Letter from Marine in Iraq

[Glock Fan]

This has been bugging me, and making me question the legitimacy of the article even more. The article refferances a .308 Russian (sic) being fired from the AK-47 rifle. To the best of my knowledge, the AK-47 has never been designed to fire the .308 Winchester, the AK-47 is chambered in the 7.62x39. The closest thing the Russians had to the .308 Winchester is the 7.62x54R which the Mosin-Nagant bolt action rifle and the Draganov sniper rifle were chambered for. The AK-47 was never chambered in 7.62x54R.

Correct me if I am wrong in the next paragraph. Soldiers and Marines going into a conflict area are typically given "fam-fire" training on the weapons likely to be used by the enemy in that particular conflict. The purpose of this training is to give the soldier or marine enough familiarity with the weapons in question so that they can use them reasonably effectively if needed. The idea is not to qualify every soldier and marine to expert standards, or to teach armorer level maintenance of enemy weapons, but to give just enough training to get the soldier or marine by should the need arise. That being said, a soldier or marine who had fam-fired the AK-47 would know that it was not chambered for the .308.

This does not add up.

I'd say that based on our collective observations, the email was probably written either as a sick joke or by someone like this guy:





gf

[squirrelslaying101]

I find this to be un true, I have deployed numerous times and have used just about every Small Arms weapon system we have in the Big Army's inventory. There is nothing wrong with the calibers we are shooting. If you cant hit something, you need practice. Got to the range and shoot. Also bigger is Not better, it is all about shot placement. If i shoot you in the Arm with a 7.62 you won't die, but if I shoot you in the (Bow Tie) meaning your throat to your chest and Left or Right side of your chest you will go down. All in all it is not about the CALIBER it is about SHOT PLACEMENT!

[squirrelslaying101]

You are correct. I have been in the Army for 14 1/2 yrs and have deployed numerous times.

[squirrelslaying101]

+1 on the reference to .223, and the inaccuracy with reference to the SAW. The three common methods I've seen were "belt fed", "box fed" and "magazine fed". YMMV on the penetration of various calibers, though I've seen .50 BMG rounds deflected by concrete.

To post photos, the easiest way I've found was to set up an account with a service like "photobucket", then link the photo into your post.



gf

The M249 light machine gun (LMG), previously designated the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), and formally written as Light Machine Gun, 5.56 mm, M249, is an American version of the FN Minimi, a light machine gun manufactured by the Belgian company FN Herstal (FN). The M249 is manufactured in the United States and is widely used by the U.S. Armed Forces. The gun was introduced in 1984 after being judged the most effective of a number of candidate weapons to address the lack of automatic firepower in small units. The gun provides infantry squads with the heavy volume of fire of a machine gun combined with accuracy and portability approaching that of a rifle.

The M249 is gas-operated and air-cooled. It has a quick-change barrel, allowing the gunner to rapidly replace an overheated or jammed barrel. A folding bipod is attached near the front of the gun, though an M192 LGM tripod is also available. It can be fed from both linked ammunition and STANAG magazines, like those used in the M16 and M4. This allows the SAW gunner to use rifleman's magazines as an emergency source of ammunition in the event that he runs out of linked rounds. However, this will often cause malfunctions because the magazine spring has difficulty feeding rounds quickly enough to match the SAW's high cyclic rate.

M249s have seen action in every major conflict involving the United States since the 1989 invasion of Panama. Soldiers are generally satisfied with the weapon's performance, though there have been reports of clogging with dirt and sand. Due to the weight and age of the weapon, the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) is considering designs for an infantry automatic rifle, which is planned to complement and partially replace the M249 in their service.

This weapon system is NOT box fed. The rounds are linked from a drum wich attaches to the underside of the weapon system or you can get a soft ammo pouch that will hold 100-200 RDS that zip from the bottom when you feed the RDs into it.

[squirrelslaying101]

(POG) People Other than Grunts
REMF) Rear Echelon Mother F**kers
NIMF) Non Infantry Mother F**ker

Someone the is in the military and is not in the Infantry!

[Glock Fan]

This weapon system is NOT box fed. The rounds are linked from a drum wich attaches to the underside of the weapon system or you can get a soft ammo pouch that will hold 100-200 RDS that zip from the bottom when you feed the RDs into it.

So that green rectangular thing that attached to the side of the rifle that held the linked rounds was called a "drum"? We used to call it a "box" when I was in the Army back in 1991.



gf