RE: British (and other) Weapon Nomencalture

I don't think so.  When I was in, the M-16 was called just "Em-16"  But
the Mk-19 was called the "Mark-19".  

The "M" is just part of the nomenclature, and it stands for Matrix. 
It's a hold-over from before they developed the National Stock Number
(NSN) system, where everything "standard issue" was regarded as being on
the "Matrix" or chart/catalog of things that could be ordered through
normal channels.

The "M" designations can and have been repeated for radically different
items (M-1 Garand rifle and the M-1 Abrams tank) but the NSN number will
always be different.

Of course, I might be wrong... that guy in armorer's school back in '96
was full of it.

--

On Thu, 2002-08-22 at 15:12, B Lin wrote:
> 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.
> > -- 
> > --
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------
> > - Ryan Montieth Gill			 '01 Honda Insight -
> > - rmgill@SPAmindspring.com				'85 CB700S -
> > - ryan.gill@SPAMturner.com		     '76 Chevy Monte Carlo -
> > - www.mindspring.com/~rmgill		   '72 Honda CB750 -
> > -					  '60 Daimler FV701H Mk2/3 -
> > -				       '42 Daimler Scout Car Mk II -
> > -		  I speak not for CNN, nor they for me		   -
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------
> > -	     The director of Home Security encourages you to	   - 
> > -	       turn in your neighbor & spy on your friends.	   -
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------
> > -  C&R-FFL	/  Protect your electronic rights!    \ EFF-ACLU   -
> > - SAF & NRA/  Join the EFF!  http://www.eff.org/   \ DoD 
> > #0780 -	    
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------
> > 
> 
-- 

--Flak Magnet
Hive Fleet Jaegernaught
"I hate quotations."
		-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Check out this Online gamer community:
      www.tabletop-battlezone.com