Automatic Rifle/M27.

This is coolbert:

This was totally new to me! Perhaps you too?

Thanks to the SF man Rich for the tip! "HK417/ M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle will replace the SAW. The SAW's used in Iraq and Afghanistan were worn out and as heavy as the BAR"

At least for the United States Marines [USMC], the SAW, the M249 is now an obsolete weapon and going to be replaced, right now, this year, as we speak. The new weapon labeled, given the nomenclature of and designated as an automatic rifle.


That M249 SAW [squad automatic rifle] at least in Iraq found to be lacking, susceptible to jamming, heavy for a weapon of that class [SAW], and just not adequate with regard to the caliber of round, not having the penetration power desired. This comment regarding the SAW from the Military Thoughts blog way back when now:

"2) The M249 SAW (squad assault weapon): .223 cal. Drum fed light machine gun. Big thumbs down. Universally considered a piece of< shit. Chronic jamming problems, most of which require partial disassembly. (that's fun in the middle of a firefight)."

 My perception of the SAW originally was that IT was the ABSOLUTE ANSWER to the squad automatic weapon "problem". Automatic weapon designed as such and firing a compatible round with the M16 rifle.

The SAW was NOT the answer? The M27 when fielded to represent the "base of fire" for an infantry squad using "fire and maneuver" when confronted by and in combat with the enemy!!

[ever since the latter days of WW1 the automatic weapon as carried by the troops of an infantry squad has been the primary weapon available, rifles as carried by everyone else secondary and only used in support of the automatic weapon!]

The M27 having a thirty round magazine but continuing to fire the same 5.56 mm round as the M16 and to be used in combat exclusively [?] in the auto mode, not selective fire!

This M27 to me does NOT represent an automatic rifle [AR] as that term has ordinarily understood. When I think of automatic rifle the American BAR of WW1, WW2, and Korean War fame immediately comes to mind. A weapon capable of sustained auto fire with a long and heavy barrel, the round having a lot of knock-down power. The stubby barrel of the M27 seems NOT to be very robust or able to provide sustained long- range auto fire if needed?

The M27 will be an improvement over the SAW M249? I hope so! Other than weight [and that is an important feature], this M27 to me does not represent on paper a significant improvement over the SAW! I might like to think otherwise, but my intuition, as flawed as it might be, tells me otherwise.

This waits to be seen!

coolbert.