Quote:
Originally Posted by dragoon500ly
The main gun and co-axial machine gun are controlled by the gunner, the tank commander can override as neccessary, but he does not have direct access to the fire control computer or weapon selection panel. This has often led to the "TC's Dance" where he fires w/o a gunner and tries to keep watch through his scopes, and kick the selector from main gun to co-ax, while also trying to lay on the target though his sight extension.
As for the top side machineguns, only the .50 can be fired from within the turret, the sight is, at best, useful only for pointing in the general direction and spraying the area. To reload the .50, the TC has to expose his upper body and switch out a one hundred round can of ammo (during the M-1 development program the TCs begged for a larger capacity ammo box of at least 300 rounds, but this was overruled). The loader's machinegun is a M-240C (the co-axial version of the M-240), it was intended as a replacement gun in case of the co-axial failing (lingering experience of the thrice-accursed M-219). There was always a calling out for this weapon to be replaced by a M-240G (the ground mount version) incase the crew had to bail out. The Army response was to rely on the four M-9 pistols and the M-16A2 stowed under the commander's seat.
To make tings even more fun, the loader's mount is the primary anti-aircraft weapon, the mount is a lot more flexible than the TC's mount.
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That being said: Thats for the M1 and M1A1 series as far as the MG's go. On the M1A2, the M2 is on a flex mount, and can not be remote fired from under armour. It is however, much more flexible, and can be brought to bear quickly on a target pretty much in any direction. IE: The mount itself swivels, and the mount is on a slew ring that can be unlocked with one hand in about a second, and relocked in another, giving a pretty quick reaction time to about any angle of fire.
Now days, or rather, when I was on them a few years ago, there was a pair of dismount kits for the Coax and the Loaders MG's, which added a hand guard for the 240, a buttstock, bipod, and a mount to hang an ammo can off the side so that it can be used pretty much as a 240G. Couple that with the provision of 2 M4's, you got a pretty firepower heavy dismount capability.
And yes. You can, with a surprisingly small amount of work, mount a Mk19 in the TC spot on an A2.... not that I ever did so... *whistles innocently*