I gave the XM-25 now a closer look from my armchair. The decision to drop the rifle part seems to be very sensible. You have a far less heavy and cumbersome weapon without another 2kg + hanging under the center and front of the grenade launcher. It focuses the scope of the weapon on supporting the riflemen and does away with the rather naive vision that every grunt will have one.
The design and the choice of the caliber should allow the grenadier to use it as his sole long weapon - looking at it also as a bulky 5-gauge rifled shotgun with a huge sight. A light pistol as a sidearm might still be a wise choice, at least until one can be certain of its mettle. This GL will fire slugs just fine and perhaps one could make buckshot work in it. Rifled barrels spread buck much more than smooth ones, at 10m they will be all over a torso. To reduce the weight of the self defense ammuniton sabots could be used instead of full-size slugs. It should be easy to design a breeching round for it.
So it covers quite some needs. It might also intimidating than a M-4, and can make a visible and messy statement in the same way Schmedlap's guys used the 40mm. It should do it's work from closer (arming) and longer distances than the M203. The long barrel ought to give not only good range, but also a more moderate muzzle report. Relative quick semi-automatic shooting should be possible due to the lighter recoil and the rather heavy weapon.
Just some quick rambeling...
Firn
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks