British (and other) Weapon Nomencalture

10 posts ยท Aug 22 2002 to Aug 23 2002

From: Tom B <kaladorn@g...>

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 14:41:20 -0400

Subject: British (and other) Weapon Nomencalture

Attention Eurolisterdudes!

What's the L in L7? (the NAC AR)

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?

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?).

If I'm correct, the french might use:
FA - Fusil D'Assaut
FTE - Fusile Traleur d'Elite (sp?)
( dunno what they'd use for a pistol)

From: Ryan Gill <rmgill@m...>

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 14:50:55 -0400

Subject: Re: British (and other) Weapon Nomencalture

> At 2:41 PM -0400 8/22/02, kaladorn@magma.ca wrote:

Its just like the M in M16.

> Americans use M- for rifles (Military?). The Canadians use C-

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

A lot of things just get a name if they are a regularly adopted pistol.

From: B Lin <lin@r...>

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 13:12:27 -0600

Subject: 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: B Lin <lin@r...>

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 13:14:01 -0600

Subject: RE: British (and other) Weapon Nomencalture

M may also stand for "Model".

--Binhan

> -----Original Message-----

From: Hudak, Michael <mihudak@s...>

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 15:19:29 -0400

Subject: RE: British (and other) Weapon Nomencalture

Depending on who you ask, the M may stand for "Mattel".  :-)

Mike Hudak

> -----Original Message-----

From: Flak Magnet <flakmagnet@t...>

Date: 22 Aug 2002 16:11:42 -0400

Subject: 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:
which
> > >again I think is Military). I don't even recall what Canucks use (I

From: John Atkinson <johnmatkinson@y...>

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 14:17:05 -0700 (PDT)

Subject: RE: British (and other) Weapon Nomencalture

> --- B Lin <lin@rxkinetix.com> wrote:

Nice theory.

However we have the M-9 Pistol, the M-9 ACE, and the
M-9 Blasting Cap holder.

The M-60 Fuze igniter, M-60 Machine Gun, and M-60
Tank.

Etc. There is a system, but it's more complicated than that.

And it's not Mark. It's Model. Mark is USN.

From: Robert W. Eldridge <bob_eldridge@m...>

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 18:37:31 -0400

Subject: Re: British (and other) Weapon Nomencalture

This former brigade S-4 (logisitics officer for you civilians) confirms
that 'M' is indeed shorthand for 'Model' and has been used officially at least
since the introduction of the M(odel)1903 Springfield rifle and probably well
before that.
[quoted original message omitted]

From: db-ft@w... (David Brewer)

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 00:07:52 +0100

Subject: Re: British (and other) Weapon Nomencalture

> kaladorn@magma.ca wrote:

The Russians seem to like to append the designer's initial: AK, Kalashnikov;
SVD, Druganov; AN, Nikonov.

> But what does the L

I assume (with no especial foundation) that this is a conscious imitation of
American practice.

> And what designation do Brits use for pistols? (Yanks use M-... which

IIRC, the Browning GP35 is known as the L9A1.

From: KH.Ranitzsch@t... (K.H.Ranitzsch)

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 07:13:50 +0200

Subject: Re: British (and other) Weapon Nomencalture

[quoted original message omitted]