Rapid fire

[Lance D. Allen]

Note: You don't aim a machinegun. You really can't. You can point it in the general direction and walk it in, but man-portable machineguns are NOT precision weapons. Hell, machineguns on a tripod aren't precision. The only way you're going to be using a machinegun with any sort of precision is if it's in a turret-mount with a targeting system.

On the other hand, you can easily destroy a target with a machinegun if you're able to lay on the target before pulling the trigger, then walk it the relatively short distance to a direct hit, or simply let the bullets fly until you get there. If you're willing to put the rounds downrange, you WILL hit the target. If the bullets are capable of penetrating the armor, you WILL also destroy the target. If you're using a fully automatic weapon, the only real factor is whether or not you can pierce the armor, how many rounds it takes to hit the target, and how long it takes.

I would recommend for full-auto that you gain a sizeable bonus to hit for every round after the first that you fire on the target, to simulate walking the weapon in on it. The accuracy can be improved by aiming the weapon prior to firing, but TRoS ranged rules already cover this with MP refresh.

Burst-fire, treat like single-shot, but with additional damage. The bullets fire quickly enough that there's fairly little muzzle-lift to interfere with accuracy. The penalty of this is that you go through bullets faster, and only fully-auto weapons are belt-fed.. So if you fire 10 3-round bursts, you use up that 30-round magazine much faster than 30 shots at semi-automatic.

My information and advice is based only on my personal experience, and so therefore may not be the most accurate. However, I am familiar with the M2 .50 cal machine gun, the M240 7.62mm machine gun, both pintle-mounted and turret-mounted (coaxial for an Abrams), the M16A2 and M4 (carbine) 5.56mm rifles with semi-auto and 3-round burst capabilities, and the M9 9mm semi-auto pistol.

[Caz]

That's odd.  I'm personally familiar with them also, and I strongly disagree.  I think machine guns are quite accurate, and I don't think you'll hit anything but through blind luck if you're not aiming unless you're pretty close.

   I agree for a bonus for walking it in if you can see the rounds impact or have a spotter.

   I strongly disagree about the lump sum of damage.  That's basically saying you fire a burst at someone in or behind armour and every round you fired went right through the same hole, or kept striking the same point until it made a hole, and if it gets through, the person hit is automatically level 5 dead, no room for wounding.    And the majority of people who are shot survive after treatment.

"Note: You don't aim a machinegun. You really can't. You can point it in the general direction and walk it in, but man-portable machineguns are NOT precision weapons."  
 Your instructor should be shot.  Unless you're from afghanistan.  No one would ever qualify on a range if that were true.

[deltadave]

I wouldn't add mp for weapons just because they're capable of burst or auto fire.  That makes it inherently harder to hit the target.

It is the purpose of burst fire mode to make a hit more likely, the 3rd burst goes off quick enough that recoil does not take effect until after the rounds are on the way down range. Adding dice to the MP does that. Note that I'm not using dice to simulate the number of bullet hits...

The chance of hitting anyone the way you're describing would imply a lack of aiming, and should be dealt with randomly.

It is my considered opinion that when being shot at, snapshots are more likely than aimed fire... That is why all combat gunnery is taught to aim for ccenter of mass rather than a particular target.  for single shots, like sniping, I use the regular missile fire rules.

I have bipods and mounts reduce the recoil penalties, not the refresh rate.

recoil happens after the shot and doesnt affect first shot accuracy. that is why I use the one less die per shot rule for successive shots. bipods and other mounts reduce the felt effect of recoil and allow a shooter to compensate for muzzle climb or eliminate it entirely. you could allow an inexperienced shooter some pre shot flinch or trigger jerk....

Scopes don't let you shoot farther, they just mgnify the target, making them difficult t close ranges or in combat.  I simply hve them reduce the range penalties appropriately.

good point to the first... may want to penalize shots in the first and or second range increments, then add an extra one or 2 to the far end of the range.  for example my 30-06 will shoot 6 inch groups over iron sights to about 300 yards, but with a good scope I can hit 6 inch groups at about 1000.[/quote]

[Caz]

I still agree with all but the burst fire.  It's simply just harder to make all the rounds hit in a burst.  The first round is as good as a single shot, but the following rounds accuracy always plummets unless you're using a braced LMG or something.  Like I've said before, I've spent a long time as a line squad infantry team leader, and never, ever has any rifleman I've met actually use burst fire for real.  It's simply inaccurate and useless unless you're on a support weapon that can handle the recoil and remain accurate.  With a rifle accuracy far improves and lethality stays the same if you simply take better aimed shots on semi.

[deltadave]

so what you are saying is that burst fire is just a way to conserve ammo for people who like to rock and roll and not any more effective... I suppose that makes sense in a DoD kind of way.

[Caz]

Here are the "whys" of burst fire, since you asked.
   The M-16 A-1 (semi/auto), as far as the selection of fire goes, was replaced by the M-16 A-2 (semi/3 round burst) because, with vietnam for example, people would get scared, or watch too many movies, and expend all their ammo into the woods without really hitting anything.
   The purpose of even keeping burst or auto on a rifle is for supressive fire or an area target (which is still usually done on semi) without real hopes of actually hitting anyone with it.

   As for light machine guns, you don't just hold the trigger down and spray.  They are fired in limited bursts in order to maintain high accuracy and prevent weapon malfunction (misfeeds, etc.).
   The reason those automatic weapons are kept, is because they have the mass, equipment (bipods, etc.) and firing technique to lay down a high volume of accurate and suppressive fire.  They are also the highest casualty producing weapons.

   "Then why don't they just issue those instead of assault rifles altogether?"    Because assault rifles are more maneuverable, lighter, and accurate when you need speed, and fighting at close quarters.  Machine guns also make lousy hand to hand weapons.  Machine guns make way for rifles to maneuver.