This is your last chance to win this awesome Semiauto DPM!
https://www.fanathem.com/forgottenweapons
DEADLINE to ENTER is TONIGHT 10/25/2024 at 11:59 PM PST
Semiauto versions of machine guns are a way to have examples of historically significant and mechanically interesting guns without having to wrangle with NFA transfers and the astronomical price of transferrable legal machine guns. However, they are not particularly common. Very few OEM manufacturers make semiauto versions of military machine guns (FN USA being the best example of one who does, followed by Ohio Ordnance). Most of them are made from parts kits by small entrepreneurial gunsmiths – like Smith Manufacturing Group, Midwest Metal Supply, and others. As parts kit supply waxes and wanes, the options available change accordingly (at one time, we have semiauto MG34 and MG42 options, because parts kits with barrels were readily available).
In today’s video, we are going to look at how these semiauto creations are done. The three main steps are creating a new receiver, ensuring that it is a semiauto receiver and not legally considered a machine gun itself, and then converting the gun in question to fire from a closed bolt. There are two standard ways to do that conversion, and we will look at examples of both.
[OFF-TOPIC SO IGNORE IF YOU WISH]
Recently I learned that Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Inc. Unveils Squad Support Rifle System (SSRS) at AUSA Annual Meeting https://barrett.net/2024/10/15/barrett-firearms-manufacturing-inc-unveils-squad-support-rifle-system-ssrs-at-ausa-annual-meeting/
after reading their statements I have following question
1. they call it 30mm support rifle or 30mm Support Rifle System, why is that? Should not that be grenade-launcher? Or they simply do use rifle in 1860s sense, which also included things like PARROTT RIFLE?
2. they tout ability to defeat Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), what kind of ammunition is used for this purposes and how high it could reach?
3. was 30 mm ammunition develop specifically for that weapon or it is shared with other weapons?
4. photo show ammunition in different colors, what are kinds of ammunition available?
5. photo show some optical sights, it is made specifically for that weapon or it is shared with other weapons?
6. what type or types of weapon it is supposed to replace in U.S. service?
7. how much ammunition could you carry compared to response to previous point
Just guesses but in order;
1. Calling it a “rifle” because it’s a stand-alone system as opposed to a GL attached to a standard infantry rifle, which has been the (dubiously practical) method for the last half-century, starting with the CGL-4 and M203 attached to the M16A1.
2. Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), meaning drones, are probably best defeated by rapid-fire use of flechette rounds. Like duck hunting, only with more reach and higher velocity.
3. Most likely brand-new ammunition tailored to the specific weapon. Previous 30mm ammunition types were tailored to tripod-mounted launcher systems such as the Russian AGS-17, and as such would likely have too much recoil force for safely firing from the shoulder.
4. Color-coding munitions is standard for NATO. I would assume that types would include standard HE, HE-Frag, HEAP, API, WP Smoke, Flechette, and probably tear gas rounds. There might or might not be an HE Airburst since that didn’t work too well in the XM25 program. (But then nothing about XM25 really worked as it was supposed to…)
5. A computing optical sight specific to the weapon and its munitions would be a logical thing to have on a direct/indirect fire weapon firing variable munitions. (But again, their last attempt in XM25 didn’t pan out.)
6. I would assume it’s intended to replace the six-decade-old M203 40mm GL, which is getting a bit long in the tooth and was, you guessed it, the reason for the XM25 program to begin with.
7. Assuming a five-shot magazine, probably 25 to 30 rounds would be the maximum practical loadout on weight factors.
clear ether
eon
It’s for the US Army PGS Program, where PGS stand for Precision Grenadier System, so yeah, that’s a grenade launcher.
The PGS should replace the cancelled XM-25, that had programmable grenades that exploded once reached the distance of the target (determined by a laser rangefinder in the sight), that can be useful against drones, if they stand still. Otherwise a shotgun round is probably better.
Specific, the program determined the maximum weight of the weapon, the range of the grenade and their maximum flight time. The caliber was free for the manufacturer to determine.
The Army specified three grenades they want (Counter-defilade, training, and close quarter combat), and that there must be the possibility to adopt others if needed (IE counter-drones, or armour-piercing). I don’t think most of those grenades to be really already available.