Re: DS: SAW versus APSW versus RFAC

On Mon, 9 Mar 1998 19:33:56 -0600 tom411@JUNO.COM (Thomas E Hughes)
writes:
>
>On Sun, 08 Mar 1998 18:26:51 -0800 John Leary <realjtl@sj.bigger.net> 
>writes:
>>Owen, Los,
>>     I guess the next question I must ask after the lesson in 'burst
>>control' is:	 Why develop a lightweight HMG in a multi-barrel 
>>configuration to fire a three round burst?
>>     I for one have never read of any sort of multi-barrel weapon 
>used
>>in this manner.   (Perhaps I need to read more, I am not really
>>up on the modern weapons.)
>>
>>Bye for now,
>>John L.
>>
>
>I agree, sorry for being a little cute but this sounds like 
>re-inventing the wheel. A three round burst weapon is generally called 
>an assault rifle!!!!
>
>I had always assumed that a multi-barrel design occurred for one of 
>two reasons. 
>
>  1. To increase the rate of fire. One bullet was going down one 
>barrel while the next barrel was loading, and the third was ejecting a 
>casing.    By the way the literature I have says that if a infantry 
>weapon fires too fast then the infantry can't carry enough ammo to 
>justify its utility (5 seconds and all the ammo carried by the squad 
>is burned through, is a little pointless!!!)
>
>  2. To reduce wear and heat warping on the barrel. (200 years of 
>advancing metallurgy makes this sound a little specious.)
>
>For slightly different tack........
>
>I ran across a couple of references to WWII where it was stated that 
>the 50.cal HMG was regularly used in the sniper function. Using its 
>anchored tripod it was extremely stable and was fired in a single (or 
>two depending on the skill of the gunner) round action. Then the 
>gunner had to manually rechamber the gun to fire a next time.	
>Thousand yard sniping was not uncommon. It may have been done in WWI 
>but I haven't done enough research to know. 
>
>Tom Hughes

An ex-marine A knew when growing up told me about this. He said that in
Korea, they used to do long-range sniping. I don't recall if he told me
about mounting a scope on one, or if that's a story I heard from
somewhere else. 

He also told me about the M-16 anti-aircraft track--a halftrack with
quad-fifties mounted on it. They'd crank the barrels up and use it for
indirect fire on the far side of ridges. I don't know how effective that
would be--I think I'd rather use 105's--but I imagine it could have a
bit
of a psychological effect, if nothing else.

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