Semi-auto M249!?

[cop car]

The SAW can be magazine fed or belt fed right out of the box, no adapters required.

Communism and Wankles rotary motor also look great on paper..

 

[mammynun]

I remember when it was issued to me they said the SAW rounds contained more powder. That I could use my squad mates ammo but they were not to use mine. Maybe that was BS, but that's what I was told when it was issued.

We got SAW's at Ft Bragg before we got A2's, so maybe they were referring to firing 855 out of an A1? While we now know that it's not a safety issue, I seem to vaguely remember hearing the same thing... I don't really recall for sure. We got SAW's in, I think, early '85 and A2's in mid to late 87.

 

[Cerberus]

Communism and Wankles rotary motor also look great on paper..

Except the SAW actually does work from both. Just not so well with blanks

 

[9mmfan]

Boy, that would sure make a splash at the club!

 

[cop car]

Except the SAW actually does work from both. Just not so well with blanks

I've never seen or heard of a saw that fed anymore than one blank at a time, then with a horrible jam.. And I've never heard of a saw feeding a whole magazine.. Ever.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I've never seen or heard of a saw that fed anymore than one blank at a time, then with a horrible jam.. And I've never heard of a saw feeding a whole magazine.. Ever.

Maybe that's why people believed the SAW ammo was hotter. Ran better from the belt.

 

[Beowulf]

Meh, semi-auto beltfeds are not that fun. Trust me, I used to own a 1919A4 belt-fed. I sold it to buy my M10/45 and I have never looked back.

US Machine Armory has made an M249 clone semi-auto for a while. They originally made it with an HK-type trigger pack, so you could swap in an HK full auto sear. Unfortunately, the BATF decided that was too fun and declared that putting an HK full auto trigger pack or sear in one of those guns would constitute "manufacturing a new machine gun", so it automatically would make it a post-sample, even though you were using a transferable sear.

You can still buy an ARES MCR upper for about $4k (though obviously the way ARES handled releasing the Shrike and dealing with their backlog of orders ticked a lot of people off). Valkyrie Armament makes a full belt-fed AR rifle, built out of a Colt 6920, for $4500 and you can run a Slide Fire stock on it.

 

[Cerberus]

I've never seen or heard of a saw that fed anymore than one blank at a time, then with a horrible jam.. And I've never heard of a saw feeding a whole magazine.. Ever.

Never had a problem with the thing with live rounds in the mag, but blanks...forget it. I carried one way back before they had all the cool stuff for it. When it had the skeleton stock, fixed barrel handle, no barrel cover, high and low rate of fire and loud annoying 200 round plastic drums.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Never had a problem with the thing with live rounds in the mag, but blanks...forget it. I carried one way back before they had all the cool stuff for it. When it had the skeleton stock, fixed barrel handle, no barrel cover, high and low rate of fire and loud annoying 200 round plastic drums.

Wait, you had two rates of fire? We just had on/off.

 

[17 squirrel]

Yes it has a adjustable regulator.
It has a regulator for selecting either normal (750 rounds per minute [rpm)) or maximum (1,000 rpm) rate of fire. The maximum rate of fire is authorized only if the weapon's firing rate slows under adverse conditions.

 

[engineerpower]

There is nothing more disappoint than pulling the trigger on a machinegun and hearing *BOOM*, rather than *BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM..."

 

[DarrenL]

Looks like a cool gun!

 

[ScouT6a]

I don't see the attraction to this but I shot the real thing for years and was never impressed with it. I do remember our early ones having the adjustable rate of fire, either 750 or 1000 rpm.
Give me an M60 LMG any day over the SAW or the 240B.

 

[MrSmitty]

Would it look crazy on a mount in the bed of my ranger?.....heck to the yes, I'd love one...heard about $7000.......

 

[Leadeye]

Shot a lot of belt fed stuff over the years, but never one of those. I just don't see how you can top the MG-42 and it's 70 years old.

Pull the trigger on those and it's like RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

Nothing else like it.

 

[Woobie]

I don't see the attraction to this but I shot the real thing for years and was never impressed with it. I do remember our early ones having the adjustable rate of fire, either 750 or 1000 rpm.
Give me an M60 LMG any day over the SAW or the 240B.

Ill agree with you about the saw. At the end of the day it's still 5.66. Meh. But the 240 on the other hand, is pure wonderment. Oh the joy. And now it's issued as the 240L, which is roughly the same weight as the m249.

If I were a betting man, I would put good money on it that these semi-auto saws are just a trigger group (1 take down pin) away from being the same thing as the full auto version.

None of our current crew served weapons have adjustable rates of fire anymore, to my knowledge. Even the m2 no longer has a head space and timing adjustment. Can't make the ol ma deuce lope along anymore.

 

[TheFireArmorer]

I got to see and hold it in person at NRA over the weekend. It was sweet. Sure it's not full auto, but it looks cool and I think it'd be a fun range toy. I'd never be able to justify the $7000 price tag, personally. I get why some don't see the point or the appeal of a belt-fed semi-auto. To me, the cool factor is just the ability to own and experience a gun that many may not ever get the chance to. For someone who has shot the real thing, I could see how it may be less appealing to them. As far as practicality of the rifle, other than a range toy, I can't really see the use for a 17lb $7000 semi-auto. Maybe hardcore home defense with unlimited belted ammo lol

 

[engineerpower]

Even the m2 no longer has a head space and timing adjustment. Can't make the ol ma deuce lope along anymore.

No, still gotta set the headspace and timing, I'm afraid. And I have yet to ever see a 240L, don't think they're common outside of SOCOM yet.

The nice thing about the SAW is that it's a lot of controllable firepower in a pretty small package. I had no problem humping a SAW and extra ammo, can't say the same for a 240. And while it's "just" 5.56, thats A LOT of 5.56. Enfilade fire at that rate will cut up a formation, don't care who you are. Unless you're doing PR with vics, 7.62 is a little too much.

 

[Fenway]

$7000, semi auto, lolz

 

[BehindBlueI's]

For someone who has shot the real thing, I could see how it may be less appealing to them.

That's actually the ONLY reason I'd be interested in it. Nostalgia. It was my favorite toy the Army ever let me play with that didn't blow up. (All the REALLY cool toys blew up when you were done playing with them.) I'm not paying $7k for nostalgia, though.