The bold, remains a terrible problem with the BEL fabricated sights and in INSAS PNS too. A perennial problem, I believe.
Small Arms & Tactical Equipment
- Thread starter Parthu
- Start date
The bold, remains a terrible problem with the BEL fabricated sights and in INSAS PNS too. A perennial problem, I believe.
Zeroing is NOT the issue as I said before:
" ... The problem is not accuracy, you can set a sight as high or as far to the side as you want (within reason) and you can still be accurate if you zero it properly, the problem (or at least my concern) is about how this could mess up the shooter's shoulder as he tries to get a better sight picture by moving the gun further down than it ideally should be. ... "
The issue is the height at which the sights are placed, which makes it difficult for the shooter to shoulder the gun properly.
What's happening with a lot of non-modernized AKs is that we're going with the existing non-railed dust cover like this one:
...putting a rail block of considerable height on top of it...
...and then mounting the already pretty bulky BEL holo on top of that block's rail:
This is what is creating the unnecessarily high-set position on those guns. This problem can be largely fixed by removing the existing non-railed dust cover and installing an aftermarket make from the likes of FAB Defense or TDI Arms which come with a Picatinny rail integrated into the cover itself:
The height problem should see a betterment with such a dust cover:
Although, for the AK, I think adoption of an overall less bulky holosight like the newer model Falke LE would help further:
@Falcon @Parthu
One funny observation is Indian forces sticking expensive optics on a pretty inexpensive firearms, you have eotechs and Meprolights on AK which cost half the price of these optics.
Next , I had heard rave reviews of OFB Vidhwansak/NTW20 from BSF operators, why is it that IA is not using this at forward platforms for Long range ops in Kashmir?
One funny observation is Indian forces sticking expensive optics on a pretty inexpensive firearms, you have eotechs and Meprolights on AK which cost half the price of these optics.
Next , I had heard rave reviews of OFB Vidhwansak/NTW20 from BSF operators, why is it that IA is not using this at forward platforms for Long range ops in Kashmir?
They do, but as far as I know, usage of AMRs is pretty limited. Also, I think Army had issues with the excessive weight of the Denel (~25kgs), I guess that played a part in the Army opting for a .50bmg (instead of the NTW's 14.5x114 or 20x82mm) with a weight limit set at 12kg. I don't see why else Army felt like it needed a new AMR all of a sudden and that NTW wasn't going to be it.
AMRs can be great pieces for taking down cover quickly (e.g. brick or stone walls) and rattling the guys on the receiving end quite a bit. But from what I know, AMRs are really for taking down structures at medium ranges rather than being accurate against man-sized targets at long ranges.
Question: do AMRs like NTW (or the smaller Barret M82/107 or M95) really have the kind of tight tolerances of a rifle like, say, a dedicated sniper system shooting .338? At least the bolt-action AMRs like M95?
Also: what's the typical range for snipers to find opportune targets at LoC, average?
AMRs are available with IA in forward locations and are being used too. The problem remains of ignorance reigning supreme. It is frighteningly obvious to those who observe closely that there remains a general lack of awareness within the Indian Army, let alone the general public, over what resources Indian Army has and what are being used.
Their weight remains an issue too, one can not quickly re-deploy, thereby leaving the weapon susceptible to counter-sniper fire. This renders it suitable for use from a fortified bunker/defense.
Good to know, How do you like the new 338 platform?
Also what do you think of other possible platforms that could be implemented here. 6.5 creedmoor, 300 winmag, 6.5 x 47 lapua.
I think so, i haven't shot much of AMR's so i guess I cant speak much about it, as these are used in sniper roles quite often.
I have shot 338 once in my life, that too 5 years ago, I cant recall much off it. It was my boss's rifle and he had a shitty scope on it, I don't think i even placed two round on paper at 800, and being an expensive round I didn't wan't to bogart the rifle. 50 cal shot once through a M107 at a gun show for $10 at a stall. So I cant talkmuch about either of the rifles or the systems.
So we now have the main carbine and LMG tender happening. I hope this goes entirely to the private sector, since OFB's getting 6,50,000 assault rifles to make.
India’s MoD reissues RFI for carbines and LMGs | Jane's 360
India's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has invited responses by 4 February to its supplementary request for information (RFI) regarding the planned acquisition of 360,000 5.56×45 mm close quarter battle (CQB) carbines and 40,000 7.62×51 mm light machine guns (LMGs) for the country's armed forces.
The RFI, which is addressed to local manufacturers, was issued on 4 January and follows similar RFIs released in October 2017 and August 2018 for both weapon types. "Any vendor who did not respond to the RFI earlier may express interest for seeking the request for proposal (RFP)," the document stated.
Both weapon types are being acquired under the 'Buy and Make' category of the MoD's Defence Procurement Procedure-2016.
India’s MoD reissues RFI for carbines and LMGs | Jane's 360
India's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has invited responses by 4 February to its supplementary request for information (RFI) regarding the planned acquisition of 360,000 5.56×45 mm close quarter battle (CQB) carbines and 40,000 7.62×51 mm light machine guns (LMGs) for the country's armed forces.
The RFI, which is addressed to local manufacturers, was issued on 4 January and follows similar RFIs released in October 2017 and August 2018 for both weapon types. "Any vendor who did not respond to the RFI earlier may express interest for seeking the request for proposal (RFP)," the document stated.
Both weapon types are being acquired under the 'Buy and Make' category of the MoD's Defence Procurement Procedure-2016.
There have been few reasons:
> Production of the Vidhwansak has been stopped at OFB due to lack of customers and high cost.
>BSF also inducted Vidhwansak in not-so-large numbers. After a series of issues with Vidhwansak due to weight and accuracy, they switched to Barrett M107.
>Army's requirement was not met with Vidhwansak. They already have NTW-20 which needs to be broken into three parts before being actually deployed. They are used with frightening effect at LoC though to target Pakistani bunkers and sometimes PA Personnel too.
NTW-20 in service with Indian Army:
I never saw a pic but one of my friends suggested seeing a Para Variant of SLR with Folding Stock for Paratroopers and Special Forces. But even if it reached a prototype stage it would not have reached in service since no picture has been spotted ever. Perhaps the rarest SLR in Indian Service is the fully automatic 1C SLR of which I could find only one (old) pic over Internet.
You probably mean this lone photo -
Too bad a folding stock variant never made it big (if it actually did exist), if it did it would have opened up a whole lot of more stock options for when we'd want to modernize the design (not that OFB would take initiative anyway)...
I still can't understand why they decided not to reuse an excellent design they already had (SLR) for the 7.62x51mm requirement but went the extra mile to adapt INSAS design to 7.62 Nato instead.
I guess that's what happens when one hand doesn't know what the other hand is already holding. But they again, these are the same guys that didn't realize for 30 years that they had the designs for the Bofors FH77B, so no surprise there.