Just what would be considered the best infantry combat rifle of WWII?

[SilverRun]

Originally Posted by wunhunglo

For Bolt action it has to be the Lee-Enfield number 4 & for semi the M1 Garand

Yea, what he said.

[JC506]

The M1 because it is semi automatic and has a powerful round.

[kygunsmith]

When the US put a rugged reliable 8 shot semiauto in every infantryman's hands it radically changed tactics. One guy going "Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam" while his buddy moved on the enemy. There is no comparison between the M1 and any other combat rifle of WWII. Of course things might be different if Germany or Russia had had the industrial might to produce millions of their semi-autos.

[MgMn48]

The M1 is probably the best all around rifle. It was reliable, rugged, versatile, and powerful. Later in the war the Germans had their Gewehr 43 a close fight for the M1 but they could never produce enough. Don't forget about the trench gun. There was no comparison for it during the war. And in the Pacific fight the flamethrower was one of the most valued weapons. Sorry for getting off base we are supposed to be talking about rifles.

[JAKEtheSNAKE]

i think the m1 cabine

[soonerborn]

Well if you go by which one has been most widely adopted and is still being used to make guns today then hands down its the 98k. The action is by far the most popular.

[minkowski1552]

M1. With it many soldiers could direct a great amount of firepower, using a high velocity projectile, at the enemy in a short amount of time . Talking about an infantry rifle and not a machine gun.

[mdj696]

All of John Browning's designs. 1919A4, Bar-solid constuction and reliability. Fired em both in Army. Not to mention the HB M2, still used heavily today, thats got to tell you something. I heard Brens light machine guns were highly rated. My God, i loved that BAR.

[wunhunglo]

MDJ the thread was on Infantry rifle but I concur on your comments on the Bren guns we had; got to be one of the best LMG's ever designed and one of the most accurate (said by some to have been a failing!!) I've used the L4 version (7.62) on many occasions and it was last used(I think) to very good effect in the Falklands conflict where our regular troops had to strip our reserve unit armouries of their L4's because by that time it had been officially declared obsolete for use by front line troops. Luckily, at that time, the troops got what they wanted, not what the politicos decided they needed!

[mdj696]

Was watching a weponology program and the Enfield was ranked I think 2nd. I'm personaly prejudiced towards the Enfield. 1st generation Scotland. Got 2 cousins in Zimbawe (Southern Rhodesia). Uncle very well known doctor in Rhodesia. I agree the M-1 for fire power, and then again I'd rank the Enfield for firepower and accurracy. In Viet Nam I use to envy the ARVN using our WWII weapons compared the our jamming 16s.

[Taurus Fan]

Really isn't anything to argue about, the M1 Garand, thought that was considered a universal truth.

[Capt'n Mil Coll]

I find this question to be the reason why I collect WWII Long Rifles. I shoot Russian against Jap, US against SA, German against Brit. The US had a huge tactial advantage against all the other countries in that EVERY GI had a semi-auto rifle in the field. Granted there were some exceptions at the beginning of the entry of the US into the war and some sniper rifles. But over all the GI had at least 8 shots before they had to reload. Shoot a Garand against a K98 and the Garand has all the shots out before the K98 has fired 3 shots. Or in the South Pacific the M1 Carbine had a standard 15 round clip. Shoot that against a Type 99 or 38 and see how many shots you can get out before the Arisaka has to reload. It is true near the end of the war the Russians developed a semi and so did the Germans. But these were too few, too far between and too late to matter.
The question was what was the best rifle of WWII? So the Garand is heavy; because of that you can shoot it all day. I have easily put 800 rounds through one in one day. 100 8 round en bloc clips. And as far as a reliable rifle my uncle who carried a Garand in Sicily Italy France Austria and Germany said he went all through that with not one FTF or FTE. No hangs no jams.
I'd vote for the Garand.

[Taurus Fan]

Originally Posted by JAKEtheSNAKE

i think the m1 cabine

(drum rimshot, then short pause allowed for laughter to subside)

[two-70]

M1 Garand no doubt, 2nd would be the 1903-A3 Springfield

[TRUE GRIT]

M1 Garand hands down. If it had not worked so well for my grandfather on Guam , I might not be here today.

[cheapblaster]

Was thinking about how to rate the various rifles, pros and cons, but it all boils down to this -

If I had to go into combat with one, THE M1 GARAND! Powerful, accurate, reliable and able to quickly put lots of lead on target.

[Don357]

I would have to agree on the M-1 Garand for a semi-auto and a 98k for a bolt, although the Mosin was not to be discounted. As for the Enfield, the mark4 jungle carbine was a POS, but better than nothing.

[gandog56]

M1, and not just because it was American.

[GlennM]

I'd vote for the Garand.

+1

[frothing]

The best WW2 rifle, hands down, is the German assault rifle known as the Sturmgewhr. It was way ahead of its time and nobody had anything like it. Most automatics were machine pistols which lacked knockdown power or range of the Sturmgewhr. The second in line is the Garand