DMR’s and Target ID
I recently watched a History Channel episode about the UZI and why the Israeli’s moved away from larger rifles like the FAL before most of the European Countries stuck with the G2 and FAL as primary rifles during the Cold War. With the Foundation of the State of Israeli, urban engagements were the norm and even though the terrain would allow for longer range engagements the FAL proved to be an over kill and was not very well liked. One of the soldiers mentioned that the FAL was a better sniper rifle but not very good for close engagements because of the recoil and weight of the rifle. I would agree with that but the biggest draw back I find with the FAL is that it’s not very good for mounting optics. I’ve had screws sheer off on my mounts after several thousand rounds of ammunition.
Now there are several reliable 7.62 battle rifles that are more easily become a Designated Marksmen Rifle and there are a lot of sturdy, yet expensive optics that better suit the ballistics of the 7.62 round. Normally, the first step up from red dots and holographic sights are the Trijicon ACOGS because with a minimal amount of magnification at 3.5-4x you are going to to be able to better use of the round. Trijicon has advanced to another level beyond the ACOG to the VCOG which also claims to be the first focal plane optic. A designated marksmen has the role of being to engage targets at medium ranges and do the job that the 5.56 round doesn’t do as well. I have had numerous stories from guys returning from Iraq that have mentioned that they used the magnification from their optics to ID wires that ran across streets to planted IED’s and that’s where Red Dots and Iron Sights don’t cut it.