The reason I am writing this is to establish that the Mk48 is not a replacement for the M240B. The Mk48 is considered an "assault gun". Just like it's predicesor the M60E4. The Mk48 is technically not a "crew served weapon" like the 240. It is designed to be operated by one man.
The benefits to this weapon are it's light weight of 18.64 pounds compared to the 27.3 pound M240B. This facilitates quicker movement on the battlefield. Along with its light weight is its lenght of 39.7 inches the 240 is 48 inches. That 9 inches is extremely beneficial when moving in and out of buildings. You could basically clear rooms with this weapon and not have a problem.
With every weapon there are draw backs. First off the max effective range on the Mk48 is 800m the 240's is 1800m. That is a big difference. I know that in an urban area it doesn't make a difference but all this tells me is that when in open terrain like the "desert" you are limited to what targets you can shoot at. Another downfall is that you cannot change barrels. Everyone knows that machineguns create an extensive amount of heat when fired for just a few minutes. Yes, the barrel is fluted to expidite the cooling process. But not being able to change barrels and being required to lay down some serious led will cause some problems. Another issue is that it cannot be mounted on a tripod. I know, I know you can shoot just as good on bipod. What the fuck ever. No you can't. I would put money on it. Even though the tripod should only be used in certian situations you should still be able to have that option. The weight issue with the tripod has been fixed. All weapon squads have been outfitted with Titanium tripods that weigh about 10 lbs. That is half the wieght of the old one.
This really isn't a drawback but I am going to put this out anyway. The rate of fire for the Mk48 is approx 710 rounds per minute. The 240's is 950+ rounds a minute. That is a considerable difference. This is somewhat benificial though. Because it is designed to be a one man weapon system you would want a slower rate of fire. If it fired as fast as the 240 a soldier would need to bring at least 1500 rounds to the fight so he wouldn't blow it all off in 5 minutes. Another reason that this is good is due to the fact that the barrel won't heat as quickly.
Don't get me wrong this is a great weapon system and I am glad that the Regiment went with the "assault gun" concept. All of my Ranger buddies and their gun teams are in love with it. But they are also aware of it's limitations.
H8
