Advanced Garand Rifle: Introduction
One interesting fact is that, at least for Traveller, is that default damage for the self loading rifle, assault rifle, and advanced combat rifle, are the same; changes involve range and magazine capacity, which is probably connected to propulsion, and possibly better aerodynamics.
The advanced combat rifle is certainly categorized as a military sidearm, the assault rifle as elderly, if still dangerous to unarmoured targets, technology, and probably paramilitary. What might be improved would be a switch to caseless ammunition, but with the same performance and effect.
Moving down two technology levels, you have the self loading rifle with a magazine capacity of twenty, which would make the eight shot Garand a sort of intermediate stage. The primary difference between the assault rifle and the self loading rifle would be the size of the ammunition.
It's probably pointless to make advanced versions of the default self loading rifle, since the advanced combat rifle does the job better.
However, you could probably squeeze ten rounds of nine millimetre heavy caseless advanced combat ammunition into the Garand en bloc clip, which would move damage to four dee.
