Type 88 GPMG

[MadMax]

ive been meaning to post somthing about this for a while and ive finally got around to it
im wondering if the 5.8mm round can truly make an effective GPMG round or should china stick with or possibly develope a new 7.62mm weapon
i would love to hear youre opinion on this because so far i am sceptical about its effectivness at longer ranges and at 12 kg it is too heavy to be an effective SAW

[ahho]

just wondering where did you get the weight from, a chinese light mg like the type-81 is ~5.35kg and type 95 is ~3.92kg

[MadMax]

http://www.sinodefence.com/army/crewserved/mg_58.asp
this isnt on the ground forces page anymore but still on the site map so its hard to find if you dont know where to look
did some more research and it sounds like that includes the tripod with out the tripod the wieght is said to be 7.6kg

[ahho]

ah you mean, this MG, but the name is an HMG. No one know the reliabilty of the round except the soldiers. Eventhough the thing is heavy, chinese squad have 2 people operating on one mg. It may be that the tripod weight in included

[MadMax]

here is a tranlated version where i found the wieght without the tripod and it includes some good pictures
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=zh_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gun-world.net%2Farticle%2FChina%2FChina(mainland)%2Fmg %2F050705571051583111.htm

[RedMercury]

The 5.8 round used by the GPMG is a heavier round, different from the standard round used by assault rifles. There's already a thread discussing the 5.8m round somewhere.

[Kampfwagen]

Why on earth would the Chinese swap Vehicle mounted 12.7MM and 7.62MM HMG's for the Type 88 and it's 5.8MM round? It would make a good infantry-level LMG or MMG, but I dont know about an HMG unless you go by the old WW2 standard of an HMG.

Pardon me if I get something wrong here.

[RedMercury]

They are? That would be news to me. Do you have a source? If anything I would imagine switching 7.62 vehicle HMGs to the new 12.7 HMG.:confused:

[sumdud]

Well, that's what they say back in the site.
I too am surprised to hear that it will replace the 12.7 also.
There is no way a 5.8 can have the firepower of a 12.7, let alone its range.

If they use the steel core round, then maybe it can do the range, but the damage? No way!

Site:
http://www.sinodefence.com/army/crewserved/mg_58.asp
The 5.8 mm QJY-88 is PLA's next generation heavy machine gun to replace the 12.7 mm and 7.62 mm heavy machine guns currently in service.

The gun in my opinion is nevertheless China's Negev....

[Kampfwagen]

I also have to state that the vague nature of the article and the utter lack of information irritates me. Has any new information come along that could help elaborate? Especialy on the reasons as to why China wants to replace the larger-calliber machine guns and vehicle mounted machine-guns.

[lazzydigger]

I think PLA will replace the infantry GPMG with type 88. The reason must because the 5.8 round achieves what they wanted for a firesurpress role at a given distance. As for the 50cal. even u.s. still using the good old Browning HB as vehicle mounted weapon. I don't think the PLA will replace all vehicle mounted MG with Type88.

As long as type 88 can provide continuous ranged fire for fire support role, it is good enough for infantry operations up to company level. As for LAV targets, grenade luncher and RPG does a much better job.

50cal should still have the solid position as the best choice for Vehicle mounted MG. i.e. Fully mechised or armored units.

[King_Comm]

I ould see vehicle mounted .50 machine guns to be replaced by 14.5mm guns or even 23 mm guns, as light armour vehicles are becoming tougher and tougher with the introduction of composite armour, with modern fire control, the accuracy would be quite good, thus eliminate the need for large amount of ammunition, and 23 mm munition would work much better against helicopter gunships and close support aircrafts than machine guns.

[Nethappy]

Replace the infantry GPMG with type 88 for possibly up to company level for a few reason. The Smaller and lower weight mean easier and quicker to move around in the battle field and reposition it self in the optimum position to give support/suppress fire-support which is helpful during an assult, the small round mean more ammo increase the amount of fire mission. It can fire the standard 5.8 mm rifle rounds mean it can still continues to provid fire support when there is a shortage of machine gun rounds due to logistic problem.

As lazy digger LAV targets, grenade luncher and RPG does a much better job. But TYPE 98 120MM AT rocket and PF-89 80 mm LAW would do a better job cos of all these amount available improvement on the market nowaday the older RPG days a limited if you are up against any decent army.