Here is/was one - a 6.5mm Japanese Type 99 LMG.
Beautifully worked guns, from the spiral barrel air cooling fin to the wooden carrying handle. A controllable 5-600 rpm with 9kg gun weight, 30rd banana magazines.
Notice the very practical tall bipod legs, allowing for shooting over cover as well as in tall undergrowth.
Last edited by Cordite; 04-06-2019 at 12:54 AM.
An itch ... is ... a desire to scratch
10MRT shooters do it 60 times, in two directions and at two speeds.
I hear your need and I feel your pain...
That Col. Nambu was a genius. Redesigned the Arisaka rifle in the firsf decade of the 1900s, made the bolt entirely strippable with no tools but your hands, having also reduced it to only 5 components. Strenghtened the locking lugs without increasing weight by going for width rather than height and ended up making the strongest infantry bolt action of ww1+2. Beautiful and practical palm safety for when the brown stuff hits the fan and soldiers' fine motor control gets iffy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kijir%C5%8D_Nambu
The late Robbie Tiffen showed me his Nambu MG like the one pictured at a visit to Gunworks. A real treasure, and we had a yarn about Japanese craftsmanship. If you had to die for the Emperor you had to be behind a handsome firearm.
An itch ... is ... a desire to scratch
It's a very good little cartridge and is well supported by good quality, accurate factory ammo, but other than that it really doesn't add anything that .260, 6.5 x 55 Swedish and 6.5 x 47 Lapua can already do. OK, it's shorter than the .260, but not as short as 6.5 x 47 Lapua. Anyway, they all do the job, so take your pick.
Oh, and having worked with the US Army, I wouldn't get excited about the fact that they chose anything.
The fact they made a change at all uis momentous. And they chose the 65 Creedmoor.
Long story short 260Rem and 6.5x55 did not meet their requirements. End of story.
I shoot 65 Creedmoor, but I have a real love for the 6.5x47, and have played with a buddies 260 rem. All 3 are great, but I made the switch to 65 Creed, and I am currently enjoying the round.
They are all good, but the idea that the military always gets the best stuff is not quite correct. Often cost, nationality of the manufacturer, legal considerations and marketing play a bigger part than how good the kit is. Perhaps 6.5 Creedmoor was selected because it’s made by an American company which is also the biggest ammunition supplier so can guarantee supply in the quantities required. Hornady also has a great marketing department.
Even if 6.5x47 was better, it was never going be selected over Creedmoor. I don’t have a dog in the fight, but don’t believe that because the US Army selects something that it must automatically be the best.
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