The M249 is basically a sound system, it does have a few problems though. The first is the plastic 200rd. ammo drums these are pure shit, and how they ever passed the military's durability standard I'll never know, it is my understanding that they have come out with a 100rd. bag now, but that sounds like it would hang up on concertina and barb wire to me. The second is'nt really a design problem as much as a maintaince problem, the cartridge guides and feeder pawls need to be replaced fairly often if not then reliability goes to hell. The third is the bi-pod that thing is crap! Wears out pretty quick where it is attached to the gun, pretty flimsy and the extension mechanism allows the legs to be pulled all the way out when they get tangled in brush. Those are my major complaints on the weapon, it does need lots of CLP to run, yeah some are picky with magazines, and it's fairly heavy, but how many belt feds are'nt? I have seen them Ka-Boom also, one blew the feed tray cover off and blew the guide rails out as well, but I've seen M-16's blow too.