Originally posted by storywolf:
That is a huge market for 0.5 which is dominated by browning 0.5 .
CIS setup to design and manufacture - a 0.5 that will overcome the existing short comings and also less expensive and complex . That result was CIS 0.5
It able to feed belt from both left and right , with a switch. Thus it can let the user mount amour-pericing rounds, and normal rounds on each side. The advantage is the gunner can select which type of ammo to shoot at what target.
With less parts, not only it is less expensive but less prone to jamming.
What happens when an AMX-13 meets an enemy Humvee-type armoured jeep? It would be overkill to fire the maingun and the 7.62 would ineffective. Where is the .5?
There are so many kinds of ammo for the .5 including Saboted Light AP rounds, ball ammo and even inciendiary. Which means you can engage targets from personnnel, IFV to aircrafts.
Since we make these things we must have lots of them, why so scarce?
The Brit and Argentine infantry used the .5 for static defense, naturally. The mujahideen in Afghanistan used them for AA and also for ambush.
But what is so unusual about infantry having to lug heavy loads through the jungles etc?
The Vietminh dragged field guns up a mountain and pounded the less heavily-armed French into defeat at Dien Bien Phu. The VC and NVA would strip down field guns, HMG and 106 RR and transport them through the jungle for a fight. They would improvise and strap gun barrels to 2 bicycles etc and push them through the jungles.
My company once carried 3 bright shiny long aluminium ladders wrapped with sandbags as camouflage through nearly 10km of forests to our FIBUA objective at night. The ladders were so long and heavy - plus the sandbags wrapping it were all wet from the rain - it took one section of men just to carry one. I must admit it was a pretty silly looking sight. The CIS 50 would be nothing compared to that ladder in weight.