That saving ammo with a reduced rate thing is a load of crap...GO-FAST Big time

Posted 22 September 2003 - 08:11 PM
Posted 22 September 2003 - 08:26 PM
Posted 22 September 2003 - 08:37 PM
Posted 23 September 2003 - 11:45 AM
Years ago, as a Cavalry officer, I was privledged to spend a week with a German panzergrenadier unit in Bavaria, along with my platoon. This was called "interoperability training" and was much enjoyed by all.
At the time, the standard US light machine gun was the M-60. The Germans used the excellent MG 3 (which was based on the wartime MG 42), and we had the chance to fire all of their organic weapons as part of the week was spent in becoming marksmanship qualified per Bundeswehr standards.
The MG 3 had a very high rate of fire, and the Germans employed it as a point-fire weapon. I was highly impressed with its extreme accuracy and controllability. Qualification was conducted on printed targets with a color poster-like diorama with all of the targets to be engaged. The entire poster was about four feet high and 15 feet wide. Each individual target had a circle around it of about 7 inches diameter, and I recall thinking how hard I thought it would be to keep rounds inside of that circle, full auto, at the 30 meter range we used. Using the short burst techniques taught by our German hosts, it was very easy to put the required five rounds into each circle, as the burst was finished before the gun had a chance to move much. If your bursts were too short, you didn't have the right number of rounds in the circles; too long, and you ran out of ammo before completing the course of fire. The gun was so controllable that qualification on the MG 3 was a breeze. Even qualification as an expert was not difficult.
Long bursts were not taught, but each of us had a chance to run an entire belt through the weapon, just holding down the trigger. The weapon vibrated, but was still very easily controlled with no muzzle climbing tendancy, and targets could be very accurately engaged at long ranges.
Posted 23 September 2003 - 12:20 PM
Posted 23 September 2003 - 02:06 PM
Posted 23 September 2003 - 02:19 PM
Posted 23 September 2003 - 02:48 PM
Posted 23 September 2003 - 09:48 PM
Posted 24 September 2003 - 06:45 PM
Posted 25 September 2003 - 09:14 AM
Posted 25 September 2003 - 04:43 PM
Posted 25 September 2003 - 08:41 PM