shep854 Posted July 27 Share Posted July 27 On 7/25/2024 at 9:51 PM, Interlinked said: Traverse limiter tabs? PKM tripod has those even though they're small. Sounds like an artifact from the days when machine guns were employed as a form of artillery; massed guns with locks on tripods so they could cover specific points and set to provide indirect fire. Of course, guns got lighter and more portable... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bojan Posted July 27 Share Posted July 27 It is not a relic, it is (among other things) a way to avoid shooting your own advancing troops by accident while you provide covering fire if they are advancing parallel to the direction of fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus Becker Posted July 27 Share Posted July 27 1 hour ago, shep854 said: Sounds like an artifact from the days when machine guns were employed as a form of artillery; massed guns with locks on tripods so they could cover specific points and set to provide indirect fire. Of course, guns got lighter and more portable... Or just to cover a specific sector so you don't endanger friendlies. We were taught this in basic. You set up a field of fire in daylight and put something in place to make sure the machine guns stays inside of it at night. Ok, that's probably less of an issue today with night vision gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shep854 Posted July 27 Share Posted July 27 2 hours ago, bojan said: It is not a relic, it is (among other things) a way to avoid shooting your own advancing troops by accident while you provide covering fire if they are advancing parallel to the direction of fire. I didn't mean to imply that the T&E gear was irrelevant. Like a magnetic compass, it is indeed quite useful--if sometimes underappreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shep854 Posted July 27 Share Posted July 27 (edited) 2 hours ago, Markus Becker said: Or just to cover a specific sector so you don't endanger friendlies. We were taught this in basic. You set up a field of fire in daylight and put something in place to make sure the machine guns stays inside of it at night. Ok, that's probably less of an issue today with night vision gear. Given how guns can get bumped around when things get busy, I'd say it is still very much an issue! And for general machine gun grins: Edited July 27 by shep854 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shep854 Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interlinked Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 It's a standard feature of any MG tripod, surely. I'm not sure what other features a lafette might have, but its free-recoiling shock absorber is certainly uncommon. Its weight, on the other hand, is all too common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burncycle360 Posted August 4 Share Posted August 4 I am a fan of replacing the M240 with something on par with a PKM for light infantry use. Shaving the better part of 10 pounds is worth the expense of a new NSN IMO. I always wondered why we didn't have something akin to the lafette available to be used when appropriate; could have the lightweight tripod at platoon and the lafette available in the coy arms locker. A modern periscope with thermal and perhaps LRF... Speaking of low hanging fruit, I'm surprised nobody is scrambling to make and ship Level IIa ballistic blankets to Ukraine with all the drones buzzing about with VOG17. Would be a cheap and cheerful way to up armor fighting positions or just sleep in the foxhole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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