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Old 08-22-2009, 12:48 PM
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Spartan198 Spartan198 is offline
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And on the subject of wasted funds, what are your thoughts on the army's new grenade launchers, the M320 and M320A1?

Now, admittedly, I'm a dedicated M203 fan, but even looking at it objectively, replacing a system that, despite being virtually unchanged in our arsenal since the 1970s, still works just fine seems pretty pointless to me, especially considering that most of the so-called "advantages" of the 320 are readily-available as fairly cheap upgrades for the 203.

Longer breech opening
Refitting the 203 with a longer breech opening is actually fairly simple from what I've read on MP.net. Granted I don't have hands-on experience, but I assume that carries some validity when coming from those who actually do have said experience.

Launcher-attached sighting system
KAC produces a 50-400 meter quadrant optical sight that attaches directly to the 203 receiver as well as being available in a picatinny rail-compatible model. Wouldn't it be cheaper just to buy a buttload of QOSs from KAC and drill a couple of holes in the side of an already-purchased 203 to attach the sight, than it is to buy a whole new grenade launcher?

Stand-alone use
This is probably 50/50 since both require separate shoulder stock attachments (KAC produces them for the 203 as well as the Masterkey underbarrel shotgun) that would be, I assume, readily available to military customers. But even then, the 320 really isn't that much of an improvement over a 203.

Day/night sight
Made one for the 203, and I've even seen 320s fitted with the same sight. Troops hated the thing. It was heavy, hard to aim, and made the weapon system front heavy. I can't really see the final D/N sight issued with the 320 being received any differently. Not to mention it'll be offset to the side of the weapon just like the attached leaf sight. That eats up rail space as well as horrendously unbalancing the thing. How much you wanna bet we see troops dumping these new sights and sticking good old M203 leaf sights back on their 12 o'clock rails?

Can't load/fire while prone?
That, too me, seems absurd. This might not be the best example, but I've got a CA M203 (complete with forward-cycling breech and individual "grenade" cartridges for it) on my airsoft M4, which I can load, fire, unload, reload, and fire again while prone without difficulty. Granted, I've never had to do so under machine gun fire or mortar attack, but... forgive me, I'm just trying to analyze this logically here.

Forward hand grip?
Readily available for the 203.

Weight/complexity
The 203 is lighter and simpler than the 320. Is there really a comparison here?

Ambidextrous?
I've read about complaints of the 203 being geared toward right-handed users with its barrel catch on the left side of the weapon and praises of the 320 being ambidextrous... Are people ignoring the fact that the 320's barrel opens to the left side of the thing? If that's not "geared" toward right-handed users, I don't know what is.

I could go on and on, but I'm rambling now.

Just my opinion here, but I figure it'd be more productive to buy gas piston uppers to make our M16s and M4s into more reliable "M17s" and "M5s" instead of fixing something like the M203 that isn't broken in the first place. Once again, just a pro-troops person's opinions here.

Thoughts?
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Last edited by Spartan198; 08-22-2009 at 12:55 PM.
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