In Your opinion, which is the best battle rifle ever made?

[Skyman]

My vote goes to the .303 British.Your thoughts?

[knifejunkie]

AK - Freakin......47 ,no questions asked

[goodboy_mentor]

Avtomat Kalashnikova.

[Prabhath]

The Mosin Nagant.

[ramtiger]

SLR 7.62

[Mark]

It would depend on which battle.

[tandavbaba]

I have never used a .303 neither an ak nor an M16 so i dont know honestly cos i will never have a first hand shooting experience till the day i live in India.

But as per my

"internet studies"

M16 is much more accurate if maintained every day, AK will fire every time even if it is full of mud and dirt but it is not necessary that an auto fire non accurate weapon which has a heavy ammunition is better, M16 was state of the art weapon developed by the Americans and my vote goes to that.

for close range AK has got better fire power but for medium range M16 is way better and accurate....FIVE FIVE SIXERS RULE!!!!

[Vineet]

Great rifle chambered for a great cartridge

FN FAL

[Sakobav]

INSAS 5.56 - -end of discussion

[Skyman]

[timmy]

To be picky, a battle rifle is considered to be a full-powered cartridge firing weapon. Examples of battle rifle cartridges are 8x57, 30-06, 7.62x51 NATO, 303 British, 7.62x54r, etc.

Weapons firing reduced power cartridges like 7.62x39, 5.56 NATO, etc, are normally considered assault rifles, of which the AK47 and the M16 are examples.

For my vote, the best bolt action battle rifle would be the No.4 Mk 1 British Enfield, given its lightning-fast action, large capacity magazine, and good sights.

For an overall weapon, the M1 Garand gave yeoman service in WW2 and Korea, and its refined successor, the M14 has something to say for it. The Soviet SVT-40 (in the form of its predecessor, the SVT-38) beat the Garand into service and might have proven more successful, had it been developed more. However, overall, the FN-FAL would seem to me to have an edge here.

Regarding the assault rifle debate, I try to stay away from that never-ending argument!

[Hammerhead]

Mauser all the way ............

[captrakshitsharma]

I second haji.....Mauser bolt action .....

[xl_target]

For my vote, the best bolt action battle rifle would be the No.4 Mk 1 British Enfield, given its lightning-fast action, large capacity magazine, and good sights.

Ditto. The rate of fire is exceptional for a bolt. The bolt can also be thrown without moving the rifle out of position. Though this can be done with several rifles, very few can match the rate of fire of the No.1 MkIII/ No. 4 Mk1 action.

However, overall, the FN-FAL would seem to me to have an edge here.

The AK47, AK 74, M16 series, M-4 series, etc are usually classified as Assault rifles rather than battle rifles (as Tim mentioned). IMO, the FAL easily edges out the Garand or the M14 for overall utility. The CETME/G3 comes close but I too prefer the FAL/SLR/L1A1.

[essdee1972]

Just like Tandavbaba above, Google is my best friend......

Agree with Tim and Xl_target on the SMLE, with a tiny caveat - it has to be in good hands. Like the British Army guys whose volley fire made the Germans think they were facing machine guns in WW1. Not like the Mumbai Police armed with similar rifles on 26/11. If we recall, the Indian Army faced the Chinese in 1962 with SMLEs. The Chinese had (AFAIK) inducted the Type 56 assault rifle (reverse engineered AK47) by then. (Just by the way, the government seems strangely silent on the 50th anniversary of that episode this year.)
Also agree with the gentlemen above on the FN-FAL. As per an ex-Indian Army relative of mine, that (i.e. the licensed IOF product) was the best he had handled. This guy had faced action, in 1971, if my memory serves me correctly.

The AK series (although not battle rifles) is supposed to be quite inaccurate in burst mode, but then, the modern philosophy seems to be leaning towards a "wall of bullets" rather than aim-and-fire. I remember reading somewhere, sometime back (probably Keegan or someone like that), that ..... "the British Army is the only one in the Western world to retain intensive aimed fire training. Most armies are arming their infantry regiments almost exclusively with assault rifles or even sub-machine guns......." etc. (this is the gist, not a verbatim quote). Which is quite reflected in this thread - almost all the weapons discussed above are historical!