Favorite Cold War Small Arm?

[Douglas Jr.]

FN FAL, in any version...



Pistol is the Browning Hi-Power (I know it is a pre-WWII design, but its career spanned entire Cold War age). Much better than the Beretta 92...

[Thiel]

I've always been a fan of the Madsen LAR

[P64inDixie]

Got to go with my baby.



And yes, this is MY baby. Beautiful isn't she?

Notice the wooden pistol grip. They stopped using wood in the grip after the 50's. The wood furniture on this AKM is Soviet-era AK-74 replica (the lightning groove in the buttstock is the give away). It was the only way to get the wood grip, which I get many compliments on.

[Dunash]

Got to be the RPD, super little belt fed LMG in 7,62 x 39.

[P64inDixie]

IMHO, the Warsaw Pact countries had the superior small arms of the Cold War. I know the argument between the AR-15 platform (direct gas impengement system) vs. the almighty Kalashnikov pattern rifle (piston system) is an eternal struggle of internet tough guy talk...so I'm not trying to convert anyone over to the right side of the argument.

Seriously though, communist-built small arms present the most practical and lethal option more often than not. The freakin Mujahadeen held off the military-might of both Great Super Powers of this era in some of the most unhospitable terrain on the planet, with little more than AKM rifles and RPGs.

The most important advantage the typical commie gun offers the user is its sheer ruggedness. It is true that the AR-15 platform is a fine weapon that has allowed the United States' militaries to dominate the battlefield in every arena. However, get out in the bush for a time without the proper cleaning impliments for her and your soldier is in trouble. That simply isn't a problem for the AKM.

OK, stepping off my soap box.

Oh, I also really like the FN/FAL. rock 'n roll.

[South]

Good morning P64 in Dixie,

Re: "The most important advantage the typical commie gun.....ruggedness";

A strong argument can be made that the Warsaw Pact's most important advantage was COST.

Ruggedness was also seen in NATO/SEATO/ANZUS/CENTO/+plus other spinoffs. The M1 rifle and M1 carbine displayed ruggedness along with the M2 50 cal machine gun. The famous US pistol, the 45 cal M1911A1 was rugged......partly because it was relatively big and could nearly pulverize sand. Compare it to the eg Soviet 9mm Mararov pistol (a Russian plagerized Walther PPK ?!).

To distill it all; concur with your point that the Warsaw Pact fielded the superior small arms....but the superiority was in COMECON/CMEA controlling costs. At least, this is how I view all this stuff.........


Warm regards,

Bob

[P64inDixie]

Bob I find no faults in your argument, I agree with you. I think the true answer lies somewhere in between our two points though. The ability of the communist countries to produce such rugged and reliable small arms at such a low cost is what made them superior.

[Basaltic]

My favourite weapon from the Cold-war era would have to be the FN MAG, a.k.a. MAG-58, or M240 in US military nomenclature, general-purpose, or multipurpose, machine gun. It has an excellent pedigree using a modified system of the BAR M1918A2, basically the BAR mechanism turned upside down so it locks on the floor of the receiver rather than on the top of the receiver as does the BAR, and the feed mechanism is taken directly from the MG-42, which has a very positive feed for a belt-fed machine gun. Reliable and extensively used throughout the non-Communist world, it was the perfect complementary weapon to the FN FAL and produced a horrifyingly high volume of fire when used on either a bipod as a light machine gun or on a tripod in the medium-machine-gun role. Not a weapon of especially attractive lines, what it lacks in aesthetics it more than makes up for in effectiveness.

[LWD]

As has been fairly clearly demonstrated in recent events wether or not the Warsaw pact small arms were supperior to western ones depends a lot on whose using them and ammo supply. For relativly poorly trained troops with an ample ammo supply the Warsaw Pact weapons do appear to be on top although not necessarily better than some WWII period western weapons. For well trained troops that appears not to be the case.

It should also be pointed out that the cost of the weapon is a pretty minor cost when you look at the total cost of putting a soldier on the field.

[ChristopherPerrien]

My favourite weapon from the Cold-war era would have to be the FN MAG, a.k.a. MAG-58, or M240 in US military nomenclature, general-purpose, or multipurpose, machine gun. .

Basaltic

Those definitely are alot of fun , and very reliable, unless you fire a few 1000 rds continuously, then they sometimes blow-up.

[Simperator]

Got to go with my baby.



And yes, this is MY baby. Beautiful isn't she?

Notice the wooden pistol grip. They stopped using wood in the grip after the 50's. The wood furniture on this AKM is Soviet-era AK-74 replica (the lightning groove in the buttstock is the give away). It was the only way to get the wood grip, which I get many compliments on.

And this is now mine
I chose the wooden grip, too. Hungarian, dressed up as Soviet.

[Basaltic]

My favourite weapon from the Cold-war era would have to be the FN MAG, a.k.a. MAG-58, or M240 in US military nomenclature, general-purpose, or multipurpose, machine gun. .

Basaltic

Those definitely are alot of fun , and very reliable, unless you fire a few 1000 rds continuously, then they sometimes blow-up.

I vaguely recall, too, that during trials for I think it was the Brit army, they found that the rivets holding the receiver together would split or fracture after firing some thousands of rounds, I can't remember the actual figure.

And thanks for the welcome, Christopher.

[jtemple507]

Although I've never actually fired any weapon, I have seen many Cold War-era guns being fired in videos and on TV shows. I'm not going to base my favorite off of video games, because the weapons tend to be very biased, for example, I noticed in most Call of Dutys that enemy weapons tend to kill quicker than "good" forces' weapons. But this is about real-life guns, so my favorite is the M60. It may have been heavy, but the M60 was a powerful machine-gun that was basically a larger, heavier, overall improved MG42. I wouldn't want to be an NVA soldier (in this case the North Vietnamese Army, not Nationale Volksarmee) armed with a simple AK charging at a US soldier with an M60!

[Penn44]

Although I've never actually fired any weapon …

You do know that there are places in your state that you can go to experience firing weapons of all sorts.

But this is about real-life guns, so my favorite is the M60. It may have been heavy, but the M60 was a powerful machine-gun …!

Yes, it was heavy and so were the cans of ammo.

Penn44

.

[jtemple507]

Although I've never actually fired any weapon …

You do know that there are places in your state that you can go to experience firing weapons of all sorts.

But this is about real-life guns, so my favorite is the M60. It may have been heavy, but the M60 was a powerful machine-gun …!

Yes, it was heavy and so were the cans of ammo.

Penn44

.

I realize that there are many such places, however, I am a high school student and my dad will not let me take a gun safety class, however much I may want to.