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Posted: 9/5/2013 7:11:30 AM EDT
6mm SAW head stamp FA/73. Developed in the early 70's, the US Army was looking for something that would replace the 5.56/223 and the 7.62/308 and all the weapons that they were designed for. Eventually the 5.56/223 won out and only the machine gun portion of the SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) competition was successful. This lead to the development of the M249 light machine gun. wolfgang
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As usual, Thanks for sharing !
Lacquered Steel cased ?, ....and are either of those steel cores ? I can't quite tell. |
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Originally Posted By RobtheBobb:
Agreed. I lust after a Mk 48. Originally Posted By RobtheBobb:
Originally Posted By Combat_Jack:
Adopting a SAW in 5.56mm was sheer lunacy. Agreed. I lust after a Mk 48. Those are problematic. I'd rather have a PKM. All in all a Mk46 ish MG in 6.5 or a CTA 6.5 would be ideal. |
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sorry, should have said 6x45mm (6.17x45.01) , steel cased with lacquer finish and GMCS bullet jacket. Several prototypes were made in different lengths and finishes, but none were AP as far as I can tell.
Just proof, tracer, ball, and inert dummies. So your looking at just lead cores. wolf |
| Here's a link with a fair bit of info on the 6mm SAW and some pics of the vaious combinations of rounds produced: http://iaaforum.org/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6033&hilit=6x45+saw |
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Great historical stuff, folks. Thanks.
I still can't get past so many comments regarding how cool it would be to have gone with a 6x45mm round to address "deficiencies" in the 5,56x45 round... Switching from a well tested and "known quantity" round to a new one of just half a millimeter larger diameter and with completely unknown side issues would not have been a good idea unless it was light years better than the current round. It didn't turn out that way. As to using the M249 as a SAW, in my experience and observation, having a belt fed weapon that actually ran, even in 5.56mm was always better than having a 7.62mm belt fed M60 that choked...a lot. When the 249 hit the field, most M60s were much older than their operators and had NOT been fully overhauled, so they were not very useful in the field. |
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As an ex-SAW gunner (M249) I think it ran great. But mine was brand new when issued. It even fed from box mags fine. Granted, it would always be better to shoot a larger cal. but it sucks humping the larger ammo. I'm also an ex-M60 gunner too.
I think that 6mm idea has merit though... |
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Originally Posted By Combat_Jack: 6mm SAW would likely have 40% more range than 5.56mm. |
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