Effective way to carry 22magazines
- Thread starter TT
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The old M249 200rd drum poch will hold 6 magazines. You could put one on each side of your plate carrier and then toss the rest on the front. Re-stuff your rack as need be from the SAW pouches.
That said, 22 magazines is a lot of weight. I get the ideology behind it being the new automatic rifle and all. But fuck that, hell our SAW gunners only carried 100rd belt on the gun and two 200rd drums on their kit, the rest was broke up between the fire team. You might discuss it with your team lead and get that figured out. A couple extra mags broken up between the rest of the team will go along ways for you.
Good luck.
That said, 22 magazines is a lot of weight. I get the ideology behind it being the new automatic rifle and all. But fuck that, hell our SAW gunners only carried 100rd belt on the gun and two 200rd drums on their kit, the rest was broke up between the fire team. You might discuss it with your team lead and get that figured out. A couple extra mags broken up between the rest of the team will go along ways for you.
Good luck.
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M27. Fine weapon system. Wish I had got to spend more time with that or even the 249. Instead of lugging around the 240 'b' we threw together. And I use that 'b' as a very loose concept. Least it had a butt stock. I thought the m27 was pretty cool. But the army apparently didnt.
But that sounds like a lot of ammo to me man.
I mean its been a while since I've been down range, (2003-2004) but even in my tank I don't remember many individual engagements throughout my time where I reported more than 600 coax expended. And we didn't carry that much for our dismounted machine guns.
Well, whatever, my opinions irrelevant. I mean what are you gonna do?
"Look here big sarge, that standard that came down is no good. I'll tell you what we should carry!".
See if they'll accept having a ready rack of a standard 7 on your lbv, 12 split between old saw sacks strapped down somewhere on your sides hopefully out of the way, and maybe one or two on the butt stock and a leg strap? That way you can just replenish the mags from the side packs Into the ready packs.
I mean it would suck if you can't quickly get into a good prone or firing position because of all the bulk.
But that sounds like a lot of ammo to me man.
I mean its been a while since I've been down range, (2003-2004) but even in my tank I don't remember many individual engagements throughout my time where I reported more than 600 coax expended. And we didn't carry that much for our dismounted machine guns.
Well, whatever, my opinions irrelevant. I mean what are you gonna do?
"Look here big sarge, that standard that came down is no good. I'll tell you what we should carry!".
See if they'll accept having a ready rack of a standard 7 on your lbv, 12 split between old saw sacks strapped down somewhere on your sides hopefully out of the way, and maybe one or two on the butt stock and a leg strap? That way you can just replenish the mags from the side packs Into the ready packs.
I mean it would suck if you can't quickly get into a good prone or firing position because of all the bulk.
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D
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How many rounds do you actually think you’ll expend? That’s the million dollar question. Isn’t the new MC logic on the M27 based on accuracy vs. rounds sent down range? I won’t knock you guys for changing things up, but fuck if you are trying to send a lot of rounds (22 mags worth) it would be better to have a SAW with drums. If you don’t think you’ll need 22 mags bring 10 30 round mags or 15-20 20 round mags.
ETA: most guys in rifle squads I know roll out with 120-200 rounds, my old SL had 3x 40 round mags he obtained on his own. I don’t see a situation outside of “goddam VC is coming over the wire!” Where you’ll need that much ammo.
ETA: most guys in rifle squads I know roll out with 120-200 rounds, my old SL had 3x 40 round mags he obtained on his own. I don’t see a situation outside of “goddam VC is coming over the wire!” Where you’ll need that much ammo.
Could you even imagine having to carry that shit with all your other crap? I'm invisioning some young hard charger falling the fuck out on mission because he thought he was going to be the next fucking Rambo.
Unless I had orders from higher ups, my dudes would roll combat load, crew served broken up amongst the squad/Platoon and SHTF bags on the trucks, etc.
The IAR is a SAW "replacement" so chances are his COC is expecting SAW levels of ammunition. I carried 800-1200 for my SAW depending on what we were doing, 4 drums on me and one full one on the gun... but I am mungo so it didn't affect maneuverability for me.
Each drum pouch carries 7, and if you're using one to carry mags it gets into being a soup sandwich quickly as they don't stand up nicely unless it's all mags. I would probably recommend using some open top pouches for your quick grabs, and then shifting things around as necessary off 2 pouches. That would give you 14 mags in the big pouches then you could carry the last smattering in open tops for access, as stated earlier.
They want all 22 ON YOU, or just 22 total in your kit? you could get away with 4x 3 mag closed pouches and a couple opens, rotate through and put the rest in a SAW pouch or two on your ruck....
22 loaded 556 30-round mags is almost 20 lbs. We carried 20-24 mags in the bandoliers that the factory boxes of 556 came in...but they were only 20-rounders. I guess they don't have bandoliers anymore for 30-round boxes, but if they do...
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That smug Joe face.
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Funny thing about Internet forums. Off handed and out of context comments can be interpreted many ways, what is the intent of yours? I ask because it adds nothing to the subject of this thread.
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On this forum is figure there's only be one.
Warm and fuzzy and full of hundreds of memories.
Smug Joe (Bob Carrier) earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze w V at 7th Co 2nd CAG...and later was a fellow squad leader with me at F 2/6. I used his pic only to illustrate the use of bandoliers for rifle mags BITD.
If I remember correctly, there's a string you can pull in the stitching in the bandolier that the ammo comes in and it will fit 30-rounders. I'm pretty sure that's what I did in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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And he looks the part. Down to hands full and a smoke hanging off the lip.
Just brought back memories and love man.
So those bandoliers you had in OIF/OEF might be a viable option for the OP? And do the bandoliers still come with 20-rounds to a box? I mean, we did have mag pouches, like 3 or 4, but you can't wear 20 of them and we wanted as many full mags as we could carry so the bandoliers were really handy...and you could distribute the weight across your chest.
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They'll carry, but honestly, they werent that tough, the stitching got ripped out pretty easy and snags would rip the thin cloth pretty easily as well.
Maybe they're built better now?
They hold 30rds per carton, but I wouldn't consider it a solid option for day to day operations. It's one thing to have a few set up for "oh shit situations" sitting in a gun truck or set aside for a resupply. But I wouldn't want my guys working out of them for daily movements. There are plenty of options out there that will properly secure magazines on kit. Everything from pouches on body armor, to leg drops to assault packs, etc.
Leg drops suck on long movements and get annoying over time.
Assault pack is a good option, but you don't always want to hump a pack on every mission.
If the load out is "gotta have 22 mags to leave the wire" then the SAW pouches with a front load rack is his best option. I still would break that up amongst the fire team, even if dudes pack 2-3 mags for you, that adds up. It's the least they can do if you are acting as the automatic rifleman. I tend to agree with the Rangers on here, if you're packing that much ammo, may as well just grab a belt fed crew serve.
22 magazines? Will your squad cart you around in a wheel barrow?
Rog that on both your replies. Obviously I'm going back to the dark ages for the bandolier solution...but we carried our extra mags in them all the time and never had a problem. And that's through jungle, monsoon, high humidity, scorching heat, crossing rivers etc. And in a contact, even on semi-auto, we'd burn through a shitload of mags.
I understand, and I'm not saying it wouldn't suffice for awhile, especially changing the bandoliers out. I was just pointing out that there are better options, better materials that I would feel more comfortable with, etc.
As always, there are more than a few ways to skin a cat.
