Military question
Discussion
I'm reading 'The junior officers reading club', written by a young army officer about Sandhurst Iraq etc and an excellent read.
There are several references to 'General Purpose Machine Guns'. Something I've heard of before and never really understood.
I appreciate 'general purpose' doesn't mean you can use it to open cans and get stones out of Camels hooves as well as for shooting people, but what does it mean?
Is it that you can mount and fire it from lots of different places such as vehicles etc? Or does it mean it will take different kinds of ammunition according to role?
There are several references to 'General Purpose Machine Guns'. Something I've heard of before and never really understood.
I appreciate 'general purpose' doesn't mean you can use it to open cans and get stones out of Camels hooves as well as for shooting people, but what does it mean?
Is it that you can mount and fire it from lots of different places such as vehicles etc? Or does it mean it will take different kinds of ammunition according to role?
FN MAG is the NATO GPMG (7.62mm rounds)
were as its lighter sister the FN minimi is the NATO light machine gun (5.56mm rounds)
and its heavier brother the M2 is the NATO heavy machine gun (.50 caliber)
The GPMG would be able to perform both roles that the above 2 weapons could, but not quite as well. (heavier than the minimi as a squad support weapon, too smaller caliber as a vehicle mounted weapon)
Jack of all, master of none.
were as its lighter sister the FN minimi is the NATO light machine gun (5.56mm rounds)
and its heavier brother the M2 is the NATO heavy machine gun (.50 caliber)
The GPMG would be able to perform both roles that the above 2 weapons could, but not quite as well. (heavier than the minimi as a squad support weapon, too smaller caliber as a vehicle mounted weapon)
Jack of all, master of none.
deadmau5 said:
Shinobi said:
Petrolhead_Rich said:
Shinobi said:
Petrolhead_Rich said:
GPMG's
Its a type of rifle - L7A2 IIRC
Not a hand grenade?Its a type of rifle - L7A2 IIRC
Edited by Petrolhead_Rich on Wednesday 17th November 13:08
Its a suppressive weapon, not an accurate weapon, produces a beaten zone which you can alter by crossing the zones of a section of guns. Each round does not follow the exact path of the other.
I worked on them for a few years, devastating weapon, you can use map predicted fire with the weapon which means you can fire on what you cant see. You can also reinstall the weapon after removal and fire on predetermined targets.
No point hiding behind a wall or landrover etc it will go through eventually.
General purpose because it is multi role as stated above.
Been in use since the 60's and still going strong.
TJ
I worked on them for a few years, devastating weapon, you can use map predicted fire with the weapon which means you can fire on what you cant see. You can also reinstall the weapon after removal and fire on predetermined targets.
No point hiding behind a wall or landrover etc it will go through eventually.
General purpose because it is multi role as stated above.
Been in use since the 60's and still going strong.
TJ
That was a Bren, assuming it fed from the top. Very very simple, generally reliable bit of kit.
Advantages of belt fed include feed rate, which means a higher rate of fire as you don't have to rely on gas expansion to push the mechanism back to feed the next round in from a magazine. It does also mean less jamming generally.
A higher rate of fire means there's more hot gas going out the barrel, which means that the barrel on a gpmg glows virtually white hot after a lot of weight of fire and you can actually see the rounds flying down the barrel. I s
t you not. It also means that the barrel will droop slightly, so it becomes less accurate. Which is one reason why you see these multi-barrel machine guns as loved by the likes of Arnie in predator - spread the heat load.
Advantages of belt fed include feed rate, which means a higher rate of fire as you don't have to rely on gas expansion to push the mechanism back to feed the next round in from a magazine. It does also mean less jamming generally.
A higher rate of fire means there's more hot gas going out the barrel, which means that the barrel on a gpmg glows virtually white hot after a lot of weight of fire and you can actually see the rounds flying down the barrel. I s
t you not. It also means that the barrel will droop slightly, so it becomes less accurate. Which is one reason why you see these multi-barrel machine guns as loved by the likes of Arnie in predator - spread the heat load. james_tigerwoods said:
Which rifle/MG was it that had a "banana" shaped magazine - I'm sure I shot something like that years ago at an Army range in addition to the GPMG.
Also, what are the advantages of belt fed weapons? Doesn't this encourage jamming?
You did get stoppages but you could cock it to eject the round and continue firing, you would change the barrel every 400 rounds as they would get to hot and cook of the rounds or jam, if you looked after your weapon and cleaned it you could fire many many rounds ( I fired over 10,000 in one day .Also, what are the advantages of belt fed weapons? Doesn't this encourage jamming?
There was just as many stoppages with clip loaded weapons especially as they became dirty, gas ports blocked with carbon or mechanics blocked with dirt.
You were usually in a stand of position not crawling around in the s
te so the weapon did not suffer from those sort of stoppages.TJ
Shinobi said:
Petrolhead_Rich said:
Shinobi said:
Petrolhead_Rich said:
GPMG's
Its a type of rifle - L7A2 IIRC
Not a hand grenade?Its a type of rifle - L7A2 IIRC
Edited by Petrolhead_Rich on Wednesday 17th November 13:08
ked during weapons training for referring to weapons as "guns" and still have ringing in my ears the phrase "Guns are mounted on ships".I later repeated the same phrase as a weapons instructor, and refer to any weapons with a rifled barrel as a rifle.
I think you were possibly reading a little too much into my reply....
Having re-read the OP's question I also realise my reply didn't answer the OP's question, they can be mounted on aircraft, vehicles or used on a bi/tri-pod or hand held in the kneeling or prone position.
alfa pint said:
That was a Bren, assuming it fed from the top. Very very simple, generally reliable bit of kit.
Advantages of belt fed include feed rate, which means a higher rate of fire as you don't have to rely on gas expansion to push the mechanism back to feed the next round in from a magazine. It does also mean less jamming generally.
A higher rate of fire means there's more hot gas going out the barrel, which means that the barrel on a gpmg glows virtually white hot after a lot of weight of fire and you can actually see the rounds flying down the barrel. I st you not. It also means that the barrel will droop slightly, so it becomes less accurate. Which is one reason why you see these multi-barrel machine guns as loved by the likes of Arnie in predator - spread the heat load.
Yep Ive seen white hot barrels, we used to take them off and piss on them to cool them if we didnt have water, I also seen a lad pick up a hot gun by the barrel and weld his hand shut around the barrel which had to be removed via surgery.Advantages of belt fed include feed rate, which means a higher rate of fire as you don't have to rely on gas expansion to push the mechanism back to feed the next round in from a magazine. It does also mean less jamming generally.
A higher rate of fire means there's more hot gas going out the barrel, which means that the barrel on a gpmg glows virtually white hot after a lot of weight of fire and you can actually see the rounds flying down the barrel. I s
t you not. It also means that the barrel will droop slightly, so it becomes less accurate. Which is one reason why you see these multi-barrel machine guns as loved by the likes of Arnie in predator - spread the heat load. An sa80 or lsw would never produce the fire of this weapon, even a whole section could not put down the same surpresive fire as a single gun and a section of 3 would prove devestating.
TJ
james_tigerwoods said:
Which rifle/MG was it that had a "banana" shaped magazine - I'm sure I shot something like that years ago at an Army range in addition to the GPMG.
Also, what are the advantages of belt fed weapons? Doesn't this encourage jamming?
L85/L86/L98-A1 all had "Banana" shaped Mag's.Also, what are the advantages of belt fed weapons? Doesn't this encourage jamming?
The advantages of a belt fed weapon is you can fire without stopping alot more rounds, a typical Mag would hold 30 rounds, a belt can hold many more than this so as stated above you can shoot at the wall the target is hiding behind and continue firing until the wall is penetrated, or you can keep suppressive fire going continuously for longer periods, allowing the movement of men/vehicles closer to the target to take them out.
As mentioned, firing many rounds repeatedly has side effects such as ballooning of the barrel, which in extreme cases can cause the round to jam and destroy the weapon, not to mention the hot empty case going down your neck!
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