• Tervell [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      Just a handguard, it doesn't really serve any mechanical purpose, just covers the barrel & gas tube. I'm not sure why they went with this design as opposed to a more typical M16 handguard (as was actually the case in earlier attempts to make an M16-based LMG)

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      On the Colt IAR, which is a further evolution of this concept, there's also a big chunky handguard, but there it actually goes over a heat-sink around to barrel (you can see a bit of it poking out after the end of the handguard in this picture)

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      The LMG doesn't have anything like that, so yeah, I don't know why they went with that design.

        • Tervell [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          edit-2
          1 month ago

          Nope - the Colt LMG has neither water cooling nor a quick-change barrel mechanism. There was an earlier prototype which featured the barrel change part, but that didn't make it to the final iteration

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          • anonochronomus [comrade/them, she/her]
            ·
            1 month ago

            I was wondering why no quick-change barrel. Looking at it, that flimsy gas tube just hanging out there seems like a potential problem.