A four man squad can manpack a .50 and 6-800 rounds of ammo over reasonableWhile a four man team can hump an M2HB and the requisite ammo and it is technically a tactically classed weapon, it is also a company level weapon and is almost never humped anywhere (Except on course and as punishment) The weapon is about 38 kg and 600rds comes in at about 83 kilos for a grand (and I do mean grand!) total of 121 kilos! (good thing there are four men lugging that, eh?). Besides, if you are on the loosing end, the gunners are instructed to leave a little gift in the gun... usually something incendiary!
distances. The need to fire from a tripod does limit tactical use.
Having used both M-249 & the M-240 (L7A2... it may be a reach...) I can say that while parts may look similar (gas regulator, bipod, action chassis, etc...) the parts are of different sizes and do not go together. Even if parts were of similar sizes, I would not be too keen on trying that one out due to the tolerances of engineering for each round.. I have heard that the various accessories can be made to fit though... with the exception of the BFA and other piddling little things...How many parts are interchangeable between the FN M240
and FN M249?
=)
S.