Re: Auto-rifles in boot camp

[email removed] (M.A.S.) writes:
> Steve Higginbotham writes:
>
> >>Just finished basic with a standard semi-auto rifle???  When did we
> >>switch to a semi-auto rifle for basic training?  I thought we were still
> >>using the M-16, and full auto is part of training with the M-16...
>
> Well, when I was in boot camp, we had M-16 A1's and they were full auto.
> However, you actually only *saw* them fired full auto once, and, if you
> were one of the lucky dozen or chosen from an entire company, fired it
> full auto yourself.

I have not been in any military service myself, but I can tell you that
until recently, the British Army at least did use semi-auto rifles.  Their
SLR (Self-Loading Rifle) was a version of the Belgian FN-FAL, modified so
that it could not fire full auto.  Why it was so modified, I do not know;
perhaps to save ammo, perhaps to save money on ammo, perhaps to encourage
the soldiers to shoot more accurately, perhaps because letting a soldier
loose with a full auto weapon in a situation such as the streets of Belfast
was decided to be too risky.  The decision has since been reversed, though,
because the newer rifle, the SA-80, can fire full auto.  Mind you, it only
fires those toy 5.56mm bullets, so perhaps it needs to. :-)

(Yeah, I know, they aren't really toys, and I wouldn't want to be hit by
one! :-)

- --
 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt     |JANET:  [email removed]
 UUCP: ..!uknet!cee.hw.ac.uk!adrian  |  ARPA:  [email removed]