Ohio Ordnance Works showed their Select Fire trigger pack which adds a semi-auto capability to the M-240 family of weapons. This includes the Brazilian M971, Canadian C6, British L7A1&2, Swedish & Latvian KSP 58B, and Taiwanese Type 74.
A semi-auto facilitates zero of the weapon’s optic. Additionally, it can be used to help conceal the position of the Machine Gun. Switching to full-auto is as simple as flipping a lever.
Tags: Ohio Ordnance Works
I scoffed and then I realized what a good idea this is.
I did the same. I’m still not totally convinced, but if the option is there… why not?
Me too, but it would be handy as heck for zeroing. Pretty unconvinced that it adds any capability that is worth the added failure points in normal use. But as an additional trigger pack that a company armorer could have a few of, I could see it.
A company I worked at had one on loan from OOW and we put a LOT of rounds through guns with it with no reliability issues.
Zeroing is one use it’s perfect for. Another is for overwatch in areas where you might no want to dump a bunch of rounds into due to collateral or restrictive ROE. You could basically use the M240 as a SDM type weapon as needed and not just SBF.
This is a great idea. Maybe not for combat use but it would be super useful to zero 240s. Instead of just falling in on broke ass scopes with who knows what zero, you could throw this on and use a legit 7.62 zeroing target. Brilliant, wonder how much it costs.
How about the old MG34 double trigger!
lol, yeah…no
Don’t know if US forces only use disintegrating links but we (Irish Army – retired) never used them. Therefore, we would leave gaps in the belt for zeroing with single shots requiring to pull the belt on right side and re-cocking for each additional round. Totally impractical during operations but experimenting at longer ranges the accuracy and tight groups with ‘single shots’ was incredible. With the standard iron sights, we could hit the 12inch by 12inch ‘falling plate’ regularly at 500m and occasionally at 600m. Am guessing the bipod, barrel length and barrel weight/quality played a part? I think our sections (squads) still retain the GPMG. With everyone else except a DMR using 5.56 the accuracy and control of a select fire GPMG would be a fantastic option considering the nature of some operations today. Add a good optical sight……beautiful! Still a hoor to carry though!
Both the M249 (FN Minimi family) and M240 (FN Mag-58 family) use disintegrating links.
Two purposes
-used to win bets on better grouping in competition with the riflemen (personally have done 5rd 2moa w/ 240 and 3.5x acog.. = free dinner)
-optionality for the AW to engage on discretionary target.. not as great as HK21 but not belt fed silly.
It saddens me that so many people are products of poor leadership that failed to teach them how to zero their GPMGs.
Re: employing a 240 like a HK21, I think that’s a road to disappointment. The HK is more like a belt fed rifle than a pure GPMG. Thusly it handles like an ungainly rifle rather than an ungainly MG.
You could single shot the old M-60s if you knew how to work the trigger. But you had no real reason to back then. Nothing but irons or the AN/PVS-4 for night work.