INSAS Rifle, LMG & Carbine

[Chinmoy]

Do rifles need maintenance like maintenance for aircraft/ ships/vehicle..?
Heard it just needs cleaning (barrel).
I am most worried about Army fellows because they take extreme risk.
Can anyone tell " Is siachen glacier opened for civilians"? plz don't laugh...I want to visit that place

Well, not just barrel, each and every part of a rifle needs cleaning and oiling, like receiver, firing mech and all others. That's the reason why high precision weapon needs utmost care.
As for visiting Siachen, I don't think its open for civilians

 

[ghost]

@pmaitra Sir,

If my memory serves me right, you have got a friend in the rifle factory ishapore .Why don't you get us the latest news out of there regarding ghatak and excalibur,even if your friend is not serving there any more he might be having contacts which can update you on the latest.

 

[tharun]

Depends upon the 7.62. If you are talking 7.62 Jihadi aka 7.62x39mm, 6.5 picks up an easy win. If you are talking 7.62 NATO i.e 7.62x51mm i.e .308 Win, 7.62 wins purely on energy retained.

There is difference between .308 win and 7.62x51mm
And .300 win mag has more energy and velocity than .308 win

 

[sbm]

Kunal, a question for you: is it true that the M4 in Indian army service suffers from a higher stoppage rate than the INSAS 1B1 ?

As a corollary, isn't the INSAS 1B1 very accurate and reliable ?

 

[Shaitan]

Yudh Abhyas 2015

INSAS Weapon Familiarization

 

[pmaitra]

US soldiers try their hands on the Indian Army's INSAS rifle. Photograph: Indian Army

Source: http://www.rediff.com/news/report/d...-does-yudh-abhyas-in-uttarakhand/20140926.htm

 

[pmaitra]

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[Raja Rajan]

From the experience of forum members, I can sense that Insas is second to none given the extreme climatic situations in India.The problems it faced would have been faced by any other modern assault rifle given the needs of a modern soldier.So every modern weapon or any other gadget matures with continuous improvement programme.when such improvement programme is encouraged by the user with consistent effort and backup,then the weapon matures as a perfect one..The experience obtained during such evolution of a modern rifle gives way to a revolution in the succeeding model and its visible in the workmanship of MCIWS, at least in the form,the function is yet to be proven and given the past history,the MCIWS should be a successful one.So the government should back this weapon and the successive models if we want to be among the best gunsmiths in the next couple of decades.No western weapon system is one design success.Every one is the fruits of painful revisions which we are not aware in those times without any internet.But now the pessimists are more successful in media than a winner as Indians naturally don't accept our own individual achievements..

 

[Raja Rajan]

Another query is, why ARDE has not into next generation LMG and carbine in the past decade along with MCIWS.Is there any contiuous development programme in this aspect or it works only when army gives a request for one..Why not DRDO transform itself into a export oriented development agency rather than serving our armed forces alone.Civil arms market in western countries should be our target which will make us mature as a major weapons developer.

 

[pmaitra]

Yudh Abhyas Facebook page has a nice video on the INSAS firing:

 

[acetophenol]

I am eagerly waiting to hear what the Americans have to say about INSAS

 

[Anikastha]

I am eagerly waiting to hear what the Americans have to say about INSAS

Me toooo
message with 30 chars

 

[pmaitra]

Army prepares for crucial trials as chief insists on indigenous Excalibur rifle

On Tuesday, in a signal of army chief General Dalbir Singh’s determination to arm his soldiers with a “Made in India” rifle, his infantry chief visited an Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) facility near Kolkata that is fabricating a batch of 200 Excalibur rifles. The army will formally trial evaluate these later this year.

On his visit to Rifle Factory, Ishapore (RFI) on Tuesday, Lieutenant General Sanjay Kulkarni, the infantry director general, put the prototype Excalibur through the “water” and “mud” tests, in which the rifle is fired after being fully immersed in those substances. The Excalibur handily passed these tests, which all four foreign rifles had failed to clear.

The OFB has confirmed to Business Standard that the army has pulled out all stops to institutionally oversee the project, something that the navy has often done but is unprecedented for the army. A number of army shooters are stationed at Ishapore where they carry out extensive test firing daily.

 

[pmaitra]

A closeup shows that the magazines are empty, or is it they had just one round chambered?

Yudh Abhyas 2015: US soldier tries out the INSAS AR.

 

[Anikastha]

Does magazines have spring at bottom?
I mean without spring how bullet goes into barrel( upward direction)?
@pmaitra

 

[Immanuel]

We have to keep in mind that Indian army testing is atleast 1.5 year cycle, my observation has been that they try to test everything in all possible climatic conditions through out the year. I believe this sort of testing is good, on the condition that they own up to malfunctions if any at a later stage. Another half year to fix minor problems and submit report. I think we are looking at atleast 2.5 years before distribution starts. We have to factor in training and acclimatisation period to boots on the ground.

I don't think induction of a weapon can be done in short time frames.

Well what you said was true, but for the Excalibur, things have been pushed along, next set of weapons will be ready by November/December. They will be sent to Siachen and other extreme winter zones i.e. extreme cold tests, by March they'll be tested in the south in marine environments including high humid regions, by April they'll be in the deserts of Rajasthan undergoing extensive heat and sands tests, by June/July we can expect clearance. Keep in mind the Excalibur has already proven less than 3 stoppages at 24,000 rounds fired, IA just wants to get it down to 1 or less, these are more like confirmatory trials. I expect by next year August the rifle can be cleared for production. It appears the top brass are pushing for it.

 

[Raja Rajan]

Army is on hot pursuit in acquiring new assault rifles. Why should army go for Excalibur rearming the whole infantry as MCIWS is already in trials at the factory? As MCIWS should be a gen ahead than INSAS family of weapons, and the prototypes are already under initial factory trials then what role the Excalibur is going to play in the recent future.Whats going to be the lifecycle of Excalibur when the next gen rifle is knocking its door already? would n't army wait for the completion of trials of MCIWS ? If the new weapon proves its worth more than the current INSAS derivatives, then incurring expenditure again makes any sense for Indian Army as a whole?

 

[ezsasa]

Army is on hot pursuit in acquiring new assault rifles. Why should army go for Excalibur rearming the whole infantry as MCIWS is already in trials at the factory? As MCIWS should be a gen ahead than INSAS family of weapons, and the prototypes are already under initial factory trials then what role the Excalibur is going to play in the recent future.Whats going to be the lifecycle of Excalibur when the next gen rifle is knocking its door already? would n't army wait for the completion of trials of MCIWS ? If the new weapon proves its worth more than the current INSAS derivatives, then incurring expenditure again makes any sense for Indian Army as a whole?

Speculation:

I am under the presumption that both Excalibur and MCIWS will co-exist in long run.

Excalibur will replace INSAS as battlefield rifle. MCIWS can be primarily for COIN for now. Once the platform is stabilised it can replace Excalibur as well. Also we need to keep in mind that cost of MCIWS is unknown for now.

 

[Raja Rajan]

May be both can coexist as our force is large enough to accommodate but in today scenario cost of production of machined aluminium design should not be a concern for our country in the present scenario and given the maturity of our indigenous programme. For an indigenous tech we may even incur more costs compared to a foreign design as advantage of our own design is incomparable both in peace and wartime..

 

[pmaitra]

Does magazines have spring at bottom?
I mean without spring how bullet goes into barrel( upward direction)?
@pmaitra

Yes, there is a spring that pushes the rounds up. Most magazines have a spring. Gravity fed and mechanically fed systems have also been built.