What is the advantage of a M249 SAW over a M16 with Beta C-mag

a SAW will actually work.

>>34931485
Beta C-Mags are still not particularly reliable, and you get a better rate of fire with a SAW. The PKM is in 7.62x54R for much more powerful round power and psychological impact.
In all, LMGs offer much heavier sustained fire than an automatic rifle.

>>34931485
A M249 can lay down more fire given how it can accept both belt-fed and STANAG magazines, as well as being fully automatic. Beta C-Mags jam like crazy.

PKM fires a heavier round than the RPK. Comparing an RPK to a PKM would be comparing the M27 IAR to a M240 relatively speaking.

And LMG can lay down heavier volumes of fire for longer periods of time compared to an assault.

>>34931485
barrel changes. once you put a belt through a saw, you're gonna need to change out the barrel to prevent it from melting.

>>34931518
It can accept stagnag mags in paper, but in practicality, it's a jamomatic with them. Dunno if a worn receiver has to do with this or the mags had some issues

>>34931520
to caveat onto what i said, you could do something like a ruger takedown ar.
>buy a ruger takedown
>modify lower to full auto
>acquire spare barrels and drums
>you now have a mag fed ar that can barrel change
pretty unpractical as a ruger takedown ar is like $2k and the barrel change is not smooth at all. spare barrels will be and extra $500. beta or saw mags will be another $250-500 a piece. at that point it's just as cheap and more practical to buy a saw and some link.

>>34931551

Mag springs and followers can't keep up with the 249's ROF.

>>34931551
>>34931636
t. Neverserveds

>>34931485
dumb newfags. the US army also had the same retarded idea and they ditched it before adopting the SAW, why don't you look up how that happened.

>>34931485
>What is the advantage of a M249 SAW over a M16 with Beta C-mag?
An M16 will get hot as everloving shit trying to put through the volume of fire a M249 has to.
Also, Beta C mags are dogshit, they're heavy largely unreliable, and are known for breaking if you look at them wrong.

>what is the advantage of a PKM over an RPK?
Longer range, far better barrier penetration, belt-fed, can handle more heat.

>what is the advantage of a LMG over a assault
It can do suppressive fire reliably.

>>34931520
Here is the answer, I can't remember the barrel change times for rapid/sustained fire since I was never a machine gunner, but having the ability to quickly change out the barrels really increases the amount of lead you can accurately send downrange in a medium timeframe.
Also, I really love the IAR, but it just doesn't do the same job as the SAW. It's indicative of a tactics change to suppression by accuracy instead of suppression by volume.

>>34931551
It destroys the mags. The bolt rips the follower off after the last round.

When I first got trained on the SAW I was told that using STANAGS was an absolute last resort for when you were about to fucking die.