Is it because the British L86's have a longer barrel and shorter range, perhaps?
L86's have an 800m range according to many sources including myself. But yes the L86 has a longer barrel.
And I still see many people saying that the L85 has a range of 500/600 metres with SUSAT sight, further confusing the definition which we didn't make for effective range.
Anyway, look at the M16's entry on the same website.
Barrel length: 508 mm
Muzzle Velocity: 948 m/s
And now quoted directly from the website: 550 Meters (point target), 800 Meters (area target)
So... Does the G36's 800m range for point targets, or for area targets? And do sights make a difference? Could you reliably hit a target at 800m with iron sights centered to 200m Whiskey? Or is it as Morph thought, that it's to do with bullet drop? So Ryat, what do you think decides effective range?
Ah, the L86 part of my post was meant to be L85. Either way, it's kinda the same.
Anyways, I personally probably couldn't do it, but that's because I don't have any marksmanship training. I could see a German infantryman trained with the weapon capable of doing it, though.
However, I think that sights do make a difference, by allowing full physical limitations to be reached. Like with the G36's 800-meter range, you aren't doing that with the iron-sight option available for the rifle. Slap on the standard G36 sight that the German Army uses, and it's graduated to 800 meters, so I'd assume that it is indeed possible to hit something at that distance.
Part of the reason is that HK could probably get a lot of flak if they were to have the sight graduated in 200-meter increments, to a range of 800 meters, and it not be capable of handling that range in the standard-variant of the G36.
