2003 US Marines: When did the US start using the FN MAG?

The M240 (US designation for the FN MAG) began replacing M60 MGs in all us services in the late '90s.  All US servcies use them now.  The M249 is a 5.56mm MG and replaced the automatic rifleman (full auto M16) in infantry squads.  The M60 (7.62mm, .30 cal) was still kept in the heavy weapons squad and as a GPMG throughout the services till replced by the M240, also 7.62mm.

The Corps adopted the M249 5.56mm Squad Automatic Weapon in conjunction with the M16A2 servivice rifle In the late 1980´s. As the A2 has only a three shot bust  vice full auto setting  a full auto weapon was required for the automatic rifleman as stated by arty. And, what an automatic rife! The first version had a settings at the gas cylinder for normal or adverse conditions. Adverse was intended to be used only when the weapon was compleatly filthy and whould no longer operate reliably on the normal setting. With a clean weapon the normal rate was between 600 and 700 rounds per minute. The adverse rate, between 1200 and 1400 RPM! Where do ya think the Grunts left the selector switch? I was a battalion armorer and I´m guilty as sin. It was like shooting a laser. Of course it was not healthy for the weapons to be fired constantly on such a high rate so they were modified to lower rates. At the same time these weapons hit the street out came in my opinion the poorest excuse for a machine gun ever to be fielded. the M60E3! As soon as the first one came in my Armory I said hmm, the barrel is thinner than the rifiles´? What happend next was that when these MG`s were fired as MG`s (fast) . given the facts that they had such a thin barrel and the bipod had been moved from it´s proper location at the end of the barrel to the receiver the rounds tended to exit after an extended period of fireing out the sides of the barrel instead of the muzzle. Given this problem and the fact that with this modification they had managed to correct none of the origanal  faults of The Pig (M60) they started looking in the early 90´s for a new GPMG (general purpose machine gun). What they chose was what they chose against in the late 1950´s the MAG 58, or, as we know it, the M240. This is the 7.62mm forerunner of the SAW and if you check out the test results from the 50´s test you gotta wonder, what were they smoking? How many people did we loose because the gun was down?

Is the M240 7.62mm or 5.56mm? how does it differ from the original FN MAG? What is going to happen to the M249s (based on the FN Minimi)?

The M240 is 7.62mm and has a black resin buttstock and foregrip, other than that, it is the same basic weapon as the original FN MAG.  The M249 is 5.56 mm and is not going anywhere.  They are used for different purposes and compliment eachother.

How is a 10 man squad armed then? Isn't usually 1 Machine-gun to a squad? which squads have m240s and which ones have m249s?

First off, a USMC Squad is 13 men.  Each Squad has 2 5 man fire teams which each have a M203 grenadeer, 1 SAW gunner, and 3 M16A2 riflemen.  Then there is the squad leader who carries an M16A2, and finally an M240 MG team, the M240 gunner and a assistant gunner who carries an M16A2.

In the US Army, our squads are 9 man.  They consist of the same 2 fire teams, but they are 4 man teams.  Take away one rifleman.  The MG team is in a heavy weapons PLT and can be attached to other PLTs or squads as needed.

HeavyArty wrote:

In the US Army, our squads are 9 man.  They consist of the same 2 fire teams, but they are 4 man teams.  Take away one rifleman.  The MG team is in a heavy weapons PLT and can be attached to other PLTs or squads as needed.

Gino,

I see that you still know your FM7-8 very well.

m1garand wrote:

Gino, I see that you still know your FM7-8 very well.

 Yup, that is what 4 years of Light Infantry training in college and then being a FISTer for Infantry Companies and Bns for a bunch of years does to you.  Gotta know their tactics and organization in order to support them.