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Prior Service Rifle trials
- Thread starter SPUSCG
- Start date
There was no M14 until after the 1957 trials.Was wondering what competed against the m14 and t48 fal?
For the 1956 Ordnance Trials, Springfield Armor submitted the T44E4 and T44E5, and FN submitted the T48 (Fusil Automatique Legere= Light Automatic Rifle= FAL), and there was an odd rifle from Fairchild Aircraft Corporation's Hollywood ArmaLite Division, developed by Eugene Stoner, called the AR-10 (ArmaLite Rifle #10).
Some testers felt the AR10 was the best lightweight automatic rifle ever tested, and it might have been adopted had it not been for ArmaLite managers demanding that an aluminum sleeved barrel be used instead of steel in order to get the weight down even more than the already light 8 pounds. The rifle's barrel failed during testing, famously.
But the rifle impressed the right people, primarily Air Force and Army generals, and development was continued, eventually yielding the AR-15.
RedNeckWino
New member
Gen Hatcher wrote of the test (Hatcher's Notebook)
The first major test the t-48 (fal) flunked in Arctic (cold weather test) where the t-44 (M14) did quite well.
A second arctic test was conducted after improvements in the FAL, where both rifles did well.
The rifles were again tested at Benning in a special "combat course test" to test the rifles to establish the performance of the rifle under very severe combat conditions, the t-48 preformed so bad the test were stopped.
The t-48 was modified by Springfield Armory based on suggestions of the British army and proved to be satisfactory.
The t-44 was chosen because it was one pound lighter and was better suited to US mass production and training standards.
The first major test the t-48 (fal) flunked in Arctic (cold weather test) where the t-44 (M14) did quite well.
A second arctic test was conducted after improvements in the FAL, where both rifles did well.
The rifles were again tested at Benning in a special "combat course test" to test the rifles to establish the performance of the rifle under very severe combat conditions, the t-48 preformed so bad the test were stopped.
The t-48 was modified by Springfield Armory based on suggestions of the British army and proved to be satisfactory.
The t-44 was chosen because it was one pound lighter and was better suited to US mass production and training standards.