REAPR 338 machine Gun for SOF

[WillBrink]

Apparently, hot with SOF, much more thump and range than 7.62, much lighter than a .50. Why not use 300 Win Mag? That's more common in the US arsenal than 338 Norma Mag I'd think.

[Coal Dragger]

Well for starters .300 Winchester magnum has a belted case that will not play nice with disintegrating links in a belt fed system. Plus it’s not as powerful.

[titsonritz]

Why not use 300 Win Mag? That's more common in the US arsenal than 338 Norma Mag I'd think.

It wouldn’t be for long feeding belt fed machine guns.

[ABNAK]

At first glance with the OP's pic it has a sort of an MG-34/42-ish look, with a sprinkling of PKM added for good measure!

[1168]

Well for starters .300 Winchester magnum has a belted case that will not play nice with disintegrating links in a belt fed system. Plus it’s not as powerful.

That’s perfectly possible, believe it or not. Two existing and very popular/common designs spring to mind.

[markm]

More waste of money idiotic ideas. Who is coming up with this shit? First the 6.8 sig now this? Is George Soros in charge of our arms selections now?

I'm basing this comment on the video thumb nail. A 338 in that config wouldn't be accurate beyond a few hundred yards. That much powder has to be mounted in some fashion to achieve any level of aiming after the first round.

[4325]

More waste of money idiotic ideas. Who is coming up with this shit? First the 6.8 sig now this? Is George Soros in charge of our arms selections now?

I'm basing this comment on the video thumb nail. A 338 in that config wouldn't be accurate beyond a few hundred yards. That much powder has to be mounted in some fashion to achieve any level of aiming after the first round.

It’s a area weapon

[Coal Dragger]

That’s perfectly possible, believe it or not. Two existing and very popular/common designs spring to mind.

I realize the PKM uses a rimmed case but no standardized and accepted NATO belt fed systems use similar links. Why waste time and effort needing to redesign the feed mechanism to accommodate an inferior cartridge with less range and energy?

[SteyrAUG]

More waste of money idiotic ideas. Who is coming up with this shit?

It actually makes sense to me, having a belt fed that is as portable as the 240B but with more than twice the effective engagement distance is really what was needed many, many times in Ascrackstan. Out enemies learned to hover just outside the range of 7.62 MGs and hit us when it was unlikely we'd have M2s on hand during things like patrols.

Of course the problem is we seem to be getting the "solution" when the problem exists and who knows where we will be during the next major deployment. I always laugh that the Beretta M9 was really the perfect sidearm for our imagined war somewhere in Eastern Europe but instead we ended up in dry, arid locations where that fully open slide was susceptible to dust.

I'm also not a huge fan of introducing yet another new caliber to the military supply chain...unless of course it proves to be the needed solution. Time will tell.

They will have to T&E the shit out of this one, to make sure their lightweight MEDIUM machine gun can handle all the challenges of combat and it's a damn shame we didn't get it 10 years ago when we could have actually tested it in the real world.

And while we are at it, might as well surplus all that 7.62x51 we won't need anymore, oh wait, Bill F'ing Clinton signed a law saying US military surplus ammo can no longer be supplied to the private sector in the US. As a person who grew up shooting surplus 5.56 from Vietnam at prices I could afford in high school let me just say "F*ck you Billy, you can't die fast enough."

[eric0311]

It actually makes sense to me, having a belt fed that is as portable as the 240B but with more than twice the effective engagement distance is really what was needed many, many times in Ascrackstan. Out enemies learned to hover just outside the range of 7.62 MGs and hit us when it was unlikely we'd have M2s on hand during things like patrols.

Of course the problem is we seem to be getting the "solution" when the problem exists and who knows where we will be during the next major deployment. I always laugh that the Beretta M9 was really the perfect sidearm for our imagined war somewhere in Eastern Europe but instead we ended up in dry, arid locations where that fully open slide was susceptible to dust.

I'm also not a huge fan of introducing yet another new caliber to the military supply chain...unless of course it proves to be the needed solution. Time will tell.

They will have to T&E the shit out of this one, to make sure their lightweight MEDIUM machine gun can handle all the challenges of combat and it's a damn shame we didn't get it 10 years ago when we could have actually tested it in the real world.

And while we are at it, might as well surplus all that 7.62x51 we won't need anymore, oh wait, Bill F'ing Clinton signed a law saying US military surplus ammo can no longer be supplied to the private sector in the US. As a person who grew up shooting surplus 5.56 from Vietnam at prices I could afford in high school let me just say "F*ck you Billy, you can't die fast enough."

Our issued M9’s did fine, even when exposed to the harsh ME environments (sandstorms/dust/etc). The major problem was the issued/non-OEM magazine during the early GWOT years. Checkmate branded M-9 magazines were horribly unreliable.