General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Remington does in fact sell, quite literally "military-issue weapons of war" to civilians. (GUN PIC) [View all]Lord Magus
(1,999 posts)The Army didn't want the Spencer carbine but the president ordered them to use it after it was personally demonstrated to him by the inventor. With the effectiveness of repeating rifles was proven in the war, the Army refused to use them again for the next 25 years.
Something very similar happened after WW2. The war had shown that most fighting happens at inside 300 yards and a less powerful rifle that could be fired accurately in short bursts was ideal. The Army promptly insisted that any future rifle needed to be optimized for shooting out to 600 yards and just as powerful as the existing M1 Garand, and forced the rest of NATO do the same. The Soviets had already adopted a modern assault rifle in 1947, but the US Army wouldn't do so until 1964 and even then only when the government forced them to. And the Army still managed to screw it up in the process.