Why aren't more belt-fed machine guns designed to feed from the right? It seems it would facilitate the job of the assistant gunner. What am I missing?
Why aren't more belt-fed machine guns designed to feed from the right? It seems it would facilitate the job of the assistant gunner. What am I missing?
Because most shooters are right handed, and having an ammo b***h is a luxury, not a necessity.
I never had an A gunner. Life was pain carrying all that shit
Former 240 AG here, all the controls I needed to run were on the left side too so I could help feed ammo and do spare barrel changes easily from the left side and the gunner was free to focus on accurately engaging the target. The PKM is a great machine gun regardless.
Civilian gay here. Is a non disintegrating belt really an issue? That is the only real downside I can see with the PKM, but again, civilian gay.
why is it a downside?
there were many programs on improvement of the PK and the only major change that was adopted was the forced barrel cooling in the PKP
i only larp, but it's annoying to have the empty half jangling and catching almost magnetically on every piece of underbrush
the same reason I switched to dm6 links in the mg3
Alright hold up, that motherfricker wearing wool gloves in the middle of a sunny day in Iraq?
Asbestos for barrel changes I believe
you don't change the barrels on a PKM
you do. PK(M)s have two barrels, PKPs have one.
Then why did they design it with a quick-release barrel?
There's a sliding block in the top of the trunnion under the feed cover that unlocks the barrel (which is why you need a heat-proof glove, because that part gets hot), then you pivot the carry handle forward to lever the barrel free of the trunnion and then it slides right out
I’m also neverserved. It’s probably cause most people are right handed, so the right side is used for ejection.
The Miltary moving to 5.56 Squad Automatic Weapons was a short sided mistake.
7.62x51 is superior in every way except capacity.
>muh troop can carry more ammo
Just learn to control your rate of fire. Bursts are more effective than blowing all your ammo shooting at thin air.
>muh weight
They could have incorporated carbon fiber furniture or dropped some weight.
>Just learn to control your rate of fire. Bursts are more effective than blowing all your ammo shooting at thin air.
Volume of fire is what determines suppression when accuracy is lacking. If you can't pinpoint your enemy positions, you'll always be better off with more fire going their way than not.
In Afghanistan the Taliban would fire at US troops from distances greater than the reach of 5.56
I watched an entire SF video of this.
They had to go back to shooting higher caliber rifles.
They could have just studied the Russian Afghan war.
And no 5.56 sucks at distance.
Look up the ballistics for 7.62x51 its phenominal military cartridge
If you need to engage the enemy further away call artillery, why do you dislike your artillerymen?
>short sided mistake
They realized that the squads had one two many calipers, and decided to standardize on the diamon-dozen 5.56. Who can blame them?
>>muh weight
>They could have incorporated carbon fiber furniture or dropped some weight.
b***h the 5.56mm SAW was adapted ~40 years ago.
and the new NGSW 6.8mm lmg is actually lighter than the m249. I
>Why aren't more belt-fed machine guns designed to feed from the right?
Many of them can feed from both sides if you swap a few parts. Guns that feed from the right are typically intended for use as coaxial machine guns or dual mounts.