General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I am sincerely perplexed by the "it's not an assault rifle" meme... [View all]pasto76
(1,589 posts)one word. Suppression.
Moving in my squad in iraq, or driving down the MSR tampa. We get attacked with small arms. Somebody determines direction we are getting fired on ---> AUTOMATIC WEAPONS OPEN UP to make that guy/those guys stop firing and take cover. automatic gunners reduce rate of fire (still much higher than an assault rifle) to keep their heads down.
The rest of us, started flanking the bad guys immediately. Since they have their heads down, they can not see us, and can not fire on us. We get their positions in an interlocking field of fire and kill them.
We kill them by AIMING at them. You can "walk" an M249 or M240 in on a target, but that enemy has a chance to take cover while you do that. Line up a bad guy in your sights, squeeze the trigger. Thanks to a pistol grip and vertical foregrip (although I didnt have the latter) I can hold a very steady sight picture. POW. If you dont know what a buffer is, google it. Thanks to the buffer, I can re-acquire the target in my sights quickly, or pick another one.
Im not a gun nut. I am a combat vet. These features matter.