The QJZ-171, also known as the Type 171 heavy machine gun, is a Chinese

heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...

designed and manufactured by

Norinco China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group (an abbreviation of "North Industries Corporation"), and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited (), is a Chinese ...

for the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

. It fires a type of specialized 12.7×108mm light-weight ammunition. Intended for mountainous terrain and high-altitude infantry operations, the QJZ-171 is one of the lightest heavy machine guns, with a weight comparable to general-purpose machine guns (GPMG) of other countries. The QJZ-171 entered PLA service, replacing the previous generation QJZ-89 heavy machine gun.

Description

The QJZ-171 is designed as an ultra-lightweight heavy machine gun, similar to American XM312 and XM806. The machine gun system weighs , which is comparable to M240 or

FN MAG The FN MAG (, , ) is a Belgian 7.62 mm calibre, 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, designed in the early 1950s at Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, Fabrique Nationale (FN) by Ernest Vervier. It has been used by more than 80 countries and it h ...

, and the tripod weighs . The weight of combat configuration, which includes ammunition cartridges, belts, boxes, and scopes, is lighter than the same configuration on QJZ-89. This is achieved by ammo containers made of plastic composites, lighter tripod, and a lighter type of 12.7×108mm ammunition. The empty weight of the gun alone is similar to its predecessor, the QJZ-89. The gun features a

free-floating barrel A free-floating barrel is a firearm design used in precision rifles, particularly match grade benchrest rifles, to accurize the weapon system. With conventional rifles, the gun barrel rests in contact with the fore-end of the gunstock, so ...

, improved

muzzle brake A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral (ported barrel) to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter re ...

, composite ammo belt with new lightweight ammunition, and

titanium alloy Titanium alloys are alloys that contain a mixture of titanium and other chemical elements. Such alloys have very high tensile strength and toughness (even at extreme temperatures). They are light in weight, have extraordinary corrosion resistance ...

gun parts to reduce recoil and weight. The machine gun is fitted with its own bipod attached to the receiver and can be carried by one infantry or served by a crew of two. The machine gun is operated via an open-bolt and advanced primer ignition blowback mechanism with a recoiling barrel. The hybrid short recoil system reduces peak recoil, achieved with the barrel, gas system, and bolt assembly recoiling inside the outer housing. The weapon features several improvements to reduce weight, mitigate recoil and increase accuracy. The new 12.7mm armor-piercing incendiary round made of special alloy only weighs 100 grams. The gas system cycles the bolt group with the free-floating receiver recoils inside the outer gun housing to decrease recoil. Two sets of spring buffers are mounted around the receiver. The barrel is fitted with an improved multi-chamber muzzle compensator. Comparing to QJZ-89, the spread of QJZ-171 is improved to at , and it can reliably hit targets with a radius of at . At , the gun can engage vehicle-sized targets with a 70% hit probability.

Users

References

{{API blowback firearms Machine guns of the People's Republic of China Heavy machine guns 12.7×108 mm machine guns API blowback firearms

Description

Users

See also

References