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breacher wrote:And early Russian rifles had sights graduated in "arshins" rather than yards or metres - just to add one more unit of measurement to the mix........

Did people used to run round screaming... ahhh, we've been shot in arshins.... only to be replied to "well it's better than getting shot in your heads...."

TattooedGun wrote: There is no such thing as a metric rifle and an imperial rifle.....

That's not true - see the L1A1 - Inch pattern FAL versus the FN FAL say the STG58 - Imperial versus Metric right there...

nickb834 wrote:

TattooedGun wrote: There is no such thing as a metric rifle and an imperial rifle.....

That's not true - see the L1A1 - Inch pattern FAL versus the FN FAL say the STG58 - Imperial versus Metric right there...

I think you missed the joke.

Either way, if the sights on those 2 rifles are interchangable then it's not the rifle that's imperial vs metric, it's the sights....

TattooedGun wrote:

breacher wrote:And early Russian rifles had sights graduated in "arshins" rather than yards or metres - just to add one more unit of measurement to the mix........

Did people used to run round screaming... ahhh, we've been shot in arshins.... only to be replied to "well it's better than getting shot in your heads...."

Stop being an Arsh

And, of course, Grads. 1/100 of a right angle, 400 to a circle. Used in surveying and French artillery.

Gaz wrote:Years ago I shot with a girl who had a French target rifle. The threads were all the wrong way round and the damn thing was graduated in 1/3 MOA clicks.

I learned the latter after a very odd coached shoot where my wind corrections were all about a third of a minute too far for her...

I read that as:

"Years ago I shot a girl with a French target rifle"

I think I need se more tea.

breacher wrote:And early Russian rifles had sights graduated in "arshins" rather than yards or metres - just to add one more unit of measurement to the mix........

One Arshin is equal to 71.12cm

TattooedGun wrote:An AK-47 seems to have an iron sight that lets you adjust to the distance in metres (elevation).

Sight on the left is a windage adjustable RPK sight, right is AKM and both go out to 100m in 100m increments.The AKM sight also has a setting denoted by the Cyrillic letter P (looks a bit like the letter n) that denotes the "Battle" setting and allows the user to hit centre of mass on a man from 0-300 without adjusting the sights.The RPK rear sight has numbers on the underside of the leaf so if you need to adjust the range you can flip the sight up and alter the setting to the desired range without raising your head or moving from the line of sight.Original AK-47 rear sights were graduated out to 800m.

The Danes used to shoot military rifles with sights graduated in Els...

TattooedGun wrote:

nickb834 wrote:

TattooedGun wrote: There is no such thing as a metric rifle and an imperial rifle.....

That's not true - see the L1A1 - Inch pattern FAL versus the FN FAL say the STG58 - Imperial versus Metric right there...

I think you missed the joke.

Either way, if the sights on those 2 rifles are interchangable then it's not the rifle that's imperial vs metric, it's the sights....

Haha no I trimmed the Star Wars joke off (Empire etc - although, strictly speaking they weren't rifles they were SMGs - props based on Sterlings!).

Anyhoo in the case of the L1A1 vs FAL; two otherwise identical rifles - even chambered in the same calibre (ostensibly) are dimensionally different - they're not just described as being X milimeters which is Y thousandths - they're actually two different dimensions when both are measured in either of the units of measurement.

In point of fact - regardless of what the sights are or are not - the L1A1 / Lithgow etc are inch pattern wheras the FN FAL is metric. Parts are not 100% interchangeable due to the aforementioned dimensional differences.

Now, it just so happens that the L1A1 sights were graduated in yards and the FAL's were in meters. I'm not sure how in any way this comparison can be seen to be anything other than a legitmate example of an Imperial rifle versus metric rifle - that even have the added benefit of looking near as dammit identical!

Just a for info really, I wonder what other oddities like this exist.......

I do also wonder at what point the Army switched over to metres for range / distance and mills for nav bearings / artillery etc?