End of the M2 50cal?

[Lieutenant-FPS-Bob]

Don't waste money just to change things. That's what I'm seeing now, taxpayer money going to "upgrade" things that don't need to be upgraded. There's nothing wrong with the M2, great weapon. It doesn't need to look like a gun from Halo to be effective.

We have many weapons in our arsenal to fill different roles, so we don't need more all purpose crap. Just look at the M8 family of weapons, all interchangeable, that worked, right?

Until handguards started melting under sustained fire. This stuff really aggravates me, I much prefer upgrades over replacement.

[gx]

Originally Posted by Lieutenant-FPS-Bob

Don't waste money just to change things. That's what I'm seeing now, taxpayer money going to "upgrade" things that don't need to be upgraded. There's nothing wrong with the M2, great weapon. It doesn't need to look like a gun from Halo to be effective.

well, 1) have you ever carried an m2? 2) what about changing a barrel, that needs to be done just as fast as reloading because you stop firing, so they faster you can do it the better.

[[R-MOD]Bob_Marley]

Originally Posted by gx

2) what about changing a barrel, that needs to be done just as fast as reloading because you stop firing, so they faster you can do it the better.

Just use the M2HB-QCB, like the British have been doing for years?

[gx]

because it still weighs in at about what 80 or 90 pounds, but im not sure about how long it takes to change the barrel on it, i feel a good one should take less than 30 seconds, or your fucked.

[Lieutenant-FPS-Bob]

Originally Posted by gx

well, 1) have you ever carried an m2? 2) what about changing a barrel, that needs to be done just as fast as reloading because you stop firing, so they faster you can do it the better.

That doesn't mean you need to go and spend a trillion dollars to buy all new guns. Besides, notice I said "upgrade" instead of replace, as in get new modern lightweight parts and refit the arsenal, rather than buy a bunch of expensive new weapons.

[gx]

well looks at the m-16, there is only so much up-grading you can do before you either A) would have spent less money with a new weapon in the first place, or you just end up accidentally make a new one with all the up-grades.

[Liquid_Cow]

Originally Posted by gx

well, 1) have you ever carried an m2?

Why? Lets face it, the M2, while in theory a man portable weapons, is a vehicle or fixed position weapon. If you need to carry a machine gun the answer is not going to be found in a 60lbs gun either. Get an M240 or M60 which weighs 23ish lbs. I'd like to see the jarhead that could advance under fire with a 50cal MG.

2) what about changing a barrel

There is an upgrade for that. Besides, if you need that volume of fire power just get a water cooled barrel for it!

[gx]

Originally Posted by Liquid_Cow

Why? Lets face it, the M2, while in theory a man portable weapons, is a vehicle or fixed position weapon. If you need to carry a machine gun the answer is not going to be found in a 60lbs gun either. Get an M240 or M60 which weighs 23ish lbs. I'd like to see the jarhead that could advance under fire with a 50cal MG.


There is an upgrade for that. Besides, if you need that volume of fire power just get a water cooled barrel for it!

well i dont know, im in a us army reserve unit, where we travel on humvees, but we still practice taking the .50 off and carrying that huge chunk of metal around, and sometimes you need more fire power than a 7.62 can dish out. Not to mention we dont use the m-60 (atleast in my unit) and that weighs in at 30. and hell, if you could have a .50 that weighs 50 or 60 pounds and is better internally (less parts) why not go for it, and lets face it, we are going to need a new one sooner or later, so why put it off like we did with the m-16?

[Liquid_Cow]

M-60 23.1 lbs
M-60E3 18.75 lbs (this one I know from personal experience)
M-240G 25.9 lbs
M-249 15.2 lbs (Ditto)
M-2HB 84.1 lbs plus another 44lbs for the tripod.

XM-307 50lbs uses M-3 tripod (same as 50cal)

While that difference makes it light enough to pack on your back (its less than a full ALICE pack would weigh)(I know, I'm showing my age with the ALICE comment), its not a light weight gun.

Sure, we used to practice dismounting a M2 as well, but in reality if you can't shoot it from the Jeep it probably ain't worth shooting at. Dismounting was highly discouraged cause if you had to bug out in a hurry you might have to leave the gun behind, and the last thing we want is a M-2 shooting at us now don't we. There are all sorts of things we used to practice cause it was in the books, but just were not realistic in a battle zone.

Bottom line, it ain't broke...

[Liquid_Cow]

Read this:

The revolutionary technology behind the air-burst munition [of the XM307] involves integration of the fuse and fuse setter into the weapon’s fire control system. In a process that includes three microbursts of information, the fire control system lazes the target and determines the range. That information is transferred to the round through galvanic hard points as it is loaded into the chamber. The fuse reads the data, verifies it and retransmits it as a safety check. Multiple layers of coding and verification ensure accurate range data and protects against premature detonation of the round in or near the weapon.

We can't keep batteries for our radios and NVG's, now our ammo's gonna have a computer in it??? KISS thank you very much.

Source of the quote