That depends on price. If it is 10 grand, no. That is Barrett money.
If it were 3500 then maybe.
Cheaper…Yes. I wouldn’t mind having a Minimi just for kicks.
Cool alternative to the belt-fed AR and the RPD.
I’d buy a new M249 machine gun if by some miracle Hollis v. Holder does anything to 922(o) or the NFA. But a semi-auto beltfed? No.
IIRC new M249 post-samples are in the $7-$8k range, so I would expect an M249S to be a little bit more than that.
I would like to say that to FNHs credit, they are putting out a scary looking beltfed. Even if it were 10k. Even if it is impractical.
A large, current US small arms supplier is giving us a factory beltfed. 22 years ago Colt voluntarily took off bayo lugs and Bill Ruger said nobody needed over 15 rounds.
And FNH is releasing a beltfed. At times I lament the current zeitgeist but we really have come a long way. No flying cars. No power laces but we are getting rifles and handguns nobody dreamed of getting 20 odd years ago.
I don’t want to get on a tangent but if you think about it; right now is a privileged time to be into guns. We’ve taken ARs to the limit. We have AR alternatives undreamt of 10 years ago. Galil rifles are coming back. It seems like there is just so much.
I cannot help but to marvel. Perhaps the older bygone days of “cheap” pre ban rifles evoke nostalgia but now we live in a future where we have so much. This is the real golden age. I’m really glad I get to see it. Thanks for bearing with me but even if I can’t afford it all just knowing it is there is comforting.
For those reasons and many others requires that anyone who mocks this offering be throat punched.
Can’t say I’m terrible excited about the M249. Too many bad times with its full auto cousin. Wonder if this will be the jam-o-matic that every SAW I’ve used has been? I guess it’d be the jam-o-semiautomatic. :sarcastic:
The FN M16, however, would be nice. I’d love to rebuild the M16A4 that was my first working rifle in the Army.
Yeah not my cup of tea, but I am glad to see an arms maker offer such things to the US consumer market.
Jam-o-matic or not… Better go to the DMV and rip their stupid ticket system off the wall (I’m bitter yes) for the line of people that would want to shoot it at the range.
It’s not my cup of tea either just because I have such a long list of things I still need, but if I just had the funds and didn’t care… I mean it’s a pretty cool toy. This thing, a Barret and or intervention, and a Deagle at the range and you pretty much just made the cool kids table lol.
I agree, we’re in a great age (minus the same old nonsense about suppressors and short barrel rifles). FN releasing a belt fed is a good “up yours” to that crowd.
Why they didn’t release a Mk46 instead is beyond me. Only reason I can think of is they wanted to maintain the magazine well.
I just can’t help but think that the reason people complain about the saw is the same reason the 1911, beretta m9 and M16 have gotten bad raps in military service. Having the piss shot out of them at high rates for a bulk fighting force well past service intervals and parts not being replaced properly. Carrying a bullet hose that fires over a 1000 rounds a minute in the middle of the desert and on mountains day in and day out for multiple years in a place where armorers work out of shipping containers… Call me crazy but I predict worn out guns.
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This^^^
If I could, I would.
We are also in the second golden era of muscle cars too…
You’re absolutely right, military service with the SAW ruined my opinion of it. The ridiculous wear on them is also probably a reason for their high malfunction rate. Down side is, I’ve seen “refurbished” SAWs come back, with a lot of all new parts, and in short order, they’re back to trying to feed 5 rounds into the chamber at once.
It looks like people from the NRA show are stating $7000 price tag…I was hoping for more like $3000. I’ll skip it at that price but that’s just me.
LOL. Love the whole FU appearance from FN, but the reality is that I don’t have that kind of cash to piss away on something as useless to me as a belt fed semi auto.
How long before some congress critter figures out that a 200 rd belt is bigger than a 10 round magazine and you’ll have mandatory 10 rd belts. Or maybe they will realize that 223 can be a belt fed cop killer and we should stop this sickening 223 craze.
^^^I was thinking of this when I posted.
200 rounds of belt fed m855… hmmm. wonder how ATF views that.
I feel the exact opposite way.
I loved the SAW, and always swapped out the bad ones.
I think (like an LMTV) once they’re broke bad, they stay broke.
The FN AR-type weapons I’m suspicious of, because I’m still of the understanding that they must run separate production lines due to the restrictions of the TDP.
Oh, and back to the SAW… It’s closed bolt by requirement, right? I’d be interested to get a look at that. I’ll bet it’s a two piece like a semi-Uzi…
Well finally something for people to run M856 through. Personally, for that price and because it is a semi auto belt fed, it would be pretty low on my list of guns to buy. If they allow new manufacture of machine guns though then I would be interested in a FA model because I have a bunch of ammo that needs to be burnt up, which brings up another thought in my mind. How ammo sensitive could something like this be? It is designed for 5.56 after all, and lots of ammo on the market isn’t exactly to 5.56 spec, and then you have XM stuff that is rejected because failed milspec standards, but wouldn’t affect anything in a semi could, might, possible, cause issues in a FA gun such as an M249? Could running .223 in something like this cause issues and end up with an internet myth of the guns not running like we saw for years with ARs and steel cased ammo due to shitty rifles and ammo? Could I just be thinking to god damn much? Probably. lol. But something to think about.
On a side note, if registry is opened and new manufactured guns are allowed I’d personally rather have the MK46, just feels better in hands to me. But that neither here nor there.
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Without getting too political, I hope enough gun manufacturers start doing more brazen things. Let’s take a page out of their own talking points. They put their personal quirks out in everyone’s faces whether they like it or not
We should do the same
Come totally out of the closet where they dare such restrictive laws that it starts to appear petty. Take away the entire stigma. The more people see what has been hidden from them and can be “taken away” by some fat congressman; the louder they will roar. Now is the time. More people are buying guns. More people are returning veterans. More people are frustrated now more than ever. Nobody wants to relinquish a freedom and if you promise them more…They’ll fight to get it. Look at marijuana and same sex marriage. These are talking points from a miniscule segment of society, but are out in the open that “everyone” has to accept. Same with guns.
They should push it and crank out M240s as well. Instead of us tiptoeing to avoid their attention; we should shatter and rewrite the narrative.
“Why can’t I defend myself how I see fit?”
"What do YOU care what inanimate object I own? "
“Yeah my angry son could steal my gun, or worse, steal my car. My toddler could find a gun but is more likely to drink bleach”
“We don’t rally to disarm the entire police after an unlawful shooting. Why disarm the public?”
“You have security details and live in an affluent area. I’m a single mother and live in a lower income area, where’s my detail? Why can’t I use yours?”
“Teaching a woman to shoot is easier and more cost effective than teaching men ‘not to rape’”
“For every bad guy with a gun, there are nine good guys who would carry their own gun if they weren’t so law abiding and afraid that you will jail them and cost them the life they worked hard to build. Why would you do that?”
Yeah…I know. Oorah and preachy, but this could be a time to capitalize and flip it around.
Because if people want something bad enough, they will get it. Especially us Americans. Because we are lazy and spoiled, we don’t like to hear ‘no’. Piss off the lawmakers enough to where they always say ‘no’, that you’ll see some fresh blood each election year.
Call me a dreamer but I’m not the only one. Sorry for the tangent again but where some see a novelty rifle, I see a silver lining.