U.S. Army looking for a new rifle...

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

120. No insult intended

I majored in physics and lettered all four years on my college rifle team. The term "power" has a specific meaning to folks in the shooting world and to folks trained in the physical sciences.

Here's my take: Several years ago I moved to a new place and saw an ad in the paper for a local pizza joint. I asked a neighbor about this place a was told that they made great pizza. That evening I called for delivery and ordered a sub and a pizza. I asked for a small and was told 'they only make a large'. I asked hold big was a "large pizza" and was told 8 slices. Calling the pizza large and telling me how many pieces it is cut into doesn't characterize the size of the pizza.

The term "high-powered rifle" has (to those informed) meant something. Clearly a .50 BMG (used in a Tac-50) at 15,000 J is high-power. Using the term high-power when characterizing an AR-15 loaded with .223 ammo and having 1,700 J is just confusing.

However, if you want to use "power" to convey a higher death per minute capability, go ahead. People that know guns will think you're uninformed and the rest won't care. I suggest that almost all guns will qualify as "high-powered" in that sense. Therefore, adding that term to a sentence adds nothing for many and serves to (at best) confuse some.

Among the many reasons for learning a complex language like Latin is that the comprehensive vocabulary and deliberate grammatical constructions enable one to precisely and concisely convey a thought.