RE: British (and other) Weapon Nomencalture

I think the M in American nomenclature is for "Mark" as in Mark 1 Type
1A Submachinegun also known as the M1A1 Thompson.  Therefore the M16A1
is the Mark 16 Type 1A Infantry Rifle.	This applies to vehicles and
weapons systems i.e. an M-60 Tank is a Mark 60.  Sometime in the 70's
and 80's they decided that the numbers were getting too high and reset
them, thus the M1A1 Abrams, F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, M2A2 Bradley and
M4A1 Carbine.

--Binhan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ryan M Gill [mailto:rmgill@mindspring.com]
> Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 12:51 PM
> To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
> Cc: kaladorn@magma.ca
> Subject: Re: British (and other) Weapon Nomencalture
> 
> 
> At 2:41 PM -0400 8/22/02, kaladorn@magma.ca wrote:
> >Attention Eurolisterdudes!
> >
> >What's the L in L7? (the NAC AR)
> 
> Its just like the M in M16.
> 
> 
> >Americans use M- for rifles (Military?). The Canadians use C-
> >(Canadian?). Germans use G (Gewehr?). Russians have a series of AKs
> >(Avtomat Kalashnikova - or something like that). But what does the L
> >in L7 stand for? Why do the Brits use L designations for rifles?
> 
> Hmm. FV is Fighting Vehicle. L...Well, I haven't the foggiest. I've 
> just posed to the Ferret list asking. We'll see what the blokes there 
> say.
> 
> 
> >And what designation do Brits use for pistols? (Yanks use M-... which
> >again I think is Military). I don't even recall what Canucks use (I
> >only ever recall that we called the Browning Hi-Power a "Browning",
> >don't ever recall but I'm sure it had a code). And I think the
> >Germans use P- (Pistol?).
> 
> A lot of things just get a name if they are a regularly 
> adopted pistol.
> -- 
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