Maintaining a Sustained Rate or Fire

Rheinmetall has been awarded a patent (#8225999)for an invention (concept would be a more accurate term) to limit a machine gun’s rate of fire over a period of time.

This M4A1′s gas tube melted after 911 rounds of continuous fire.

All gas operated machine guns fire at a rate which is unsustainable over longer periods of time. The operators need training to ensure that they do not let the gun overheat by firing to many rounds in to short a period of time. This issue received national media attention when it was revealed that M4 Carbine barrels had melted and SAW machine guns had jammed during the Battle of Wanat.