QJZ-171

The QJZ-171, also known as the Type 171 heavy machine gun, is a Chinese heavy machine gun designed and manufactured by Norinco for the People's Liberation Army. It fires a type of specialized 12.7×108mm light-weight ammunition. The weapon is intended to replace the 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 18.5 kg and the tripod weighs 6 kg. The weight of combat configuration, which includes ammunition cartridges, belts, boxes, and scopes, is 9.5 kg lighter than the same configuration on QJZ-89. This is achieved by ammo container made of plastic composites, lighter tripod, and more elaborate scope. The empty weight of the gun alone has a similar weight compared to its predecessor, QJZ-89.

The gun features a free-floating barrel, improved muzzle brake, composite ammo belt with new lightweight ammunition, and titanium alloy 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 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 improved muzzle brake. Comparing to QJZ-89, the spread of QJZ-171 is improved to 10 cm at 200 m, and it can reliably hit targets with a radius of 24 cm at 200 m. At 1000 m, the gun can engage vehicle-sized targets with a 70% hit probability.

Users

 * 🇨🇳 China: People's Liberation Army