FAQ

The M1 Garand was the designated service rifle of World War II and the Korean War for the United States Military. It's caliber was .3006. The Garand, as it has become known, was designed for semi-automatic fire using a spring steel clip containing 8 rounds. This is where the term "clip" originated. All other rifles used a detachable or fixed magazine. The M1 Garand was designed for long range accuracy i.e. battle zero was set for any target less than 200 yards It was the only rifle that had fully adjustable i.e. windage and elevation, rear sights. General George S. Patton remarked that "it was the greatest battle rifle ever produced".

The M1A or M14 was the designated service rifle of the Viet Nam War and was soon replaced by the M16 (The Black Rifle) as it soon became known. Most M1A's are not true M14's because the M14 was capable of full automatic fire. It was very similar in design to the M1 Garand, it was magazine fed by a 20 round magazine and cambered for the new 7.62 Nato (308 Winchester) cartridge. Similarly, it too was known for long range accuracy i.e. battle zero was set for any target less than 200 yards.

The AR15 is the civilian version of the M16, which was capable of full automatic fire. The reason the M16 was brought in to replace the M14 was because of its superior fire power on full automatic (650 rounds / minute). This was a calculated number because it was fed by a usually 30 round magazine. It was a throwaway rifle. It was not designed with long range accuracy in mind. At the time of its inception into the Viet Nam War, its maximum effective range was 450 yards.
The Mauser was a rifle which was designed produced and marketed by the Mauser Brothers of Germany. It was known all over the world for its dependability and accuracy at long range. The Mauser rifle was manufactured all over the world. The Mauser Brothers licensed and sold various countries the factories to produce the rifles which was a unique business practice at the time.

There is a great article in July, 1998 issue of The American Rifleman, the official publication of the National Rifle Association.
A production rifle is a rifle which is produced in quantity in an assembly line manner. There is no production rifle that will shoot accurately, less than one MOA (minute of angle), at ranges greater than 250 yards. The reason is not that the
manufacturers don't do a good job of producing they most certainly do. The problem is that in order to produce an accurate rifle, one must not do it in an assembly line fashion. The fit and alignment of the individual components must be near perfect and if the firearms manufacturers would have to charge many thousands of dollars for each rifle. Also the basic design must be taken into account because sometimes the initial design is fatally flawed. In order to produce a long range rifle, one must understand the design and study the particular rifle in almost microscopic detail. Special tools are required to check and align the parts into an exact fit. When the rifle is discharged, it must function as if it is one unit, not a whole bunch of parts placing various angular accelerations on the other parts.