Yes, early .303 British (which was blackpowder) is essentially the apex of blackpowder cartridge technology. You can reduce the caliber more, but your performance goes correspondingly down, and BP .303 is anemic enough as it is.
AR-15s are cheaper and quicker to make, actually, and more fully take advantage of modern production techniques. That's part of what I find so endearing about the AK.
Documents regarding USAF CAS assets:
AERODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF A 0.12-SCALE MODEL OF THE A-9A AIRCRAFT AT MACH NUMBERS FROM 0.30 TO 0.80
A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog) SYSTEMS ENGINEERING CASE STUDY
FLIGHT EVALUATION (SYSTEMS) OF THE A-1OA PROTOTYPE AIRCRAFT - APPENDIX V - WEAPON DELIVERY
FLIGHT EVALUATION (SYSTEMS OF THE A-10A PROTOTYPE AIRCRAFT
SOVIET ASSESSMENTS OF U. S. CLOSE AIR SUPPORT
The Use of Prototypes in Weapon System Development
Same thing happening right now with the M4 and M855. "They sought replacements, which means they were defective". It's a political game, just trying to dig at your opponent in any way you can.
OH MY GOD YOU'RE RIGHT
Is there some secret Music Illuminati that reaches out and grasps decent bands in their metaphorical fists, and then crushes them until they're absolutely dull mass market shit? Is this like how MBAs keep ruining my favorite restaurants?
Welcome, Virdea, I'm very happy to have you here. I would recommend anyone interested in 20th Century small arms check out his site, he has a lot of good info there. Cheers! -Nathaniel
The current TeamSpeak 3 server is shutting down at the end of the month. The new TS3 server is already set up. PM me, Unstart, collimatrix, or Belesarius for info.