Thread: 'The Ammo Was Rubbish'

[QUOTE=troung;301304]'The Ammo Was Rubbish'
Updated: 12:05, Thursday November 23, 2006
A video has been posted on YouTube showing two troops struggling to operate a Browning machine gun because of the dud bullets.

It is thought it came from Pakistan or the Czech Republic, where a round costs 60 American cents (31p), compared to $1.50 (78p) elsewhere.

They may even have been made for a different machine gun
QUOTE]

A BROWNING Machine Gun? You certainly can't be referring to the M1917 water cooled or M1919 air cooled guns of my day.

Unless you are referring to the venerable and nearly always reliable M2 .50 caliber Machine Gun.

I have never seen an M2 jam. But I have heard of the aircraft versions jamming because the belt feed in the wings wasn't quite right.

But you may have a hint of the problem: "It is thought it came from Pakistan or the Czech Republic," Could it be that they shipped the British 12.7 mm ammo made for the RUSSIAN 12.7? Though the bullets are the same bore diameter, I believe there is a slight difference in case sizes.

Let you ammo experts do the comparisons.

Off the top of my head I want to say the M2 uses 12.7mm x 99mm, and the Russian 50 cal uses 12.7mm x 107mm. I could be off by a few mm.

Here we go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12.7_x_107_mm

But these Russian rounds shouldn't even be able to chamber in the M2 as the case is too long for the bolt to close...

Originally Posted by RustyBattleship

But you may have a hint of the problem: "It is thought it came from Pakistan or the Czech Republic," Could it be that they shipped the British 12.7 mm ammo made for the RUSSIAN 12.7? Though the bullets are the same bore diameter, I believe there is a slight difference in case sizes.

Let you ammo experts do the comparisons.

The US (12.7mm x 99) and Russian (12.7mm x 108) cartridges are indeed NOT interchangeable.

Bullets themselves are different (US ammo on the left, Russian ammo on the right).