Semi Auto Pkm

Army to buy more lightweight M240L 7.62mm Machine Guns | The ...

The U.S. Army has ordered 3,053 of the new, lightweight, M-240L 7.62mm machine-guns, for $9,200 each. This model of the M-240 is 1.7 kg (3.75 pounds) lighter than the previous, M-240B. This was accomplished by using some lighter (titanium) components. Some other new components are also more durable. The reduction in weight makes a big difference for anyone carrying one of these up and down hills in Afghanistan for hours on end.

Sorry… nothing a little Search can’t answer… Thanks, Daniel Waters!

So, unless I am mistaken, the M240B contract is being undertaken by Colt Industries and others, but this one, the M240L one, is being done by FN! If this is correct, then good for FN! They’re the ones who designed it and know it better anyway!

I can understand expanding the number of companies to build a particular weapon, so as to answer possible war escalations and reduce availability delays, but I think that one of the companies should always be the one that designed and built it! In this case, FN!

I don’t trust COLT with machine gun building… They have no experience in it, to my knowledge… And I would be vigilant to see if they are on par with the ones FN manufactured! American-built is good, but only if it’s quality-good!

Glad to see that the Army looks to be adopting these service-wide and not just for Afghan. Lighter weight equipment isn’t needed only for places where you hike up and down hills all day. I covered down on the RTO job for a few months last deployment and this was the additional equipment I brought along on every mission:

-ASIP radio (16 pounds with battery) COM 201 external antenna (10 pounds)

This is on top of my vest (30 pounds) Kevlar (4 pounds) ammunition load (7-8 pounds) rifle (7 pounds) water for two days (9 pounds)…not as much as I packed around in afghanistan, but still a load over 100 pounds. I’m a pretty heavy guy, but the army sorely needs to issue lighter weight equipment as a general rule.

That’s still significantly heavies than the decades-old PKM which uses no exotic materials and is disadvantaged by its outdated rimmed cartridge and associated cartridge feed mechanic.

Its successor, the PKP Pecheneg even ditches the weight of a spare barrel.

The U.S. Army hasn’t been able to execute a small arms procurement program well for decades.

9k each!? It’s nit like they have to earn the money so what do they care I guess.

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