QBZ-191 service rifle family
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
So the competition shooter who has been helping train the PLA team for some of the events in the upcoming army games has confirmed two long speculated issues regarding the current iteration of the QBZ-191:
1. The top rail on the handguard portion is made of polymer, making it difficult for any optics/lasers mounted on it to hold zero.
2. The grippod with integrated push to talk is absurdly cumbersome to the point where it negatively affects the speed of mag changes.
These problems are superficial ones easily fixed by removing/swapping out components. However, due to the nature of the PLA, most units are just going to use what they get so these problems might linger for who knows how long. And for the handguard, it's definitely going to take some time for 3rd party alternatives to start popping up and entering service in meaningful numbers if the ACP and Defender rails for the 95 series is anything to go by.
Overall, aside from some apparent complaints over the new handguns, the small arms of project 1224 seems to be relatively successful. At least when compared to the new gear where, based on the postings of those who've used it, it seems like most of the components range from "workable but made some questionable design choices" (eg the new helmets) to "mediocre with notable issues" (new standard issue body armor/vest system) to "absolute garbage" (the new drop leg holster)
Hopefully the trend of "自购强军" continues to grow and creates more competition to innovate
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The good thing about this new rifle is that the major parts should in theory be relatively easy to upgrade at the user level with some simple tools if the requisite parts are constructed right.
A shortened version of the QBU/B-191's single piece handguard will solve the issue of issue no. 1 (if the PLA deem it that important for the handguard to be able to mount optics or lasers in the first place) pretty handily.
And the issue no. 2 of course only necessitates a different grip to begin with. If they want a PTT button on the handguard in the first place (and frankly I was a bit confused why they wanted it in the grip pod), a pressure pad mounted on the top rail should be fine.
If those two are the biggest issues of the new rifle thus far, then I think they've done pretty well, cause at the end of the day this is relatively non-integral furniture and accessories that won't require the extent of mods that we've seen in the past to say, modify QBZ95's with rails.
MwRYum
Major
Probably that explained why the series has yet getting the official debut - troop trials exposed those problems, though fundamentally not something that impede lead-in training with the new hardware...
First for the 2 issues with the new gun, perhaps that's not difficult to work in an improvement - metal rail that can hold zero, perhaps simply integrate the rail option of QBU-191 with necessary adjustment for AR and carbine? For the grippod...is that a quintessential piece or its functionality (besides as bipod) is replaceable with other kit, or that the AR/carbine can work just fine without a bipod? Of course we know the answer of the latter, the former is another thing...though I can't see why they can't replace that kit with something else.
As for other things...sounds kinda like the problem(s) US military encountered with their own standard issue kits, thing is: has the PLA adjusted their kit procurement policy regarding outfits procuring alternative from the open market? We know the PAP been doing that for almost a decade, and PLA spec-ops to a certain degree, but overall PLA outfit with such discretion available to them?
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AND they finally have battle belts. In the past they only wore plate carriers. However it looks they are finally distributing them to PLA SOF.Note the open reflex sights.
I would like to see 191 go full AR-18 to accommodate a folding telescoping butt stock.
A monolithic upper would also be nice.
Hmmm..... I guess what I'm aiming for is a Chinese version of Sig MCX.