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https://www.military.com/daily-news...t-polymer-ammo-ma-deuce-machine-gun.html

The Marine Corps has inked a $10 million contract with ammunition-maker MAC LLC for new lightweight polymer machine-gun ammunition, a major step forward in an effort to lighten Marines' battlefield load.
The contract was awarded to the Mississippi-based company Thursday, Marine Corps Systems Command officials said in a news release. According to the announcement, the command will get a "small quantity" of the ammunition this fall and in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021.

"Marines will assess the ammo to increase familiarity and validate the polymer rounds during an Operational Validation scheduled for the third quarter of fiscal year 2021," MCSC officials said in the release. "The program office estimates fielding will begin in fiscal year 2022."
The Marines' M2 Browning .50-caliber heavy machine gun, known affectionately as "Ma Deuce," takes .50 BMG cartridges and can fire over 600 rounds per minute. Guns.com reported last April that the Marine Corps planned to buy up to 2.4 million rounds of MAC's polymer ammo, which is up to 30% lighter than brass-cased conventional rounds.

Officials with MCSC indicated the service plans to replace all its brass ammunition with polymer and swap out steel ammunition cans with polymer counterparts. The metal links that hold rounds will also be replaced by nylon, according to the Thursday release.
"Polymer ammunition meets the same specifications for effectiveness as the brass ammo," Lt. Col. Bill Lanham, MCSC's deputy program manager for Ammunition, said in a statement.
Polymer, a plastic-like substance, also tolerates heat better than brass, meaning guns stay cooler and the likelihood of parts breaking and wearing down is reduced. This also allows Marines to fire for longer stretches without jams and other technical problems, John Carpenter, assistant program manager for engineering with PM Ammunition, noted in the release.
"What you're seeing is not a quick surge of new technology, but the work of engineers, project officers and logisticians for the past decade," Carpenter said. "The goal is to provide innovative and effective technology for the Marine Corps."
The Navy plans to partner with the Marine Corps on continued lightweight ammunition research as it pursues its own effort to develop lighter-weight cartridges in small calibers, officials said. The Army is also looking into a 7.62 polymer round.
The literal heavy burden on Army and Marine Corps infantry has been a longtime subject of concern for military officials. A 2018 study from the Center for a New American Security found soldiers routinely carried loads of 119 pounds Iraq and Afghanistan, and one-third of all medical evacuations between 2004 and 2007 were due to musculoskeletal, spinal and tendon injuries, not from combat wounds.
Heavy ammo also comes with a cost on the military supply chain.
"Everything goes on a boat, ship or plane," Carpenter said. "But when we reduce the weight of ammunition, we also reduce the number of vehicles in a convoy, amount of funding and the number of Marines we put in harm's way."
-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seckmilitary.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.


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As long as it works. I remember how people bitched when "plastic" guns came out. I was even one of them for awhile. Now you can't swing a dead cat without hitting one on someone's hip.


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I remember polymer cased ammo available as surplus (foreign I think) 30 years ago in LGS. I am pretty sure 308 was available, possibly 5.56 and/or 7.62x39. This stuff all had brass heads. I would have purchased and tried some, but I have never owned a weapon chambered in any of the three cartridges mentioned.


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They know how to sugar coat and spin it.

How it holds up in arctic weather is another thing.

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preparing for Global warming and all that....


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i bought a bunch of polymer 5.56 years ago for cheap cheap. something like 5 cents around. bobs army & navy in clearfield had piles of it in velveeta looking boxes. i still have some in my pile somewhere. it functions fine in my ar and 7615. makes sense for one use ammo.


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Fixin' stuff that ain't broke is never not a bad idea.

They don't cart Ma Deuce or her ammo on their backs on the field of battle....it ain't an infantry platform.


I am..........disturbed.

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agreed. need to see the polymer retain downrange energy like normal rounds. I am skeptical, . if not.....disturbed....

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Originally Posted by kid0917
agreed. need to see the polymer retain downrange energy like normal rounds. I am skeptical, . if not.....disturbed....


I understood that it was only the case that was changing. I could be mistaken.


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Let's see, plastic case, hot barrel. What could go wrong?

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Originally Posted by websterparish47
Let's see, plastic case, hot barrel. What could go wrong?


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Morning Randy. Still trying to get the cob webs out of my eyes.

A cousin who was in the sand pit told me of an incident where he was in a humvee that was penned in a narrow street in Bagdad with the muzzes pouring fire down on them from roof tops. He was manning the 50. He went through 250 rounds just getting turned around and another 250 getting out of dodge. Said the barrel on the 50 was wilting when they got out.

Polymer cases mad

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Originally Posted by Oldman3
Originally Posted by kid0917
agreed. need to see the polymer retain downrange energy like normal rounds. I am skeptical, . if not.....disturbed....


I understood that it was only the case that was changing. I could be mistaken.


Unless the manufacturer is minority owned.


Imagine a corporate oligarchy so effective, so advanced and fine tuned that its citizens still call it a democracy.



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Originally Posted by Oldman3
Originally Posted by kid0917
agreed. need to see the polymer retain downrange energy like normal rounds. I am skeptical, . if not.....disturbed....


I understood that it was only the case that was changing. I could be mistaken.

Ah I didn't read very close.... was trying to picture polymer projectile doing any good compared to conventional.

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Interesting that they chose this for M2 ammunition considering the M2 is almost always vehicle mounted or at least trucked into place when dismounted. Rifle companies are really the only units that would benefit from the weight savings, since they walk everywhere and carry their ammo, and they don't have M2s in their arsenal. Only the weapons companies in infantry battalions have the M2 in their inventory and they're motorized. Other non-infantry mechanized and motorized units have them too but again, they're vehicle carried.

Has to be a cost savings decision.

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Originally Posted by websterparish47
Let's see, plastic case, hot barrel. What could go wrong?
And as Viking pointed out, what about extreme cold? Let's see what happens when you rip off a couple belts then leave one in the chamber to cook.

On the plus side, the nylon links ought to be easier on the feed tray.


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Government is outlawing grocery bags all over the nation because the plastic is such an enviro disaster. Now they replace an ultimately recyclable product with plastic which must be gathered from every training area and sent to the landfill. Oh the irony.

An uncle used to tell us about the European Theater and manning the Ma Deuce as enemy aircraft passed passed overhead. He said they fired till the barrels glowed red and started to sag. And kept a water bucket full of wet rags which they used to dismount the damaged barrel and replace it.

Does the old browning come to rest on a closed breach or open?

Since Carlos Hathcock mounted a 10X Redfield on one and used it as a sniper rifle, I would guess a closed breach. But it is just a guess.


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The heat that is generated with a .50 on a hot day would be interesting to see on the link durability. I could just imagine a misfeed and having to re-time the weapon.

They probably would be quieter bouncing off your helmet when somebody opens up and they rain down on you.


Armor wasn't looking for lightweight only penetration!

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Originally Posted by Idaho_Shooter
Government is outlawing grocery bags all over the nation because the plastic is such an enviro disaster. Now they replace an ultimately recyclable product with plastic which must be gathered from every training area and sent to the landfill. Oh the irony.

An uncle used to tell us about the European Theater and manning the Ma Deuce as enemy aircraft passed passed overhead. He said they fired till the barrels glowed red and started to sag. And kept a water bucket full of wet rags which they used to dismount the damaged barrel and replace it.

Does the old browning come to rest on a closed breach or open?

Since Carlos Hathcock mounted a 10X Redfield on one and used it as a sniper rifle, I would guess a closed breach. But it is just a guess.


The Ma Deuce uses a closed bolt system.

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Thanks


People who choose to brew up their own storms bitch loudest about the rain.
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