SOCOM .338NM machine guns?

[Supersubes]

Seems like a great april fools article, but you guys decide.

http://www.guns.com/2017/05/15/socom-looks-to-buy-5000-lightweight-machine-guns-in-338/

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Not April Fools at all.... they've been playing with this concept for years. Something bigger than a 7.62 and smaller than a Ma-Deuce.

That's the nice thing about Socom... they get all the best toys!

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[vh20]

Not a joke. I have fired it myself. It's not new, by a long shot - it was AUG 2012 when I got a chance to shoot it. Weight and recoil (through a proprietary recoil-reducing system) are almost identical to the M240 but it has the range of the M2 (although not quite the impact, obviously). The main difference to consider (i.e. pushback) between the LWMMG and the M240 was the weight of the gun PLUS ammo (as it is meant to replace the M240 in a squad), with the 300 gr. .338 ammo weighing a lot more than the 7.62 rounds. I thought it was an absolutely "killer" idea, but DOD hasn't really committed to it yet (though they seem to be getting closer).

 

[Maser]

A .458 SOCOM MG would be pretty cool.

 

[softcock]

article "Claiming" that it all going to be Polymer Case NM . but in the article Pic. provided by General Dynamics it looks that they are running Brass Case Belt fed .
been a shitload of testing but has the ' Rifle Polymer Case' , really ever been military formally adopted for use in any rifle platform ?
.

 

[TheBigCountry]

My knees ache just wondering what it would be like having to hump that plus ammo, spare barrel, etc. Vehicle mounted/stationary yes but asking a grunt to carry that bitch? Pass the vitamin M

 

[Dirty D]

http://www.gd-ots.com/armament_systems/ics_lwmmg.html

 

[vh20]

article "Claiming" that it all going to be Polymer Case NM . but in the article Pic. provided by General Dynamics it looks that they are running Brass Case Belt fed .
been a shitload of testing but has the ' Rifle Polymer Case' , really ever been military formally adopted for use in any rifle platform ?
.

The article suggests that the design is up for bid, but the pictures are all of the Gen Dyn offering, which is the one I fired (and the only one that exists, to my knowledge). The ammo used was, in fact, standard Norma-branded, brass-cased ammo tipped with 300gr. SMKs. The article's reference to polymer-cased ammo suggests to me that they are trying to overcome the problem of the extra weight of the ammo vs. the M240. I remain extremely skeptical of polymer-cased ammo in any application, and especially in a machine gun application (but what do I know?).

To ajv35xx - the only difference in humping it is the ammo (which is a consideration). The rest is the same as the M240 they already hump.

 

[vh20]

Found a pic from the demo at Ft. Benning. This one, as I recall, was not fired. The operational models we fired were ACOG-equipped. The GenDyn rep (fairly substantial guy) did briefly fire it from the hip, Rambo-style, just for grins.
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[Supersubes]

The article suggests that the design is up for bid, but the pictures are all of the Gen Dyn offering, which is the one I fired (and the only one that exists, to my knowledge). The ammo used was, in fact, standard Norma-branded, brass-cased ammo tipped with 300gr. SMKs. The article's reference to polymer-cased ammo suggests to me that they are trying to overcome the problem of the extra weight of the ammo vs. the M240. I remain extremely skeptical of polymer-cased ammo in any application, and especially in a machine gun application (but what do I know?).

To ajv35xx - the only difference in humping it is the ammo (which is a consideration). The rest is the same as the M240 they already hump.

Soooooo, how did it shoot? The polymer case thing threw me. Didnt know there was such a thing. 5000 also seems like a big number to me? Ive been out for a long time, and that wasnt my area when I was in. I have no idea who's under the SOCOM umbrella.

 

[HH4]

My knees ache just wondering what it would be like having to hump that plus ammo, spare barrel, etc. Vehicle mounted/stationary yes but asking a grunt to carry that bitch? Pass the vitamin M

You know Motrin and water fixes everything.

 

[vh20]

Shoots like an M240, but with a LOT more hate on the target. In 2012 they were showing it to the Army in general, not just SOCOM (but all those guys were there too). I don't know anything about the current project. As stated, there was no polymer ammo being used then, and I don't know if they've really worked that out to be reliable yet. They had belts of 20 rds each (for demo purposes) and had two guns running, one on tripod and one on bipod. We stood in two lines, and everyone got to put 20 rounds through one or the other of them.