THE OICW: Objective Individual Combat Weapon (Look what's coming your way Bin Laden!)

HK Pro Website ^ | 09/17/01

[archy]

I think they had a lot of problems with the G11, but the FN P90 accomplishes some of the same things.

There've been more than a *few* problems with the US OICW prototypes as well; of the 8 built and tested, one blew up during a testfire of the 20mm high explosive ammo, seriously injuring the ordnance tech-operator. This is a feature which did NOT endear the possibilities of these things to the troops observing the demonstration.

But the FN P90 is a individuals personal defense weapon rather than a general-issue combat troopie's tool. It's the FN 2000 Bullpup combat rifle that's closer to the G11 or OICW in concept and planned use, and it's certainly worth a close look. And like the French FA-MAS *clarion* 5,56mm bullpup rifle, it's suitable for either righthanded or southpaw users.

-archy-/-

[rdww]

Cute toy, but US grunts will still be the ones shooting it.

[archy]

I think they had a lot of problems with the G11, but the FN P90 accomplishes some of the same things.

There've been more than a *few* problems with the US OICW prototypes as well; of the 8 built and tested, one blew up during a testfire of the 20mm high explosive ammo, seriously injuring the ordnance tech-operator. This is a feature which did NOT endear the possibilities of these things to the troops observing the demonstration.

But the FN P90 is a individuals personal defense weapon rather than a general-issue combat troopie's tool. It's the FN 2000 Bullpup combat rifle that's closer to the G11 or OICW in concept and planned use, and it's certainly worth a close look. And like the French FA-MAS *clarion* 5,56mm bullpup rifle, it's suitable for either righthanded or southpaw users.

-archy-/-

[sit-rep]

[grin] I hear ya...

SR

[archy]

Either the FN 2000 above or the FAMAS would suit me fine. So does the older M16A1, though the current M4 carbine [similar to the old Nam-era XM177E2] doesn't impress me much. But the FAMAS is rather handy:

[DallasDeb]

Shades of "Aliens" and the weapons used by the Marines.

[LibKill]

Interesting stuff.

Gig 'em Aggies! Confusion and Death to our enemies!

[Barak]

Just another misbegotten way of taking soldiers who can't shoot and trying to make them dangerous to the enemy anyway. What a silly piece of electromechanical junk!

Nah--just give me my M14 with tritium night sights.

[Storm Orphan]

A well-trained man with an old 30-06 Springfield M1903A3 would be more dangerous
than a squad of soldiers with this piece of high-tech junk.

[BushMeister]

I don't think this weapon is ready for the field yet. It has some very promising elements, partucularly the 20mm round. When a firefight breaks out, the first thing most soldiers do is hit the dirt, and picking them off behind cover can be very dangerous and time-consuming. If this round can be perfected to explode above a concealed/grounded enemy, it will be a great advance, as long as the troops can "dial it in" and deploy the rounds in an efficient fashion>

The 5.56mm round is not a "lousy" round; in fact, it has a vicious wounding/killing potential within a certain range, as long as minumum required velocity is attained. The problem that I see with the OICW is that the barrel is far too short to achieve the required velocity to make 5.56mm rounds lethal. A 16" barrel is the minumum acceptable, while this OICW only has a 10" barrel (see the failure of 11" barrelled guns in Somalia). This gun will not be able to propel the 5.56mm round to the 2700 FPS velocity required to cause fragmentation in tissue.

A 20" barrel can maintain 2700 FPS out to 150-200 yards or so, a 16" barrel can do so out to 90-140 yards, depending on ammunition.

[rmccullo]

Who makes those sights? I own a M1A.

[harpseal]

Situation and terrain determine weapons and tactics. there are places I would much prefer an M16 and places where the M-14 would be my preference. There are certainly situations where the best imaginable rifle is a cooper scout.

Stay well - Yorktown

[Storm Orphan]

True enough. But as a general principle and terrain permitting, I like the idea of having a weapon with an effective range at least 200m beyond the range of the enemy's.

Course there's even times when even an old single-shot .45 Liberator is the best weapon.

Godspeed,

[Grut]

Hate to tell ya, guys... but the M98's some Afghans use are better weapons for their terrain than anything more recent. Good ballistic coefficient plus a long sight radius equals hits at long range!

[logic]

BUMP for Bookmark

[supercat]

Somebody must have hired the prop master from the second Alien movie...but at least bin Laden doesn't bleed acid.

Actually, when I first saw that thing in American Rifleman I thought more of The Fifth Element.

[birbear]

I wonder too, at what kind of recoil that thing has when firing the 20mm shells...

I'm not a gun expert, or a physicist, but wouldn't launching something like that cause the shooter to be planted on their butt?

[Barak]

I'm not sure who makes them. I took my rifle down to my friendly local gunsmith, and he found some tritium capsules someplace that were round, a tiny bit smaller in diameter than a standard M14 front sight blade is wide, and mounted on stems. He drilled one tiny hole in my front sight and two in the sides of my (standard, not National Match) aperture sight and mounted the tritium capsules with what looks like blue Loc-Tite.

The two rear capsules pretty much blur to uselessness when in firing position, but they show me where the aperture is, so that I can make sure I'm looking through it to find the front sight.

The gun shoots a little higher using the tritium sights than it does in broad daylight (about two minutes higher), but I'm not big on terribly long-range shots at night. (It's amazing how difficult it is to find a place where you can shoot a rifle after dark without half the county law enforcement coming looking for you.)

My gunsmith did the job for right around $200, which I was happy to pay. I bought a new front-sight blade and rear aperture for the job, planning to keep my originals in case something got screwed up. I still have the originals, but I don't have any reason to use them.

[BushMeister]

I wonder too, at what kind of recoil that thing has when firing the 20mm shells...

I'm not a gun expert, or a physicist, but wouldn't launching something like that cause the shooter to be planted on their butt?

No, because you're not firing a kinetic 20MM projectile, like, say, an armor-piercing anti-tank round (Lahti), which relies on a high-velocity, hi-weight bullet to do the dirty work. With the OICW, the round just has to reach the desired target, over which it will explode. So the velocity required (and, hence, the recoil felt) isn't too high.