Wish I Got the Military Channel

I've got Adelphia, and to be frank, they SUCK. I've caught the Military Channel at other people's houses and really find it interesting. Here's an example of a show that I would have watched, but I can only hear about. Kim du Toit goes into looking at the MilChannel's show that ranks the military battle rifles.

Dunno if you guys watched that show on the Military Channel which ranked the Top Ten Combat Rifles of all time.

Here, for those who didn’t get to see the show, are the rifles, in order:

1. AK-47
2. M-16
3. SMLE
4. M1 Garand
5. FN-FAL
6. Mauser K98k
7. Steyr AUG
8. Springfield ‘03
9. Sturmgewehr-44
10. M14

I like the way they make the standards of measurement contemporaneous—ie. how effective the rifle was in its time—but I completely disagree that part of the value of the rifle is its longevity: the time it spent in service. This, no doubt, was the reason the M16 scored as well as it did—there can be no other reason.

I’m not going to get into another “why the M16 sucks” argument, because frankly, I’m tired of it.

Suffice it to say that my list of Top Ten rifles is somewhat different:

I like his list better in any case. I always wince at these lists, mainly because the criteria are always a touch flawed. I hate to admit that I'd go with the AK-47 as well, but more for reason that it's near idiot proof more than for any other reason. If I had to carry a battle rifle, I'd prefer something like the M-14 in a scout rifle configuration.

I was also a bit baffled that the G3 wasn't on the list. Well, I like Kim's list better, though I haven't tried a couple of those on the list. (Though I have tried 8 of them and own 5 of them.)

It is an interesting topic. It would be interesting to figure out what the best criterion would be for forming this list.