Made-in-China beat M249 SAW? Is QJS-161 machine gun better than U.S. M249 SAW, or to be proven?

Chinese Army is deploying a brand new light machine gun to infantry squads, serving as the Chinese squad automatic weapon.

The new gun is called QJS-161, it is a 5.8mm machine gun can be operated by one person, which will be partnered with the new QBZ-191 assault rifles.

Both the machine gun and rifle will become key weapon of Chinese infantry, replacing Type 95 rifle and light machine gun currently serving in Chinese Army.

The Type 95 5.8mm squad light machine gun is the first small caliber squad light machine gun in China. The Type 95 is the first Chinse Army small caliber gun family, and its export variant Type 97 was sold in Canada for many years. However, in 21st century the Type 95 shows it age, and QJS-161 machine gun will replace the machine gun in the Type 95 family, giving Chinese Army squad the best suppressing fire power available.

QJS-161 machine gun design abandons the highly interchangeable requirement of the Type 95. The new gun has similar layout to the U.S. M249 SAW, it does not share parts with the new 191 rifle except the magazine, and possibly optics.

This ensures QJS-161 can be designed to best suit suppressing fire requirement, while 191 rifle design focus on an assault rifle for infantry.

QJS-161 has disintegrating links feeding system, a major improvement comparing drum fed Type 95 machine gun. The feeding system is light and easy to carry. Cover of feeding system opens upwards, and will not interfere with the most common optics available.

QJS-161 design puts a lot of effort into reducing weight, possibly using some Titanium parts, and maximize the adoption of composite parts. It has two barrel length options, and has quick barrel change feature. A telescopic butt looks similar to the U.S. M4 rifle.

The machine gun has multiple picatinny rails to add optics. It can be set up with a new small-size tripod, but mainly used with bipod.

With the new design, QJS-161 is able to achieve much more consistent fire power, better reliability, and higher accuracy. The machine gun is likely heavier than the Type 95, but the weight also helps to reduce recoil, providing better control.

Overall the performance of the QJS-161 machine gun is believed to be similar to the U.S. M249 SAW. But Chinese 5.8mm cartridge has some advantage comparing NATO 5.56mm, therefore it is expected QJS-161 might be superior in effective range and impact velocity.

QJS-161 is also reported to share many aspects with the brand new Chinese 7.62mm general purpose machine gun, and could be exported to foreign countries within years.

Photo and video: Wiki common, Weibo Huanqiuwang, Weibo Zhuhaihangzhan, Weichat Ranjunshi, Marine corp website

[ebadurrahman]

China is really giving a lot of good effort to have some high tech advance weapons. good for her allies🇧🇩💕🇨🇳

[秋雨沁心]

The first picture is QJS-161, (Qinwuqi Jiqiang Sanjiang) (Light weapon Automatic rifle Airborne), it isnt Squad Automatic Rifle.

But the second picture is, and it’s called QJB-201 (Qinwuqi Jiqiang Banyong) (Light weapon Automatic rifle Squad use), which use 5.8x42.

And the GPMG version called QJY-201, which use 7.62x51 NATO.

Also for rifleman: QBZ-191/192,
DMR: QBU-191,
Sniper Weapons: QBU-203/202/201
Pistol: QSZ-92B

Also for grenadier: QLU-11
Light Anti-Tank: DZJ-08
Heavy Anti-Tank: PF-98

[NiceGuy-Nationalist]

So how does this differ when compared to the QJY-88 exactly?

[johnjohnson]

Most weapons are patterned from others. Studied taking the best traits while trying to add more good ones. How many improve.

[Cnupoc]

oh wow it even accelerates. damn! nice

[kughalumulatonu]

Deadly weapon. Spirit of China. C
God bless China 🇨🇳 🙏

[ForeverEveresT]

Similar layout with US M249? Then all machine guns are similar!

[wall]

I am going to get the type 97 aka the type 95 in Canada but they are always out of stock

[Ram-]

Send a few of those to Russia. They'll test em out for China and possibly get some bulk sales. I can tell you right now I don't like guns. But I like this QJS-161.

[neolan]

How's the gun barrel cooled?
When I was in service, had to change the GPMG barrel after firing continuously for a while. The barrel gets overheated.

[leefster]

I thought they got ride of 5.8mm LMG altogether

[neilrobinson]

Am I the only one who saw them firing full auto with there eyes closed

[therover]

I wonder which ammo the 7.62 version uses? The Russian rimmed cartridge or the NATO 7.62?

[michaelp]

has a barrel, fires a projectile, must be a copy of american m249. this is fk insane.

[Zerpentsa]

Sad if it has to be used on Chinese from Taiwan province. Let's hope Tsai and her separatist regime will be crushed by the true Chinese people.

[arvindchokseu]

well done. but renovation. Should continue

[benganchan]

Boots on the ground are old ways of fighting . Drone swarms with heat sensors and lethal package will annihilate exposed infantry

[Hellfox]

Okay, but until proven under real conditions, it's just a cute toy.

[YTPrule]

I doubt it'd be any worse. Many M249s are old and refurbished over and over. If you're some spec ops delta force guy, you can get new mk 46/48s but not the average Joe. The M249 also has many flaws of its own.

[alexlo]

We can see the important defect of bullpup gun. This slow mo shew every shooter slose his eyes when he had shot the gun in protecting his eye from blowout bullet case ejector.