Wow. Where do I start?
Wait, so there were supposed to be Battle Rifles in the game from the start? I would have loved that, even more so if the Rangers and Ranger Vets had those Battle Rifles (I guess an M14 model would be appropriate, seeing as it fires .308). I always though the Caesar's Legion Centurions would have been better with Brush Guns and Trail Carbines.
The US Rifle, M1, produced at Springfield Armory, commonly called the Garand after it's principle designer has been chambered in .308 (well, 7.62 NATO). There were many in US Navy shipboard armories that underwent a refit with a press-in chamber sleeve to rechamber them for the new NATO round. Eventually all the rifles were replaced with M14s, which was just a major re-invention of the M1. The Navy always is a little behind in their service rifle replacement. When I was in the Marines, well after the US Army and Marines had trasitioned to the M16A1, all the Navy tugs I was forced to take a taxi ride on still had M14s in the armories. That was the first time I'd gotten a chance to shoot one. For all I know, they still use them. Haven't been shipboard for decades now so I don't know if they ever got M16s.
Yep, a lot of good those expensive weapons and fancy tanks did them :spotted owl:
*Most* German weapons of the time period were incredibly well designed, manufacured and were among the best weapons in their respective classes. Late in the war, when resources were scant their weapons reflected their poor manufacuring capability, but going into the war they were outfitted with some first class gear and it only got better. They did have some room for improvement, as many of their sidearms were in a very small caliber, 7.65 (our Browning designed .32ACP), their largest handgun round was the 9mm, and they stuck with a bolt-action service rifle for most of the war because their attempts to produce a viable semi-automatic service rifle failed for many years. They did finally field the Gewehr 43 and eventually the SturmGewehr 44, the latter a much better weapon than the first and a direct ancestor of many rifles you know and love today, ie. G3, CETME, FAL, etc..
Interesting. I'm a fair amateur military historian myself, yet had never heard the term, at least that I can remember. Probably because of this (from that article you linked): "The term battle rifle is not defined or frequently used in military field manuals and government documents. There are some government requisition documents that do make mention of a specific rifle as a battle rifle, but those documents may simply be using the manufacturer's marketing name (similar to how Springfield Armory's M14 clone is trademarked as the M1A). Because of this issue, deciding what exact characteristics of a rifle should make it a battle rifle are a matter of contention." I've heard soldiers call them 'rifles' a billion times, but never a 'battle rifle'. I'm betting it's a relatively obscure definitive that is seldom used in general conversation.
The term "Service Rifle" is used to denote a nation's primary infantry long arm. It has been in use for quite some time. The term "Battle Rifle" came about as a means to differentiate between bolt-action service rifles of the previous generation, eg. US Rifle M1903, the semi-auto/select fire large cartridge rifles that replaced them in and around WWII and small caliber service rifles adopted by many nations after 1960, eg. US Rifle M16. The major criteria for inclusion in the "Battle Rifle" catagory would be semi-auto or select fire action and chambering in a full sized rifle round, eg. 7.62x51mm NATO, .30-06, 7.62x54R, 7.92x57JS, etc rather than "intermediate cartrdiges" eg. 5.56x45mm NATO, 7.62x39, 7.92x33 Kurz. It is a term used mainly by firearms collectors and historians to differentiate a class of weapons rather than a term used by militaries or manufacturers for classification. The US Rifle M1, being the first general issue semi-automatic, full-size cartridge service rifle, is generally considered the progenitor of the classification. There were semi-auto full size cartridge rifles prior to the M1, eg. the Mexican Mondragon, but none were successfully fielded by any militaries.
Well i cant talk for the US. But here in Australia when I joined the Army in '86 the main battle rifle was the SLR L1A1 then it was replaced in '88 by the F-88. My guess is the US would be the same ie: the M16A1 was replaced by the M16A2 etc. The term Battle Eifle is used fir the main infantry weapon in use at the time. Well here atleast anyway.
As noted above, the generally accepted term worldwide for the primary long arm issued to national militaries is Service Rifle. It may or may not be a "Battle Rifle".
-Gunny out.