom round which looks more like a baby rifle round.

[edit on 5-1-2005 by cargo]