The Armory - Guns, Knives, and Axes

[Smitty-48]

My dad has a .308 Norma Magnum deer rifle. 180 grain bullet exiting the muzzle at like 3800 fps with 5000 ft lbs. Blows big holes in things

.308 Norma Magnum 180 gr is only about 3000 ft/s and 3500 lb ft.

.300 Norma Magnum 220gr is 3000 ft/s and 4400 lb ft.

.338 Norma Magnum 300gr is 2700 ft/s and 4950 lb ft.

[Ex-California]

I was going off of memory.

I still like to shoot that gun

[Smitty-48]

When employing it as a machine gun round, while it will be considerably more powerful than 7.62x51mm, the principle advantage will be accuracy at long ranges, the problem with the M240 is that out beyond 1000m your beaten zone is all spread out and you can't really put rounds on target with any consitency, but with this LWMMG, you would be able to put a very tight beaten zone on a target out beyond 2000m, which right now, you can only do with a crew served .50 cal, so it basically takes the .50 cal capability, and scales it down into a machine gun which can be carried easily by one guy.

It makes the HMG obselete for all intents and purposes, because now you have a .50 cal equivalent, at squad level; the SAW gunner can stop drop and put a three round burst on a guy, from over two klicks away, this mountainside to that mountainside, bup-bup-bup, GPMG on steroids.

[Hastur]

My dad has a .308 Norma Magnum deer rifle. 180 grain bullet exiting the muzzle at like 3800 fps with 5000 ft lbs. Blows big holes in things

Norma .308 is a Swedish moose hunting round. Moose are big. Didn't know anyone used Norma .308 outside Sweden with the 300 Winchester Magnum so readily available.



Didn't know about the .338 Norma Magnum GPMG. Looks sweet.

[Smitty-48]

A lot of times when they come out with a new fangled weapon I dismiss it as "meh, that's not gonna to take off", but with the .338 LWMMG, I do think that will, over time, supplant the MAG 58 and become the GPMG of the future, it will get fielded by SOCOM first, from there it will get picked up by allied SOF, then XVIII Corps and the Marines will field it, from there it will spread to the entire US infantry, and then it will spread to the rest of NATO and beyond.

Near .50 cal capability in a GPMG sized package, that's just too good to pass up, maybe not a game changer, but an evolutionary step which takes the existing game to a whole new level.

.338 pretty much rendered the .308 sniper rifle obsolete, and now that paradigm is simply migrating to the machine gun.

A 23 lb gun, one man carry at squad level, which can lay down bursts accurately from the bipod, engaging targets over 2 klicks away? That will become the new standard which all GPMG's are judged against.

[C-Mag]

It makes the HMG obselete for all intents and purposes, because now you have a .50 cal equivalent, at squad level; the SAW gunner can stop drop and put a three round burst on a guy, from over two klicks away, this mountainside to that mountainside, bup-bup-bup, GPMG on steroids.

Having that reach in an infantry squad is a gamechanger. It can definitely fill a lot of roles of the 50 cal, and do stuff the 50 can't do, but it won't make the 50 obsolete. The 50 cal will still be used as a heavy weapon. Just simply because it still has 4X the energy and against hardened targets, the 50 cal will just do stuff a 30 cal round won't.

[Smitty-48]

It makes the HMG obselete for all intents and purposes, because now you have a .50 cal equivalent, at squad level; the SAW gunner can stop drop and put a three round burst on a guy, from over two klicks away, this mountainside to that mountainside, bup-bup-bup, GPMG on steroids.

Having that reach in an infantry squad is a gamechanger. It can definitely fill a lot of roles of the 50 cal, and do stuff the 50 can't do, but it won't make the 50 obsolete. The 50 cal will still be used as a heavy weapon. Just simply because it still has 4X the energy and against hardened targets, the 50 cal will just do stuff a 30 cal round won't.

.50 cal will be replaced by a heavier weapon, a lightweight low recoil 25mm chain gun with airburst, that's already in the works.

LWMMG will take over the MG role of the M2 as a Super GPMG, and where you used to mount an M2, you'll have a mini-Bushmaster.

These days, they want a defilade option for the crew served weapon, mini 25mm is the new .50 cal, now with airburst. Armored target? Select sabot.

[Hastur]

It's amazing what a successful weapon the .50 cal HMG has been. Came into service in 1933 and still going strong. The .50 BMG round will be 100 yo in 2021. One of the best ever. John Browning was one of the great American inventors.

[C-Mag]

It makes the HMG obselete for all intents and purposes, because now you have a .50 cal equivalent, at squad level; the SAW gunner can stop drop and put a three round burst on a guy, from over two klicks away, this mountainside to that mountainside, bup-bup-bup, GPMG on steroids.

Having that reach in an infantry squad is a gamechanger. It can definitely fill a lot of roles of the 50 cal, and do stuff the 50 can't do, but it won't make the 50 obsolete. The 50 cal will still be used as a heavy weapon. Just simply because it still has 4X the energy and against hardened targets, the 50 cal will just do stuff a 30 cal round won't.

.50 cal will be replaced by a heavier weapon, a lightweight low recoil 25mm chain gun with airburst, that's already in the works.

LWMMG will take over the MG role of the M2 as a Super GPMG, and where you used to mount an M2, you'll have a mini-Bushmaster.

I don't doubt that. Weapons technology advancements are starting to pick up. In the US there are currently more weapons making than perhaps ever, easily them most since 1930. The 1934 Gun Control Act had an unintended consequence of gutting our firearms research. Hundreds of manufacturers went out of business and mostly only the big producers like Remington, Colt and Winchester could survive. But right now in the US small gun builders are making some cool shit.

[C-Mag]

It's amazing what a successful weapon the .50 cal HMG has been. Came into service in 1933 and still going strong. The .50 BMG round will be 100 yo in 2021. One of the best ever. John Browning was one of the great American inventors.

100% agree, and he's never mentioned amongst our great inventors. He was a genius, and worked in a tiny 100 sq ft garage behind the house.