Posted on 08/06/2007 5:37:38 PM PDT by Renfield
July 31, 2007: Two years ago, field testing of the XM-312, the replacement for the eighty year old, .50 caliber (12.7mm) M-2 ("Ma Deuce") machine-gun, began, in the United States and overseas. Then, nothing. That's because the test results were not encouraging, the biggest shortcoming being the low rate of fire (about 260 rounds per minute). This is about half the rate of the M2, and was believed adequate for the 25mm smart shells the XM312 was originally designed for (as the XM307). But for 12.7mm bullets, it didn't impress the troops. There were some reliability problems, which could be fixed. The rate-of-fire issue, however, has proved to be more difficult. Meanwhile, a new upgrade for the M2 has been fielded, and Ma Deuce still rules the battlefield. The new M2E2 has a quick change barrel, flash hider and lot of small improvements. It is much in demand.
Originally, the M2 replacement was going to be the M-307, which was designed so it could fire either the computer controlled 25mm "smart shell" of the XM-25, or (by changing the barrel and receiver), .50 caliber ammo. But it was felt that a straight replacement for the M-2 was needed quickly. The original plan was for the troops to begin getting the XM312 in 2008, or sooner.
The M-2, nicknamed "Ma Deuce" by the troops, has been around so long because it was very good at what it did. Accurate, reliable, rugged and easy to use, many of the M-2s currently in use are decades old, and finally wearing out. The army doesn't want to build new ones, and wasn't sure it could do without the venerable, and very useful, Ma Deuce. So it ended up going ahead with the plan to build a new .50 caliber machine-gun (the XM312). Actually, the new Ma Deuce is basically the XM307, but without the ability to fire 25mm rounds. The XM312 weighs 36 pounds (compared to 50 for the M-2), even with the addition of the electronic fire control stuff from the XM307.
The fire control system, especially the range finder, makes the XM312 much more accurate with first shot hits, than the M-2. American troops have been testing the XM312 in the United States and Germany, and have also reacted favorably to the lighter weight of the XM-312. The lighter XM312 will be easier for infantry to manhandle into position (along with its tripod mount.) But the lower rate-of-fire on the XM-312 was particularly disappointing to the many troops who had used the M2 in combat recently.
How about a 20mm Vulcan -plenty of pain there.
Yup very true 7.62 x 51 is plenty ugly a round.
“I never saw anyone “wounded” by a .50 cal.”
Well I did. Don’t know how or why she wasn’t dead, but we took her SKS rifle away from her, tried to stop the bleeding and then got her a medicac helo to a hospital in Saigon. All I can say is that it wasn’t her time to die. Three 50 cal in the chest and nothing lethal. I’ll bet she’s got a mean scar today, but she’s probably still walkin’ around.
That it is. But it's big heavy beast with a fearsome recoil. Although there was once a towed version, I think the only things that mount them now are aircraft, at least F-16 or larger helicopter size, and armored vehicles (a version of the M-113). I was thinking of a lighter replacement for the M-2, Maybe even one with a hand crank like the original Gatlings, or one powered by propellant gases somehow. But even failing those and electrically or hydrolically powered, something to mount on tanks, self-propelled artillery, wheeled armored vehicles and even the HUMMV and that V-bottomed armored car, where an M-2 is used today. The Vulcan is too big, for some of those applications, and might tip over the lighter ones if fired to the side. Maybe a 3 barrelled version in .50 BMG.
In Houston perhaps, with beaucoup grandchildren. :)
Many VC, when they found out what their northern brethren *really* had in mind, became part of the "boat people".
3ea. .50 cal in the chest? She should have been minus a chest and back!
3 in the chest. We couldn’t believe it either.
Of course we didn’t render aid until we got the rifle pried out of her fist. Amazing that she hadn’t let go if it as she lay there gurgling. It’s like those pictures you sometime see of some guy with a piece of rebar through his head and they patch him up and he’s just fine.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.