M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW)

by Tarfu Wed 02 Apr 2008, 6:53 pm

The SAW is a belt/magazine fed, fully automatic, shoulder fired, air cooled, gas operated, fired from the open bolt position, light machine gun found in any US infantry fire team. It fires 5.56 NATO Ball in a 4:1 mix of 4 Ball then 1 tracer round. The only thing I personally don't like about this weapon is its habit of jamming when you fire it a lot (most of them happen when you try and use a regular M-16/M-4 magazine as a source of ammo) and don't heavily lube it up. Here are some specs, courtsey of Wikipedia:

Production history
Manufacturer FN Herstal, FN Manufacturing
Unit cost US$4,087[1]
Variants See Variants
Specifications
Weight 6.88 kg (15.16 lb) empty
10.02 kg (22.08 lb) loaded
Length SAW: 1038 mm (41 in)

PARA: 914 mm (stock extended), 766 mm (stock compressed)
Barrel length 465 mm (18 in)
Cartridge 5.56x45mm NATO
Action Gas-operated, open bolt
Rate of fire 900 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity 915 meters/sec
Effective range 1000 m
Feed system

* M27 disintegrating belts from 200-round plastic ammo box or 100/200-round reusable soft packs
* Various STANAG Magazines.