hahah no they dont never have
Edit i dont want to say never because at one time they and it made sense for usf early game because of okw and axis in general would auto win if the game clock hit 40 mins as usf late game was non existent
I was curious about this so I figured I't test it in cheat/mod-tools, which I'm always confused why people don't bother doing but oh well.
I did 6 comparisons of riflemen v volksgrenadiers.
2 at max range with no cover. --> These were 50/50 of who won and it was super close in both cases with the winning squad having a sliver of HP left on the last model.
2 at max range with green cover. --> These were 50/50 too, but not as close in HP -- one round riflemen won, one round volks won, and whoever won had 3 remaining models around half HP. My guess is the green cover nature of things means the fight is longer and so whoever drops a model first has a distinct and longitudinal disadvantage.
2 at close range with no cover. Rifles won, not even close.
Dunno... rifles are more expensive but if they are about equal at max range and have an advantage at close range, eh probably fine.
EDIT: Oh one thing I did notice is that if Volks wipe a rifle-squad, the hit vet 1. If rifles wipe a volks-squad, they do _not_ hit vet 1.