Best Rifle of WWII

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Best Rifle of WWII (Page 1 of 3)

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:01:01 PM EDT

Have we done this?

Garand for most of the war then probably the STG-44.

I do not think any bolt action can even be a candidate but I will admit I am not an expert. I think just about every country had a semi auto rifle though maybe not in great numbers.

Is this even a debatable topic?

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:02:13 PM EDT

[#1]

Until the introduction of the STG-44, the M1 Carbine was the best small arm of the war.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:04:03 PM EDT

[#2]

I think Patton had some kind of quote about this?

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:04:25 PM EDT

[#3]

As bolt rifles go, I'd put the Lee Enfield on top.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:08:40 PM EDT

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:
I think Patton had some kind of quote about this?

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Yep Garand was the finest implement of war ever developed. The best rifle of WWII hands down.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:09:46 PM EDT

[#5]

Quote History

Quoted:
Until the introduction of the STG-44, the M1 Carbine was the best small arm of the war.

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This!

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:10:13 PM EDT

[#6]

What is this Garland you speak of?

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:10:57 PM EDT

[#7]

Quote History

Quoted:
As bolt rifles go, I'd put the Lee Enfield on top.

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Definitely.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:11:26 PM EDT

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:
Until the introduction of the STG-44, the M1 Carbine was the best small arm of the war.

View Quote

Try buttstroking a Nazi with a carbine and get back to us.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:12:47 PM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
Until the introduction of the STG-44, the M1 Carbine was the best small arm of the war.

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I love this answer, but I imagine the Garand fans would argue though.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:16:01 PM EDT

[#10]

Garand

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:16:51 PM EDT

[#11]

How dare you!!!

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:18:38 PM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:
Until the introduction of the STG-44, the M1 Carbine was the best small arm of the war.

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Carbine? You’ve got to be kidding.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:41:41 PM EDT

[#13]

OP needs to define "best".
Most reliable? Probably the Mauser Kar98K. Best rate of firepower? M1 Garand (I'm talking standard issue here. STG 44 was better, but was not standard issue). Easiest to maintain? Lee-Enfield. Most produced? Moisin Nagant. Toughest? Probably the Japanese Arisaka (until late 44, when quality went to shit). Most influential? STG44.
M1 carbine? Hardly. As a replacement for a pistol it was great, which is what it was intended to be. It armed truck drivers, weapons crews, officers, MPs, people who had up to that time been armed with pistols. But it was not a great battle rifle. It was at best adequate. Even worse, in original form, the sights left a lot to be desired, and it was all too easy to accidentally eject the magazine , since both safety and mag release were buttons. And it did not accept a bayonet, which should tell you what the army thought it's real purpose was, since pistols do not accept bayonets either. (Sights and safety were changed and a new front band that incorporated a bayonet lug were added post-war)

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:43:54 PM EDT

[#14]

Carbine yeah... ever talked to a WWii vet?

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:44:54 PM EDT

[#15]

Fg42.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:44:57 PM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:
Try buttstroking a Nazi with a carbine and get back to us.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Until the introduction of the STG-44, the M1 Carbine was the best small arm of the war.

Try buttstroking a Nazi with a carbine and get back to us.

That would be no problem. You could fuck someone up with a carbine.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:45:56 PM EDT

[#17]

Springfield and M1 Garand were the best and so were the people carrying them.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:46:07 PM EDT

[#18]

Garland?

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:46:40 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
Have we done this?

Garland for most of the war then probably the STG-44.

I do not think any bolt action can even be a candidate but I will admit I am not an expert. I think just about every country had a semi auto rifle though maybe not in great numbers.

Is this even a debatable topic?

View Quote

I love the Garlands too!

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:48:24 PM EDT

[#20]

Seriously, the M1 was the best. It should have been in .276 and have a detachable mag though.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:49:03 PM EDT

[#21]

US RIFLE CAL 30 M1

Attached File

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:49:36 PM EDT

[#22]

I got to shoot an STG-44 today. So, there's that.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:49:47 PM EDT

[#23]

Quote History

Quoted:
Until the introduction of the STG-44, the M1 Carbine was the best small arm of the war.

View Quote

What the fuck is going on in this thread?!

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:51:25 PM EDT

[#24]

STG-44 was the most advanced with it's shortened necked .30 caliber cartridge and detachable 30 round magazine.

How do you judge "best"? Most accurate? Highest rate of fire? Most enemies killed per weapon issued? Most reliable?

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:52:33 PM EDT

[#25]

Quote History

Quoted:
US RIFLE CAL 30 M1

https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/109108/DSC00629_zpsqjtgc9vn_1__jpg-838813.JPG

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M2 AP even!

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:52:50 PM EDT

[#26]

Quote History

Quoted:
What is this Garland you speak of?

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Auto correct ate my ass.

Posted: 2/8/2019 11:55:25 PM EDT

[#27]

Quote History

Quoted:
STG-44 was the most advanced with it's shortened necked .30 caliber cartridge and detachable 30 round magazine.

How do you judge "best"? Most accurate? Highest rate of fire? Most enemies killed per weapon issued? Most reliable?

View Quote

‘Best’. Given a choice, which would you take off the table if you were going into combat? A blend of rural and urban combat.

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:11:03 AM EDT

[#28]

Quote History

Quoted:
Carbine yeah... ever talked to a WWii vet?

View Quote

what would they say about the carbine?

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:11:15 AM EDT

[#29]

Quote History

Quoted:
Until the introduction of the STG-44, the M1 Carbine was the best small arm of the war.

View Quote

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:13:09 AM EDT

[#30]

Quote History

Quoted:
As bolt rifles go, I'd put the Lee Enfield on top.

View Quote

I'm more of a Kar98 guy when it comes to bolt actions...

... That being said M1 Garand all day.

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:14:05 AM EDT

[#31]

Quote History

Quoted:
That would be no problem. You could fuck someone up with a carbine.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Until the introduction of the STG-44, the M1 Carbine was the best small arm of the war.

Try buttstroking a Nazi with a carbine and get back to us.

That would be no problem. You could fuck someone up with a carbine.

Damn right.

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:14:15 AM EDT

[#32]

M1 Garand.

STG44 wasn't a rifle but an Assault rifle. Plus it wasn't widely fielded.

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:17:15 AM EDT

[#33]

Quote History

Quoted:

what would they say about the carbine?

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Audie Murphy’s favorite, but then he liked to head shoot motherfuckers.

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:19:29 AM EDT

[#34]

Well there were our Springfields, too.

WWII US Rifles by SoloDallas, on Flickr

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:21:24 AM EDT

[#35]

the m1 carbine, but it had extraordinarily shitty mags (if i remember correctly)

the BAR is second

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:24:06 AM EDT

[#36]

Quote History

Quoted:
Carbine yeah... ever talked to a WWii vet?

View Quote

My old man was a medic and was issued a carbine, he liked it so much he bought one from DCM when he got out. Audie Murphy loved em too and was known for buying them for friends.

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:26:43 AM EDT

[#37]

Quote History

Quoted:

what would they say about the carbine?

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Generally that it was underpowered af and not all that awesome

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:27:17 AM EDT

[#38]

Bolt rifles, I'd give the nod to the Enfield...

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:45:47 AM EDT

[#39]

Stalin's Garand.

SVT-40

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:48:23 AM EDT

[#40]

Quote History

Quoted:

Generally that it was underpowered af and not all that awesome

View Quote

what caliber were the carbines in? I don't even know.

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:49:43 AM EDT

[#41]

Other vote for the M1 Garand.

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:53:05 AM EDT

[#42]

Quote History

Quoted:

what caliber were the carbines in? I don't even know.

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.30 carbine. And don't listen to the haters, carbines are magical little guns. They ooze history. Fought in three wars, and countless conflicts around the globe. They represent the sheer might of America at it's peak....the U.S. Carbine .30cal was built by jukebox, typewriter, automobile, IBM, and many other various prime and sub contractors to make b/t 6-7 million of them in well under 5 years.

They are one of the most fun guns I've ever shot.

Posted: 2/9/2019 12:54:49 AM EDT

[#43]

Garand until fg42 or stg44

Posted: 2/9/2019 1:06:09 AM EDT

[#44]

Quote History

Quoted:
Seriously, the M1 was the best. It should have been in .276 and have a detachable mag though.

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Garand gets my vote as well. 276 would have been a better choice but the millions of rounds of surplus .30-06 stockpiled from World War I was the deciding factor in choosing the caliber.

My 1943 CMP Winchester goes with me to the range quite often.

Posted: 2/9/2019 1:34:43 AM EDT

[#45]

FG42.

To those that say STG44, I love that gun...but it had a lot of issues, as pretty much all pioneering design achievements tend to have. Look at the Swiss watch of a trigger mechanism that's in those things. To work, these guns were essentially a bunch of custom handmade 1 offs. Don't get me wrong, I love to rip through an entire mag as I strafe across those alleys in Day of Defeat, but I can't consider it anywhere close to the best gun of the war. Rather have an mp40, an m1 carbine, etc first, but FG42 is prolly #1. Amazing rifles.

Posted: 2/9/2019 2:50:23 AM EDT

[#46]

Quote History

Quoted:
FG42.

To those that say STG44, I love that gun...but it had a lot of issues, as pretty much all pioneering design achievements tend to have. Look at the Swiss watch of a trigger mechanism that's in those things. To work, these guns were essentially a bunch of custom handmade 1 offs. Don't get me wrong, I love to rip through an entire mag as I strafe across those alleys in Day of Defeat, but I can't consider it anywhere close to the best gun of the war. Rather have an mp40, an m1 carbine, etc first, but FG42 is prolly #1. Amazing rifles.

View Quote

I love the FG42 more than anyone, but its inferior to the STG44. M14 vs m16.

Posted: 2/9/2019 3:05:09 AM EDT

[#47]

It would depend on the situation.

Walking hundreds of miles in jungle heavily laden like Merrill's Marauders? M1 Carbine.

Kasserine Pass? Garand.

Holding a line against the Soviets? STG44.

Posted: 2/9/2019 3:11:05 AM EDT

[#48]

Since artillery killed more soldiers in WWII than small arms I'd have to go with the German 88mm in all it different guises. Heck we even put captured 88's to use against the Germans when we ran into supply problems which resulted in a lack of artillery rounds making it to the front.

Posted: 2/9/2019 3:45:43 AM EDT

[#49]

M1A Garland

Posted: 2/9/2019 4:02:36 AM EDT

[#50]

Quote History

Quoted:
OP needs to define "best".
Most reliable? Probably the Mauser Kar98K. Best rate of firepower? M1 Garand (I'm talking standard issue here. STG 44 was better, but was not standard issue). Easiest to maintain? Lee-Enfield. Most produced? Moisin Nagant. Toughest? Probably the Japanese Arisaka (until late 44, when quality went to shit). Most influential? STG44.
M1 carbine? Hardly. As a replacement for a pistol it was great, which is what it was intended to be. It armed truck drivers, weapons crews, officers, MPs, people who had up to that time been armed with pistols. But it was not a great battle rifle. It was at best adequate. Even worse, in original form, the sights left a lot to be desired, and it was all too easy to accidentally eject the magazine , since both safety and mag release were buttons. And it did not accept a bayonet, which should tell you what the army thought it's real purpose was, since pistols do not accept bayonets either. (Sights and safety were changed and a new front band that incorporated a bayonet lug were added post-war)

View Quote

They issued like 400,000.

The STG44 was the best service rifle developed until the AKM. Then the AKM was the best until the M16 pattern guns, and nobody's beaten that yet.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Best Rifle of WWII (Page 1 of 3)

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