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Under President Trump, gun control measures on the federal level had little success.  However, anti-liberty/gun forces, and the media (I know: one in the same), never rest, and circa 2024, President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and most Democrats/Socialists/Communists (D/S/Cs) never stop pushing to ban “assault weapons,” guns in general and most magazines. In this article, an update of several past articles, I hope to help to expose and correct poor and misleading uses of language, particularly by those who prefer the deceptive tactic of manipulating language to steal liberty.  I also hope to provide a few useful, fun facts to know and tell, as well as informed answers to anyone who demands to know why anyone “needs” a given gun or firearm accessory.  I will not be discussing shotguns, lever-action or bolt-action long arms, which are, for our purposes, a separate subject, and well-known technologies.

MP5SD

ASSAULT WEAPON: Any scary-looking firearm an anti-liberty/gun cracktivist wants to ban.  Anti-gunners coined the term in the 1980’s as a means of confusing the public and legislators into thinking anything that remotely looks like a machine gun must be a machine gun, which as all right—left–-thinking people know are inherently evil and horrifically destructive.  In essence, “assault weapons” have come to be rifles other than traditional, blued, walnut stocked sporting arms, so-called “black rifles,” or those with polymer stocks and non-shiny metal finishes.  Josh Sugarman, then—1988–-a prominent anti-liberty/gun cracktivist, wrote an internal strategy memo, which became a book, in which he said:

Assault weapons-just like armor-piercing bullets, machine guns, and plastic firearms-are a new topic. The weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons-anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun-can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons.

MP5SD6

This is a Heckler & Koch MP5SD6. It’s a semiautomatic .22LR caliber carbine, made by Walther under license from H&K. The integral “suppressor” is non-functional, and actually supports the muzzle end of the thin barrel. The first carbine is a genuine H&K MP5SD submachine gun in 9mm. The integral suppressor is functional. Notice how much they look alike, yet they are very different weapons. It is this superficial appearance similarity gun banners exploit.  My article on this carbine is available here.

Proposed and adopted legislation employing the term “assault weapon” has been so broadly and nonsensically written as to ban virtually any firearm ever made.  The news media has enthusiastically adopted it, sometimes extending the term in ridiculous ways, such as “assault handgun,” or “assault shotgun.”  Firearms widely used for hunting, competition and home protection, such as the AR-15 family, America’s most popular sporting rifle, are commonly mislabeled “assault weapons.”

This is the Smith And Wesson M&P FPC 9mm carbine.  Its MSRP circa April 2023 is $699.00. Recently introduced, it is a thoroughly modern 9mm, pistol caliber, carbine.  That’s a class of light, handy rifles that is becoming more and more popular.  It features accessory rails to allow easy installation of sights, flashlights, lasers, etc. Its distinguishing characteristic is its folding mechanism, which allows it to be transported in a very small package—a very useful carrying bag is included–yet be quickly restored to firing position. Another useful feature is the in-stock storage for two magazines.  All three magazines depicted are included with the carbine.  An innocuous gun such as this, which is not remotely a “military weapon of war,” would surely be at the top of any anti-liberty/gun cracktivist’s “to ban” list.

This is the KelTec Sub 2000, Gen 3 carbine.  Also in 9mm, it’s a substantial improvement over previous generations in that the fore end rotates to allow red dot sights and flashlights when the carbine is folded into a very compact package.  One advantage of this design is it uses standard Glock 9mm magazines, which are inexpensive and readily available.  Glock 19 magazines, as depicted, fit flush, while G17 mags provide greater purchase for the hand.  The stock is adjustable–a little–for length of pull.  Its April, 2024 MSRP is only $449.00.  KelTec also makes an integrally suppressed version of this carbine.

There is no such thing as an “assault weapon.”  There is no such term in the firearm lexicon, though anti-liberty politicians have used the term in legislation.

Fun Fact:  Those using the term “assault weapon,” demonstrate their lack of understanding of accurate firearm terminology, their intent to deceive, likely both.

credit: rockislandauction.com

ASSAULT RIFLE:  This class of firearm began in 1943 with the MP-43 designed in Germany.  Rifles of its type were soon reclassified as the STG-44.  True assault rifles have these characteristics:

(1) Individual small arms carried and fired by a single soldier.

(2) Shoulder fired;

(3) Gas operated (with a few notable exceptions);

(4) Removable box magazine fed;

(5) Capable of semiautomatic or fully automatic fire;

(6) Fires an intermediate (in power) rifle cartridge such as the 5.56 X 45mm (American/NATO standard) or 7.62 X 39mm (Russian standard).

Colt Enhanced Patrol Rifle EPR

This is a Colt Enhanced Patrol Rifle EPR.  Like many contemporary AR variants, it no longer mounts the earlier “carrying handle,” replacing it with a Picatinny rail and M-LOK slots for optical sights, lasers and flashlights.  Circa April 2024, its MSRP is from $849.00 to $1999.00.  It outwardly resembles military M-4 variants, but is capable only of semiautomatic fire, thus it is not an assault rifle, and again, “assault weapons” don’t exist.  

Externally, fully automatic AR-15 platform rifles are generally distinguishable from semiautomatic civilian versions only by their left side mounted selector switches.  Semiautomatic rifles have two positions: safe and fire, while true military rifles have three: safe, semiautomatic and fully automatic or burst, which fires two-three rounds with a single trigger pull.  AR-15 rifles require modern manufacturing materials, tools and methods.  They are light, ergonomically exceptional, reliable if properly cleaned and maintained and highly accurate.  Their popularity has, in recent years, reduced prices, and basic rifles, usually without accessory rails, can be found in the $500 dollar range.  The design makes considerable use of plastics, aircraft-grade aluminum and high-quality steel.

Most semiautomatic AR-15 variants have the same flash suppressor (on the end of the barrel), and collapsible stock as their fully automatic counterparts, though many, as the Colt example, no longer include a bayonet lug.  They are generally made on the same machinery as their genuinely military cousins.  These devices have no sinister design or purpose, and bayonet equipped rifles—rifles in general–are ignored by criminals.

While the collapsible stock does slightly shorten–-a bit over 3”–-the overall length of the weapon, its primary purpose is to allow adjustment of “length of pull” to adapt to a wide range of shooter body size/arm length, an important consideration in a general issue weapon.  Soldiers wearing heavy body armor need shorter stocks as well, however they do not wear such armor all the time.  In other words, soldiers wearing body armor and shorter people with shorter arms need a shorter stock than taller people. Rather than stock rifles with many different length stocks, a collapsible stock solves that problem cheaply and effectively.

A bayonet lug is merely a metal projection under the barrel to which the standard military bayonet attaches.  Such lugs–-and bayonets–-have never been a factor in crime.

A flash suppressor merely serves to redirect the muzzle flash of the rifle–-it is not a suppressor–-helping to conceal the position of a soldier.  Rifles are used in only a tiny fraction of crimes, AR-15s in a tiny fraction of that tiny fraction, and as with bayonet lugs, flash suppressors simply do not figure in crimes; they provide no advantage to criminals.  They do, however, serve to protect the muzzle from damage and are made on the same machinery as their military cousins.

The three primary features anti-liberty activists often demonize have no role in crime, and do not in any way make any AR-15 variant more dangerous than any rifle chambered in 5.56mm/.223 Remington, which is an intermediate level rifle cartridge. Many common hunting cartridges are far more powerful.

Fun Fact: Since the Vietnam era, the 30-round magazine has been the standard magazine of the AR-15 family, including civilian and military versions.  Magazines do not determine semi or full auto ability, nor the power of a cartridge. They will fit any long gun designed to accept them, including bolt-action rifles or pump action shotguns.  Manufacturers are now equipping some lever action designs to accept detachable, box magazines.

credit: MCSSI.com

This is an AK-47, a true assault rifle; it is capable of fully automatic fire. Semiautomatic only versions are available to the general public.  Generally somewhat less expensive and less accurate than the AR-15 family, these rifles, owing mostly to loose tolerances, are very reliable and can be made in third world workshops with cheap materials. The receivers are generally stamped and folded metal. Though a few variants of the AK have been made with machined receivers, they are uncommon—and expensive. Due largely to their robust reliability and parts that more easily allow accessory mounting, AK-pattern rifles are experiencing something of a renaissance in popularity in America.

Fully automatic firearms have been strictly regulated since 1934.  In 1986, gun control proponents illegally snuck a provision through Congress, banning civilian ownership of newly manufactured fully automatic weapons in an amendment attached to the Firearm Owner’s Protection Act, by a very questionable voice vote at the last possible second. Because the rest of the bill did so much to advance the Second Amendment cause, its proponents let it pass, possibly intending to repeal that provision in the future. That future has yet to arrive; liberty lost is almost impossible to regain.  Even when republicans owned the Congress and White House, they did nothing to restore this bit of liberty. Citizens can still own a machine gun manufactured prior to 1986 by submitting to a rigorous, expensive and lengthy federal process, but the law has so increased the rarity, hence the cost, of such weapons, it is all but impossible for most Americans to find and own them, which is particularly true of the more desirable models.

Kel-Tec RDB

A relatively recent invention in modern firearm history is the “bullpup” assault rifle. The primary advantage of this configuration is it can retain a full-length barrel of 16-20” in a much shorter overall package. This is desirable for weapons used in close quarter urban combat. This is the Kel-Tec RBD, in .223. It is currently marketed only for the civilian market in a semiautomatic version, and unlike many bullpup rifles, is ambidextrous, has an excellent trigger and downward ejection (behind the magazine).  Circa April, 2024 it retails from $1000-$1300.  KelTec also makes the RFB in bullpup configuration in .308/7.62 NATO.

credit: guns&ammo.info

This is the Israeli Tavor, which was purpose-designed as a .223/5.56 NATO military rifle.  It is available from outlets like Palmetto State Armory for around $1800.00.  The Tavor, like the AR-15, is manufactured in fully automatic versions for the military and police, and semiautomatic versions–-which are not assault rifles–-for civilians.

Despite what anti-gunners say, rifles like the AR-15, RDB, RFB or Tavor are excellent hunting weapons, within the limitations of their cartridges, and are commonly used for that purpose.  The usefulness of a hunting rifle is determined primarily by the performance of its cartridge and secondarily, by its utility in the outdoors.  Highly accurate, the AR-15’s cartridge is effective on game animals the size of a coyote or smaller.  While it can take larger game, such as deer, it’s best used on smaller game.  Its rust-resistance, rugged construction, light weight and its ability to be easily accessorized make it an excellent field gun. Another advantage of AR-15 pattern rifles is cartridge interchangeability. Uppers–-the portion of the rifle encompassing the upper receiver (barrel, sights, etc.)–can be quickly and easily switched to an upper of another caliber. Any cartridge with dimensions that fit an AR magazine can be made to work.  Since the sights are attached to each upper, once zeroed, they remain zeroed whenever uppers are swapped.

Assault rifles commonly weigh in the 6-7 pound range and commonly employ 30 round magazines.  Their useful range extends to around 300 yards.

Fun Fact:  “AR” does not stand for “assault rifle.”  It stands, instead, for Armalite—“Armalite Rifle”–the company for which its designer, Eugene Stoner, worked.

Fun Fact:  Actual assault rifles must be carefully aimed to be effective.  Because they are relatively light and fire an intermediate-–never a high-powered rifle–-cartridge, uncontrolled automatic fire tends to ventilate the surrounding countryside instead of the target.  Professionals fire from the shoulder, and in two to three round bursts, achieved through trigger manipulation, not a burst regulator, when automatic fire is employed.

Fun Fact: Military leaders long resisted equipping troops with assault rifles because they feared they’d shoot so many cartridges it would be logistically impossible to keep them supplied.  Military “burst” features are a lingering effect of this fear.

The primary advantages of the assault rifle over the battle rifle are assault rifles are generally considerably lighter and their ammunition is also lighter and smaller. A substantially larger quantity of ammunition may be carried in the same available space for the same, or less, weight. While it is true assault rifles do not have the same power and range as battle rifles, engagement distances in battle now tend to be much shorter than they were in previous wars, generally well within assault rifle range, particularly in urban combat scenarios. Our military has long known the .223/5.56 NATO cartridge is a less than optimal man stopper, and efforts to improve its performance, or do away with it in favor of a larger caliber, continue.

Fun Fact:  Semiautomatic versions of true assault rifles are not easy or quick to convert to fully automatic capability.  Federal law requires semiautomatic look-alike weapons be purposely difficult to convert, requiring specialized skills, knowledge, parts and tools to accomplish.  Unlike what some would have us believe, it is not merely a matter of switching a few parts.  Unlawful possession of fully automatic parts is treated exactly as unlawful possession of a complete firearm under federal law.

Fun Fact: Part of the enormous popularity of the AR-15 is female shooters, and children, find it easy and fun to shoot, not only because it is highly accurate, but because of its mild recoil.

BATTLE RIFLE:  Modern battle rifles have these characteristics:

1) Individual small arms carried and fired by a single soldier.

(2) Shoulder fired;

(3) Gas operated;

(4) Removable box (most contemporary rifles) or internally magazine fed;

(5) Primarily capable of semiautomatic fire;

(6) Fires a full-sized rifle cartridge such as the .308/7.62 X 51 mm or 30.06.

The Model 1903 Springfield (30.06 caliber) used in WWI by American forces is generally conceded to be an example of a true battle rifle, despite the fact that it has only a five round internal magazine and is bolt operated.  However, truly modern battle rifles—essentially weapons designed and fielded after WWI—have the characteristics listed above.

M1 Garand battle rifle

This is the M1-Garand, called by General George Patton, “the greatest battle implement ever devised.”  It was America’s primary issued rifle during WWII.  It has an internal, 8 round magazine and loads from a spring steel “en bloc” clip holding its rounds.  When the last round is fired, the rifle automatically ejects the empty clip. It fires the 30.06 cartridge, though some more recent versions of the weapon have been produced in .308 caliber, which is shorter and lighter than the 30.06.  It could have had a box magazine with larger capacity, as the BAR–Browning Automatic Rifle–did, but the Army demanded the 8-round clip for reasons that make little sense today.

FN-FAL battle rifle

This is the FN-FAL, which has all of the characteristics of a true modern battle rifle, particularly feeding from a removable box magazine.  Made in metric and inch versions, it is still in use around the world and was particularly favored by the British and Australians. Even the Israelis have used this outstanding rifle. It fires the .308/7.62 NATO cartridge, commonly from 20 round magazines.  Thirty round magazines are available but are generally considered to be too long to be truly useful, particularly for military use, because they make prone use problematic, and add weight that affects the rifle’s balance. Competent civilians also tend to avoid them.  Earlier versions of battle rifles tended to have wooden stocks, but more modern versions generally have polymer stocks and fore ends, which generally save some weight and are less prone to weather damage.

M-14 battle rifle. Note the removable, box magazine.

Some battle rifles such as the FN-FAL and the M-14 have been made in fully automatic versions, but all have proved unsatisfactory in that role. Despite the fact battle rifles weigh 10 pounds and more, that is insufficient weight to make them controllable under fully automatic fire with truly high-powered cartridges.  Their lighter barrels also tend to quickly overheat and cannot be changed.  Adding a heavier barrel only makes the weapon heavier and clumsier while only slightly extending its useful service before overheating. The useful range of battle rifles is 500 yards or more.

Fun Fact: The standard sized magazine for modern battle rifles, due to the larger size of their ammunition, is usually 20 rounds.  In addition, because military battle rifles are generally not fully automatic, their civilian counterparts are often identical, other than proof stampings.

Fun Fact:  It is incorrect to call the removable magazines of pistols or rifles “clips.”  The only currently manufactured, widely available firearm that actually uses clips is the M1 Garand battle rifle.  Some military ammunition is packed in “stripper clips,” but these are merely small metal strips that hold a number of cartridges–usually 10–together to allow them to be more easily loaded into magazines.  They are not ammunition feeding devices.

Fun Fact: After WWII the British wanted to go to an intermediate, .223-like, cartridge, but our military refused, demanding a high-powered rifle cartridge—the Garand was chambered in 30.06. Our allies recommended the FN-FAL in .308/7.62, which is smaller and somewhat less powerful than the 30.06, but because of the “not-invented-here” prejudice, we retooled the Garand into the M-14 in .308/7.62, thus depriving our troops of the proven, excellent FN-FAL. We forced that cartridge on NATO. Not long after that, we dropped the M-14 and .308/7.62 and adopted the M-16 and .223/5.56, which was a cartridge very much like what the British wanted in the first place.

SUBMACHINE GUN: These weapons are so called because they use sub-rifle caliber ammunition: pistol rounds such as the 9mm or .45 ACP.  While there are long-barreled, semiautomatic versions of these weapons on the market, true submachine guns generally have barrels in the 10″ or shorter range.  Any long gun with a barrel of less than 16″ is treated the same as a fully automatic weapon in terms of federal licensing. This is why the faux suppressor on the MP5SD6 replica that heads this article is longer than the real suppressor on the actual MP5: it encloses the federally mandated 16”+barrel.

Thompson M1 submachine gun

This is a Thompson M1, the primary version used by the US Military during and after WWII.  It was an attempt to cut down manufacturing costs compared to the Thompson 1928, which had a compensator, top mounted cocking handle, finned barrel, fine walnut furniture and an easily removable stock, a fine blued finish and an internal device called a “Blish Lock,” which was supposed to have aided function and reliability while slowing the cyclic rate.  I’ve fired 1928s—I owned a 1928–-and M1s and have never been able to feel the slightest difference in function.

Contemporary Kahr Arms Thompson M1 semiautomatic

This a contemporary, semiautomatic Thompson M1, produced by Kahr Arms.  Circa April 2024, its MSRP is $1775.00. Note the federal minimum 16” barrel.A 30-round magazine is $80.00.

The M1 was much less expensive to produce than the 1928–$70.00, and eventually as low as $45.00–but still many times more time-consuming due to the machining required, and more expensive than weapons like the M3 “Greasegun,” which cost a bit less than $20.00 to make. The M1 did not have a removable stock, much simpler sights, no barrel finning, no Blish lock, no compensator, was parkerized, could not accept drum magazines, and had a side mounted cocking handle.

credit: americanrifleman.com

The Thompson is a first-generation design requiring first class materials, tools, much machining and a high degree of craftsmanship to produce.  As a result, Thompsons tended to work very well indeed and troops loved them, but when huge numbers were needed, the cost was prohibitive.  Even so, many consider the Thompson an ideal submachine gun.  Its cyclic rate of .45 ACP rounds is in the 650 round per minute range, which for a general-purpose SMG is generally considered ideal.  The M1 accepts 20 and 30 round magazines, while the 1928 accepts those and 50 and 100 round drums.

The Thompson fires from an open bolt, so when the trigger is pulled, the entire massive bolt assembly flies forward under powerful spring tension, chambering and firing a cartridge.  This is done to avoid the problem of “cooking off” ammunition, which can occur if the chamber becomes so hot ammunition spontaneously fires when chambered.  The movement of the heavy bolt unsettles the gun, making accuracy more difficult, but competent shooters can do very well indeed.

H&K MP5

This is the Heckler and Koch MP5, perhaps the most ubiquitous SWAT and special operations submachine gun available today.  It primarily fires the 9mm cartridge and 30 round magazines are standard.  At one time, long barreled, semiautomatic only versions of this fine firearm were imported from Germany, but President George H.W. Bush banned such imports.  Only PTR now manufactures a domestic version, the 9R, https://www.ptr-us.com/product/9r/  under license.  It is a quality firearm with a few modern upgrades such as an optical sight rail. Circa April 2024, its MSRP is $1575.00.

9R (note the 16″ barrel)

It is a third-generation design that differs from the Thompson in many ways.  Much of the weapon is constructed of plastics and metal stampings, reducing manufacturing cost and time, but for other reasons, the weapon is still quite expensive.  It fires from a closed bolt using a roller-locking system unique to some H&K firearms.  By the time the MP5 was introduced, design improvements had essentially overcome the cooking off problem.  Weapons that fire from a closed bolt have greater inherent accuracy and are easier to fire accurately.

The MP5 is available in a wide variety of configurations–including a very effective version with an integral suppressor–weighing in the 6-7 pound range.  Cyclic rate depends on the version of the weapon, but most are in the 800 RPM and higher range.  The pictured version of the MP5 has three separate firing modes: semiautomatic, three round burst, and fully automatic.

Ruger PC 9mm Carbine

By comparison, this is the Ruger PC Carbine in 9mm.  It is a “take-down” design, which allows the barrel to be easily removed and reinstalled to make a very compact package.  Like all Ruger products, it is very well made and reliable, and circa April, 2024, the MSRP is $779.00, though it’s common to find them for less.  The 9R certainly looks cool, but the Ruger fires the same cartridge, is easily as accurate and costs far less.  It uses inexpensive and reliable double stack Glock handgun magazines, including their 33 round magazine, though its length is a bit unwieldy.  An interesting feature of this carbine is a tungsten weight that significantly reduces felt recoil, to around .22LR levels. My article on this carbine is here.  

It may be too early to declare a fourth generation of subguns, but what may eventually be recognized as the model of that class is the Kriss Vector SMG: 

Kriss Vector SMG

Chambered in 9mm or .45ACP, and using common Glock magazines the design is unique and features a novel recoil-reducing internal mechanism that is very effective. As with all modern SMGs, it’s compact, light weight, makes extensive use of plastics, has accessory rails, a folding stock, and can fit suppressors.

Kriss Vector CRB

The Vector 22 CRB is a 16” barreled, semiautomatic only version of the SMG. Circa April 2024, its MSRP is $849. It appears Kriss no longer makes a carbine in 9mm or .45 ACP, but only in .22LR.  To comply with federal minimum overall length requirements has a collapsible, AR-15-like stock that does not fold. What appears to be a suppressor is merely a barrel shroud.  Due to the .22LR cartridge, there is no need for the recoil reducing mechanism of the larger caliber SMG, but it retains the same outward appearance.

Fun Fact: TV and the movies have fostered a great many misconceptions about submachine guns.  The primary advantage of these weapons is their ability to place multiple rounds on target quickly, thus enhancing their effect.  They are also useful for engaging targets that may expose themselves for only seconds, or that move very quickly. Accuracy is just as important with a submachine gun as with any other type of firearm.  Aiming and firing from the shoulder is absolutely necessary, and is actually faster and far more accurate than shooting “from the hip.”

Competent operators do not fire entire magazines, but fire short, well-aimed bursts of 2-3 rounds.  With weapons like the Thompson, this is accomplished almost exclusively through trigger control: pressing and holding the trigger exactly the proper amount of time to fire a single round, two rounds, three rounds, etc.  With the Thompson’s relaxed rate of fire, this is easy to do.  These trigger control techniques can also be employed with weapons like the MP5, but burst features are also available on many models.  Still, more experienced shooters will often ignore burst setting—if possible–and use trigger control instead.

Fun Fact: Firing from the hip or waving the muzzle wildly from side to side while emptying a magazine—which looks dramatic and macho in movies–is an excellent way to miss everything you’re trying to hit and hitting everything you’re not trying to hit.  This is commonly known as “spray and pray.”  A tiny deviation at the muzzle equals missing by feet, yards and acres as the distance to a target increases.

Fun Fact: Submachine guns do not recoil so wildly on full automatic as to knock their shooter backward, nor do they inevitably fly irresistibly upward and out of a shooter’s hands, a common misconception about the Thompson.  They are, after all, essentially small rifles weighing as much as ten pounds or more loaded, firing handgun cartridges.  With proper training and technique, they are very controllable and accurate and recoil effect is minimal.  Because they fire pistol cartridges, their effective range is generally limited to 100 yards and less. 

Submachine guns fire from detachable box magazines and are designed to be carried, and used, by a single operator.  Submachine guns are useful in law enforcement not only because of their suppressive fire potential—they can keep armed bad guys pinned down and unable to shoot—but because they are shoulder fired, and because of their longer barrels and longer sight radius relative to handguns, they are easier to shoot accurately at greater than handgun ranges and do not suffer from over-penetration if proper ammunition is employed.

LIGHT MACHINE GUNS:  True machine guns are belt-fed.  In other words, their ammunition comes in long belts with the cartridges joined by metal links.  When the weapon fires, it ejects empty brass and disassembled links.

M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW)

The most commonly known light machine gun in current American forces use is the FN M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), which is currently being revised and potentially replaced by our military.  Because of its relatively light weight (about 17 pounds unloaded) and compact size, as well as the fact that it is commonly fed from 200 round pre-packed plastic ammunition boxes that easily attach to the gun, it, unlike most true machine guns, can be and almost always is carried and fired by a single soldier.  The M249 also accepts standard AR-15 30 round magazines. Firing the same standard 5.56 NATO cartridge is a logistics–always a major military concern–advantage. Having to stock the smallest number of calibers possible is highly desirable.

While the M249 does potentially offer somewhat greater range than an M-4, its cartridge is known to be a mediocre penetrator of cover and building materials, particularly compared to full power rifle cartridges.  However, for the generally shorter military engagement ranges of today, it’s a reliable, useful weapon.

Fun Fact: M249s are often seen in movies and on TV, often wrongly blasting away with abandon from the hip from endlessly self-refilling magazines.

GENERAL PURPOSE MACHINE GUNS:  America’s GPG, during the Vietnam era and later was the M60. Despite an initially finicky reputation and some odd design features—such as the ability of the gas piston to be installed backward, turning the gun into a huge single shot rifle—regular improvements have been made over the years and it is still in limited service.

M60 General Purpose Machine Gun

As the illustration demonstrates, most M60s come with an integral bipod.  While the weapon can be carried by a single soldier–-it weighs about 23 pounds unloaded–-it is usually a crew-served weapon.  Crew-served weapons commonly have a gunner and one or more soldiers assigned to carry and keep ammunition linked and running, and to change the issued spare barrel when a barrel becomes too hot.

There are cut-down, lighter weight versions of the M60, some with shorter barrels, making it easier to carry and fire for a single operator, but most GPG’s are mounted in helicopters, HumVees or on other military vehicles.

Firing the .308/7.62 cartridge, the M60’s range is essentially equal to that of the FN-FAL, the M-14 and other battle rifles: 500+ yards, though they are often employed at greater ranges.  True machine guns do not recoil like rifles: they vibrate.

Fun Fact: When Sylvester Stallone went berserk and shot up everything in sight with a machine gun in several of the Rambo movies, he was using a blank-firing M60.

While the M60 is still in limited military use, the American version of the FN MAG58, the M240, is in wider general use.  The military is looking for a lighter replacement.

This machine gun weighs approximately 28 pounds unloaded and is belt fed.  It is considered to be more reliable than the M60.  Like the M60, it is generally carried by a single soldier, but is also commonly a crew served weapon.  There are a number of variants available and in wide use, and this weapon is often vehicle and aircraft mounted.

HEAVY MACHINE GUNS: All heavy machine guns are crew served weapons, and generally require rather large crews as they burn through ammunition quickly and are large and heavy, as is their ammunition and their tripods.  The most famous of such weapons is arguably the Browning M2 heavy barrel in .50 BMG caliber, designed by authentic American genius John M. Browning. Introduced in 1921, it was one of the weapons that won WWII.  It was used not only on tanks and other armored vehicles, but in fighter and bomber aircraft. Like the model 1911 .45 ACP pistol, it is one of John M. Browning’s most enduring designs and is still the western heavy machine gun standard, though some militaries, including our own, are looking for an improved gun, without much success.

Fun Fact:  In B-17 bombers in WWII, Browning .50 gunners were given only 1000 rounds of ammunition due to weight limitations.  Their linked ammunition was about nine yards long, hence the possibly apocryphal saying: “I gave him the whole nine yards,” made by gunners who fired all their ammunition at attacking German fighters.  There are other explanations for the saying, but this is one of the most common.

Lighter versions of the weapon weigh 84 pounds.  Because of the great weight, the weapon is fired from a tripod—which is also heavy–or solidly mounted on tanks or other vehicles.  It is not designed to be fired from the shoulder.  It is still used in aircraft applications as well, though has increasingly been replaced by various miniguns—electrically driven, modern Gatling guns, which burn through ammo at many times the speed of an M2.  Prior to the invention of .50 BMG sniper rifles typified by the Barrett 82A1: 

Barrett 82A1

The M2 was sometimes fitted with telescopic sights and used in the extreme-long range sniper role by legendary Vietnam era sniper Carlos Hathcock, among others.

Fun Fact: The primary difference between a machine gun and an automatic cannon is the ammunition.  Machine guns fire non-explosive projectiles—solid bullets.  Cannon, automatic or not, fire exploding projectiles–cannon shells.  Machine gun ammunition is expressed in caliber such as .308, or in its metric designation, 7.62mm.  Cannon ammunition is virtually always expressed in the metric system such as 25mm or 30mm.  Contemporary cannon ammunition is generally at least 20mm in size.

There are automatic grenade launchers, but they are not true automatic cannon.  They fire grenades, and generally at much slower rates of fire, slower velocities and shorter ranges than cannon.  It is commonly possible to see the grenades they fire in flight with the naked eye.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Anti-gunners, or those who are simply not familiar with firearms often ask: “who needs a 30-round magazine,” or “who needs an AR-15,” or “who needs a machinegun?”  Set aside the fact that firearm historians, collectors and instructors do “need” such weapons and accessories. As Americans are now coming to understand, it is entirely possible to be confronted by multiple criminals, out in public, and even in one’s home.  In such circumstances, a 30-round magazine can very well mean the difference between life and death.

The underlying issue is one of unalienable rights and freedom.  If a 30-round magazine is deemed too dangerous for honest, law-abiding free men to own today, won’t a 20-round magazine be too dangerous tomorrow, and a ten round magazine the day after?

Politicians continue to try to limit magazine capacity to 10 rounds, even though such measures have no practical life-saving effect: magazines can be changed in as little as a single second.  As I’ve pointed out here, for the AR-15 and similar rifles, 30 round magazines are standard, not “large capacity.”  Freedom may be taken in a step-by-step, little by little process, but once lost, it is exceedingly difficult to regain.

No one needs a car that can exceed 50 MPH, and no one needs a 65″ TV–-after all, they use a great deal of electricity–-but few want politicians and bureaucrats telling them what they need.  The primary difference is the right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental, express, unalienable right, which springs from the natural right to self-defense.  Even without the Second Amendment–-which does not bestow, but merely acknowledges the right to keep and bear arms–-the right would still exist.  In the same way, because one can never know how many rounds one might need to protect lives, arbitrary magazine capacity limits ultimately cost rather than save lives. Multiple armed criminals have committed many recent home invasions. Innocent citizens are alive today because they had magazines of sufficient capacity to put their attackers to flight, or stop them.

In an ironic sense, federal regulation of machineguns is one of the greatest crime-prevention success stories of all time.  With perhaps a single exception, no federally registered machine gun has been used in a crime.  But this has nothing to do with federal regulations.  In order to own a machine gun, suppressor (there is no such thing as a “silencer”), even a rifle or shotgun with a barrel shorter than 16″, one must be fingerprinted, undergo local, state and federal record checks, meet all legal criteria, receive the OK from a local sheriff or police chief, pay a $200.00, non-transferrable tax, and submit to a wide variety of federal regulations relating to storage and transportation.  Machine guns are not misused because those willing to undergo such an onerous procedure are surely among the most honest, honorable and law-abiding Americans.  A machinegun in their hands is no more dangerous to the public than a single shot, bolt-action .22LR rifle.

Ultimately, the answer to those questions is simple.  The Second Amendment acknowledges, not creates, the unalienable, individual right to keep and bear arms, but self-defense is its secondary purpose.  The Second Amendment secures every other amendment.  It secures liberty itself.  It is the ultimate empowerment of citizens to resist tyranny, whether tyranny asserts itself little by little and with false smiles, false outrage, equally false assurances of safety or in outright warfare.  In resisting tyranny, an AR-15, 30 round magazines, and even machine guns are not only needed by patriots, they’re essential if liberty is to survive.

Those who would take such weapons from honest citizens know the Second Amendment was written to allow the common man to resist tyranny. They know the Founders were content that Americans own the most effective military weapons for that purpose.  And despite what his handlers can’t stop Joe Biden from saying, Americans of the revolutionary period were free to own cannon.  Never in history has censorship or disarmament been done by good people for honorable, necessary reasons. Never have either been done to preserve or increase liberty.

Next week, a submachinegun primer. I hope, as always, gentle readers, to see you there.