The FN Minimi has been rocking sandboxes since 1975.
The Minimi was adopted by the US Army in 1982 as the M249 and is made in the USA by FN Manufacturing LLC in South Carolina.
"Minimi" is French for Mini Mitrailleuse "Mini Machine Gun"
The Minimi can fire belt-fed from the left or from the bottom using standard Ar-15 type magazines
The Minimi was originally designed in 7.62X51mm NATO.
Weight: 15.1-19lbs
Overall Length: 30.2-40.9 inches
Barrel Length: 13.7-19.8 inches
Factoid: On a historical note: in the first months of the First Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm 1990), there were not enough M249s to supply the massive troop buildup in the Middle East, so the U.S. Army bought outright a number of unaltered FN Minimis directly from FN, to supplement the weapons. So it is not inaccurate to see first pattern FN Minimis in the hands of U.S. Soldiers who are supposedly issued M249 SAWs since the Army mixed the two versions together until the Late 1990s. Source.
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