Hunting The Ghost Gun: An Analysis Of The U.S. Army Infantry Rifle

Abstract

Like many other nations, the United States was born of war. The freedom sought by our founding fathers was not free; it was paid in patriot blood during the American Revolution. No matter the reasonthe preservation of democracy, liberation of the oppressed, or revolutionthe United States has been no stranger to the battlefield. Through deserts, jungles, and grassy plains; in brick buildings, straw huts, and log cabins; by mountains, ditches, and the oceans, the infantry soldier has relied on one key tool to accomplish the mission: his weapon. Indeed, among the many characteristics of war, the infantry rifle has remained a critical battle component throughout time. The purpose of this study is to provide an analysis of the U.S. militarys usage of various small arms and their associated cartridges from WWII to current day. The primary objective centers on an analysis of the driving factors and decisions used in military cartridge selection and development. The expected product will be a reference document to aid in the decision-making process for future small arms cartridge/weapon selection and development.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2016
Accession Number
AD1027721

Entities

People

  • J. A Wesolowski

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Ammunition
  • Army Procurement
  • Fire Control Systems
  • Geography
  • Governments
  • Guns
  • Military Research
  • Projectiles
  • Reliability
  • Small Arms
  • Small Arms Ammunition
  • United States
  • Urban Areas
  • Warfare
  • Weapons
  • Weapons Effects

Readers

  • Archaeological Resource Survey
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.