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I have personally handled both weapons during the NSF and reservist
day......
Handled the Browning 0.5" during NSF day, the weapon was a beast to
carry, just the body is closed to 18kg!!! Imagine carrying that
yourself to the M113 which is 1 km away....(old SOA and vehicle
shed)..............'93
To prep the weapon is also troublesome, head space and timing "Go,
No Go, Go, No Go" must be done else the weapon cannot fire and may
even encounter chamber explode if handle improperly. Everytime you
change the barrel, you must redo the head space and
timing.........depending on your proficiency, can take 5 mins to 10
mins......must be done by 2 persons. 1 do the head space timing,
the other insert the barrel and turn the barrel.......
Bloody lot of parts to clean and if not careful, will cut yourself
or lose somet parts........ also RUST easily!!!!!!!
Was trained on the ST HMG during 1st ICT.....Ultra conversion in
'97
The weapon is lighter, can be carry by a person. No need to do head
space and timing. 
Switching of barrel is a breeze. Pull back charging handle
slightly, press barrel release catch and pull out the barrel. vice
versa for putting back the barrel.
Cleaning/maintence, stripping and assembly is also a
breeze.......... less parts to handle....... placed on the fixed
pinter of the Ultra cupola, the weapon is BLOODY accurate!!!!! See
the round hitting the oil drums continously...sibeh
shiok!!!!!
As to 2 ammo belt feed, I dont remember seeing that.......in
Ultra........
On the cupola, 2 ammo chute, 1 for the 0.5" HMG and the other for
AGL....maybe dual feed ammo are for other uses.......airforce or
navy...??
For the old 0.5, there are many types of ammo, ball round, AP, API
etc etc.....differeiated by the coloured rings on the
projectiles....
During L/F in Singapore, we fired only ball round. In Oz, we fired
API and our battlion burnt off half of our L/F area ('93) 
As I remember during the conversion, this new 0.5 only has one type
of ammo. That is the SLAP round........shaped like tank's SABOT
round.......never fired this round before but our instructors said
that this rounds can easily destroy soft skin targets, sand bunker
and concrete bunker. This ammo are only issue during op.....LF only
fires normal ball rounds. You can also use this ammo to stab a
person to death........is desperate...........
For all potential VC/PC/PS, please remember now you have great
firepower(2x40/50, 1xOWS and two tanks), you can now destroy enemy
by fire follow by a mounted assaults to clean up enemy. Please dont
anyhow dismount troops and asked them to flank 3-4 klicks to clear
enemys!!!!!
Unless exercise play........
[quote]Originally posted by storywolf:
[b]
Well basically no one did much in upgrading the 0.5 much. ST saw
the nickel in that gap and went in for it.
ST 0.5 offer lots of more advantage
1) it have much few parts - less jam & easier
maintenance.
2) 2 ammo belt feed, which gunner use switch to select which belt
to use, advantage, gunner can more effectively use the type of ammo
suitable for that situation, like sabo to soft armour and normal
for infantry. Also reduce need to reload so fast.
3) More range and more accurate.
4) able to change barrel.
