Let the fight begin !

[billt]

I think a lot of this is the fact the armed forces have gotten away from teaching and stressing marksmanship over the years. Yes, they still teach it, but not with anywhere near the emphasis they used to. It's much the same with police officers today. A well placed .223 / 5.56 MM round will have devastating effects. But the shooter has to be able to place it.

I would fear a well seasoned marksman with a .223, far more than I would a boot camp graduate with a .308, who never held a weapon, let alone shot one until 3 months previous.   

[kmitch200]

As usual the military tried to address and fix the problems of the previous war. (thinking VN here)
Which is understandable since they can't see into the future either. Nothing has changed in that dept since the ammo was rocks and wooden spears.
 
Korea had human wave attacks and with the 30cal weapons, the loadout of ammo was heavy.
The only REAL effective response to those attacks was belt feds (if you had the ammo and spare barrels), a metric crapload of grenades or artillery, when they could get it. The mass of attacking Chicom cannnon fodder exposed that the less ammo the grunt can carry the faster he is out of the fight.
More ammo per grunt meant it had to be lighter...enter the search for a high speed low weight round.

Meanwhile back at the ranch of Top 5 Combat Rifles.....
If the military would have *not* tried to spec the M14 for full auto, it might have had a longer service life.  (yes I know it's still being used in limited roles. Is there a Division armed with them? No.) Trying to make the M14 into a SAW was a failed solution searching for a problem.
Comparing M1 vs M14, a 20rd mag is much better than an 8rd clip but you still have a heavy loadout.

[Hazcat]

Gee, I guess my assertion that a .223 doesn't belong on the list of best rifles. 
Maybe that's why people who actually used them in combat developed the 6.5, 6.8, and .300 Blackout.
Of course you realize that Stoner's original design was a .308 ?

You're correct.  It is NOT a rifle cartridge.  It is an under powered intermediate round.  If the military wanted such a round why did they go to the bother to create a new one?  The 22-250 is a better round.

Using a 55grain soft point in both and Remington ballistics with the muzzle being 'zero', the numbers at 250 yards are as follows;

              fps           me           drop

223        2099        538          -13.99

22-250   2431        722          -10.67

[Big Frank]

How difficult would it be to do it right and have two barrels and to bullet weights so none of the troops had to fight with an  inferior weapon?

To me, anything less is what is stupid

Considering the fact that operators and unit armorers can't change barrels it wouldn't be time efficient. You would have maybe 3-4 small arms repairmen that would have to change every barrel in a brigade sized unit. Meanwhile nothing else is getting fixed and believe me there is always a lot of stuff to fix.

[Solus]

Considering the fact that operators and unit armorers can't change barrels it wouldn't be time efficient. You would have maybe 3-4 small arms repairmen that would have to change every barrel in a brigade sized unit. Meanwhile nothing else is getting fixed and believe me there is always a lot of stuff to fix.

I don't see that unit armorer would need to change barrels.  You unit deploys with the barrel needed equipped for the local in which it will be operating and are resupplied with the correct version. 

It would be an inventory management problem and staffing for that is a better option then letting grunts get killed needlessly.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

"It would be an inventory management problem" ? ??
To put it mildly. Organizational cluster *uck would be more accurate. And it would Probably result in troops deploying armed with lowers only.

[Solus]

"It would be an inventory management problem" ? ??
To put it mildly. Organizational cluster *uck would be more accurate. And it would Probably result in troops deploying armed with lowers only.

Sounds like an improvement to me. 

With only lowers, they would not be sent into combat with ineffective weapons.

[JC5123]

I'm late to this, but I would make a change to the list.  I would replace the 1903 Springfield with the FN-FAL. JMHO