Throughout the cold morning, prior to the firing of the T-44 and the T-47 lightweight rifles, Ordnance men demonstrated the early experimental models which led to the development of the two new rifles. They displayed a standard M-1 fitted with a selective lever to permit firing either semiautomatically or fully automatic. (Known as the T-20, this rifle was pictured under the heading "New U.S. Army Rifle?" on page 16 of the Rifleman, June, 1951.) Colonel Studeler told newspapermen that 100,000 of these had been ordered before the end of World War II, but that none had been delivered in time for combat use. Ordnance also disclosed an early model, straight-stocked lightweight rifle, the T-25, with a cyclic rate of 700 to 800 rounds per minute.

Other demonstrations with the T-65 cartridge put on by Ordnance included the firing of an M-1 rifle which had been rebarreled for the T-65 and which had a filler placed in the magazine so it could handle the T-65. A Browning automatic rifle and a light air-cooled machine gun adapted to fire the T-65 were also fired at targets. Later Colonel Studeler said that the Army could modify all existing small arms weapons which currently use the .30-'06 cartridge to fire the T-65 by rebarreling and inserting fillers in magazines. However, he pointed out that such a conversion program would require perhaps a year or more to accomplish.

The Ordnance Corps is also thinking about one of the new rifles as a replacement for the Browning automatic rifle. They fired one new rifle fitted with a heavy barrel, which though it weighs 11 pounds is considerably lighter than the 20-pound BAR.

Another exhibit included firing the new lightweight rifles from the shoulder as submachine guns. When firing the weapons fully automatic, the muzzle has a tendency to move to the right, as newsmen learned in the afternoon when they were invited to shoot the new T-44 and T-47.

Several reporters asked Colonel Studeler if experimentation with the automatic rifle by the Army indicated decreased emphasis upon aimed fire. He replied that it did not, and that aimed fire was still a doctrine of the Army, but that experiences during World War II and in Korea had proven to the Army that under certain conditions it is desirable to have an automatic shoulder weapon in the hands of the infantrymen. This is particularly true of defensive perimeters.

Though the details of the rifles were interesting in themselves, the details of the new lightweight cartridge developed by Ordnance attracted as much attention among the rifle experts. The T-65 is an amazing little cartridge. Loaded with any of several .30 caliber bullets, the T-65 cartridge is a half inch shorter than the M-1 round, measuring 2.84 inches to the M-1's 3.34 inches. Possessing the same ballistics as the M-1 round, the T-65 case is shorter because Ordnance has eliminated from the .30-'06 cartridge the excess air space resulting from the use of improved powders.

Ordnance had several variations of the T-65 on hand at the demonstration. One was loaded with the obsolete 172-grain M-1 ball bullet for comparison only. This one registered a muzzle velocity of 2,672 feet per second. Another, the M-2 armor-piercing bullet, weighed 165 grains and travelled at 2,787 feet per second muzzle velocity. Another loaded with the M-2 ball 150-grain bullet registered a muzzle velocity of 2,812 feet per second. Two other cartridges were loaded with 'developmental' 140-grain bullets. One had an instrumental velocity of 2,800 feet per second, the other had an instrumental velocity of 2,530 feet per second which is, according to published reports, the muzzle velocity of the .280 cartridge fired by the new British automatic rifle.

Ordnance shot a tracer version of the T-65. These bullets were fired at an 'enemy tank' parked 400 yards down the range. Perfect hits were scored by Ordnance riflemen. The fiery tracers whanged off the tank and zipped several hundred yards before falling to earth. An 'observing' round was also demonstrated. Designed for use in directing mortar and machine gun fire to enemy targets too large for riflemen to handle, the 'observing' bullet sent up a puff of dense smoke when it hit the 'enemy' tank 400 yards away. Armor-piercing bullets were fired at a Russian general-purpose vehicle (a converted U.S. Jeep) armored with 1.4-inch steel. By mistake, Ordnance riflemen fired 'soft' steel-core bullets at the jeep on the first test, and the bullets failed to penetrate. One the next test, hard-steel armor-piercing bullets tore jagged holes in the side of the jeep at two hundred yards range.

Significantly, the program announcer said: "By the use of lead-core bullets, higher velocities can be obtained than when using other types of bullets that are necessarily longer because of less specific density.  The longer bullets must project further into the cartridge case and use up needed power spaces. Lead is in critical supply in this country, so other types of bullets must be used in most cases." Rifle experts in the crowd interpreted this remark as a delicate reference to published reports that the British have been firing lead-core bullets in demonstrations of their rifle abroad. Ordnance was careful not to mention the British rifle throughout the demonstration.

GI's produced a block of six one-inch pine boards to prove that the T-65 can also penetrate wood with a lead-core bullet. Ordnance had fired several rounds at the pine block. Five of the boards were completely penetrated, and the bullets were imbedded in the sixth. But the range was extraordinary-2,000 yards! "The accepted criterion," the announcer intoned, "for lethality at that range is the penetration of one of these boards."

Later Ordnance produced a steel U.S. helmet that had been completely penetrated by a T-65 armor-piercing bullet at the range of 1,200 yards, 200 yards better than the British bullet which, according to press reports, punctured a British helmet at 1,000 yards. And finally, in a climactic move, Ordnance hauled out a shell of 1/2-inch homogeneous steel armor plate. At a range of 100 yards, the T-65 AP bullet had bored completely through the steel. Standard M-2 ball ammunition (fired at the same time) failed to penetrate the steel, and simply splattered against the heavy sheet.

In a final spectacular demonstration of the new rifles and the T-65 cartridges, an Ordnance rifleman fired a mixed magazine of ball, AP, and varying bullet weights from 172 to 140-grain, and velocities varying from 2,530 to 2,812 feet per second. Firing the mixed magazine, the announcer said, demonstrated the versatile of the light rifle and the T-65 cartridges.

Later, after the show, Studeler gathered with the rifle experts and newsmen to answer questions about the new rifle. He pointed out that the new rifles were designed specifically at the request of the ground forces combat leaders who wanted a new rifle that had all the reliability and accuracy of the Garand, plus the two new features of lighter weight and automatic fire. The rifles the Army had shown at Aberdeen were the results of six years of working toward that goal, Studeler said.

Colonel Studeler explained that these two rifles are still in 'competition' with one another, and that it hasn't been decided which of the two rifles will be adopted, or whether either will be, when and if the Army shifts from the Garand to a lightweight automatic rifle. He said he thought the 'competition' between the two rifles would be over sometime in 1952. The Army does not intend to go into production of either one in the near future. Said the Army: "The question may arise as to why the Army's new rifles are not being released for production, although production of more M-1's has been started (a multi-million dollar contract was recently let to International Harvester to make M-1's). The answer is basically that it is necessary to start producing rifles immediately. For this reason substantial new production orders have recently been placed for the M-1 (Garand) rifle. The M-1 rifle, having been produced in quantity can again be put into production much more quickly than a new rifle. In addition, large stocks of ammunition for the M-1 are available now wherever the Army is stationed."

The issues surround the question of whether the British or the American lightweight automatic rifle should be adopted by NATO have at times become clouded and confused, because of propaganda, security classifications, and because the British actually had two rifles under development. One is called the Enfield rifle, and it was built by the Enfield Arsenal. Apparently, it has subsequently been named the EM-2. The other rifle was built by the Fabrique Nationale Arms plant in Belgium, which by the way is a commercial plant and not a government installation. That rifle is commonly referred to as the 'F.N.' rifle.