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Marine Corps Replacing M249 SAW - H&K IAR Winner
- Thread starter ChuckMK23
- Start date
Ok so the idea of replacing a high volume of fire weapon ends in the Corps selecting what is essentially a piston M4 with an M16a1 selector switch in it....
-200 round belt gone in favor of a 30 round mag. (maybe just maybe somebody gets smart and gets beta mags for it)
-Open bolt allowing for long sustained rates of fire without excesive heat replaced with a closed bolt system.
-Barrel that cannot be changed out quickly eliminating this weapon from operating as a true Machine Gun
Well that ought to be interesting. I could understand bringing this into the system and adding it to the toolbox but a 1 for 1 swap out of all the 249s for this just seems like a terrible idea.
-200 round belt gone in favor of a 30 round mag. (maybe just maybe somebody gets smart and gets beta mags for it)
-Open bolt allowing for long sustained rates of fire without excesive heat replaced with a closed bolt system.
-Barrel that cannot be changed out quickly eliminating this weapon from operating as a true Machine Gun
Well that ought to be interesting. I could understand bringing this into the system and adding it to the toolbox but a 1 for 1 swap out of all the 249s for this just seems like a terrible idea.
Considering that the original SAW procurement was to fill a "room clearing" role I think this weapon with a 100rnd drum would be much better suited to that. If they want a true belt fed weapon for the battlefield then the M-240 is the logical candidate.
On a side note, it is good to see that they are finally replacing the POS that is the SAW.
On a side note, it is good to see that they are finally replacing the POS that is the SAW.
The 240 is too big for a squad sized unit. I like the idea of a full auto, M-16 type weapon with 100-150 rounds. The open bolt was too unreliable for smaller units. When you've got a majority of your firepower resting on the shoulders of one Marine, you need that weapon to work. All the time, every time. I'm also not too worried about the changing of the barrels. You have to put A LOT of rounds through a barrel before you need to worry about changing it out. And when you're getting shot at, are you really going to stop and take the time to switch 'em out? Nah, you're too busy killing. Plus that extra barrel is just more weight to lug around and more gear to lose. Our grunts are overloaded as it is. Anything that lightens the load, is a good thing in my book.
Would have made more sense to me to introduce an improved SAW, or just equip everyone with the new weapon. What about this weapon makes it only suitable for one Marine per squad?
I can't believe you even mentioned the M60. Talk about a weapon that is even more worthless/unreliable than the SAW.
Gunner Eby has been pushing this for close to a decade now and there are Marine tests that have established that an auto AR has a vastly higher hit probability than a SAW.
It will not be a 1 for 1 swap. According to the Marine's Times, they plan on buying 4,100 IAR's and reducing the Corps' SAW inventory from 10,000 to 8,000. So it will be a supplemental addition.
The Firearm Blog has a series of posts offering a pretty good summary of the program.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/tag/iar/
I've been somewhat following this and the decision is surprising to me. The -416 entry is the only one that fires from a closed bolt, which should improve accuracy but also dramatically increases the chance of cookoffs. The FN entrant seemed particularly apt as it automatically switched from closed-to -open bolt as the weapon's temperature climbs.
FN Entry (SCAR-related)
Colt's AR-15 based model had some ridiculous huge heatsink forward of the receiver
The M60 is a mediocre weapon. Its modern replacement, the 240, is based on the German MG42 from WWII, and is vastly superior.
There should be 3 per squad.
Remember the difference in use between a machinegun and a rifle. The machinegun is valuable as direct fire, but its biggest contribution is to be able to suppress the enemy so the rest of the unit can manuever.
The riflemen are there to provide aimed fire. As they kept saying in TBS, "There is no burst fire in the Marine Corps!" If everyone is spraying lead, you're burning a lot of ammo, probably with not many hits.
Looks like the Corps Times is pulling back from declaring a winner.
The 416 is now only the "front runner."
I'm pretty sure the M60 is a hack-job MG42 copy actually. The M240 is related to the BAR, of all weapons.
http://world.guns.ru/machine/mg06-e.htm
The 416 is now only the "front runner."
I'm pretty sure the M60 is a hack-job MG42 copy actually. The M240 is related to the BAR, of all weapons.
http://world.guns.ru/machine/mg06-e.htm