During World War II, many countries realized that existing rifles, such as the Mosin–Nagant, were too long and heavy and fired powerful cartridges that were effective in medium machine guns with a range in excess of , creating excessive recoil. These cartridges, such as the 8×57mm Mauser, .303 British, .30-06 Springfield, and 7.62×54mmR were effective in rifles to ranges of up to ; however, it was noted that most firefights took place at maximum ranges of between . Only a highly trained specialist, such as a sniper, could employ the full-power rifle cartridge to its true potential. Both the Soviet Union and Germany realized this and designed new firearms for smaller, intermediate-power cartridges. The U.S. fielded an intermediate round in the .30 (7.62 mm) U.S., now known as the .30 Carbine; used in the M1 carbine, it was widely used by American forces in WWII but was much weaker than German and Soviet intermediate rounds, and was never intended to replace the .30-06 rifle cartridge.