Its also interesting to note the US M60 machine guns feed system was based on the German 7.92mm MG42 GPMGs. In addition Blacks Hills Ammunition also launched a 6mm ARC round and a 6.5 PRC. That has something to do with tripods I thought. Grateful I never had to hump one though. - Ballistic. In the later stages of World War II ballistic correction directions were added for overshooting friendly forces with S.m.E. Mg42 is by far the best automatic weapon in the game 1 visitsunnyvietzuela 4 yr. ago I would definitely prefer the MG42 over the M60 if it didn't burn through ammunition so fast. He is a recipient of the Carl Zeiss Outdoor Writer of the Year award and his writing has been recognized by the Civil Rights organization JPFO. Those two opponents are ready at the 1 Men of War: Assault. The gun was replaced in most conventional roles by the M240, but the M60 found a new home in specialist roles, such as with US special forces. Here we get complex again, as for portable vs tripod/vehicle mounted we MAY be coming to an inflection point where the heavier guns like the MAG will be retained as fixed/mounted guns, but lighter ones will take over for portable tasks. Mg42 vs M60. Enough guns were damaged and put out of action for repair or lost to warrant finding the cause and a solution. The MG 42 is a 7.9257mm Mauser, air-cooled, belt fed, open bolt, recoil-operated machine gun with a quick change barrel. I also learned to use small bursts of ammunition while firing it, to prevent my weapon from over heating. The tested MG 45/42V fired 120,000 rounds in succession at a cyclic rate of fire around 1,350 to 1,800 rounds per minute. In order to address these issues, a draft specification was made and a contest was held for an MG 34 replacement. [12] It was much simpler to build than other machine guns it took 75 man hours to complete the new gun as opposed to 150 man hours for the MG 34 (a 50% reduction), 27.5kg (61lb) of raw materials as opposed to 49kg (108lb) for the MG 34 (a 44% reduction) and cost 250 RM as opposed to 327 RM (a 24% reduction). The riflemen carried additional ammunition, hand grenades, explosive charges or a machine gun tripod as required and provided security and covering fire for the machine gun team. [34] A more practical solution to control the harmonics problem in the roller/wedge system and make the MG 42 less ammunition ignition timing sensitive was needed. Today you see MG42 vs M60. Once the problem was identified, the temporary solution was to design and manufacture extra sturdy ammunition with primers with a slightly slower ignition time which allowed the rollers to settle into lockup and issue that ammunition specifically for MG 42 use. The Snobbiest Town in The Snobbiest State in the N, Purpose built Sniper Rifle vs Precision/Competition Rifle, Alpha Class Long Range Scope Review - TT, ZCO, Schmidt, March, Vortex, Review of PR1 and PR2 through Colorado Precision Rifle. The army's quest to develop a tank with leap-ahead antitank technologies led to the second M60 variant, the M60A2. This nickname reaches back to its use inVietnam. But the gun with a 100 round belt on the ground vs the 100 round belt being guided by the AG would have a lower rate of fire. Id really like to see the KAC LAMG get adopted. The M60 is a gas-operated, air-cooled, belt-fed, automatic machine gun that fires from the open-bolt position and is chambered in 7.6251mm NATO. The MG3 was adopted in 1959 and is a modernization of the MG42 machine gun. [38][39], The MG 42 could use non-disintegrating metallic-link belts, which have links that wrap around the cartridge case and are linked by a coiling wire on each side. In 1943, MG 42 production surpassed MG 34 production and continued to do so until the end of the war. It was possible for operating crews to lay down a non-stop barrage of fire, pausing only when the barrel had to be replaced. [59], When one of the two T24 machine gun prototypes was fired at Aberdeen Proving Ground, it fired only one shot and failed to eject the cartridge. *Since I originally published this article in April of 2020, the original video with R.Lee Ermey was taken down from YouTube and so I had to improvise and use 2 different videos, one, with R.Lee Ermey talking about the MG-42 and another with an old Vietnam Veteran using the M-60. The original MG 42 roller-locked action had an undesirable tendency to exhibit bolt-bounce. Single shots are difficult, even for experienced operators, due to the weapon's high cyclic rate of fire and the ability to fire a short burst of no more than three rounds was usually accepted as the training standard. Auto rifles are rifles much of the time, feed from the same ammo/mags as the squad usually, are just a bit heavier and should be employed for small scale base of fire, etc. The Germans called it the Hitlersge (Hitlers Saw), Schnelle Spritze (Fast Sprayer), Knochensge (Bone Saw), Tripperspritze (Gonorrhoea Syringe) and elektrisches MG (Electric MG). 251/1 Falke half-track armored personnel carriers to some MG 42 and MG 34 machine guns. Both the cocking handle and the catch for the top cover to the working parts were designed so that the gunner could operate them wearing arctic mittens or with a stick or rod. Military Small Arms of the 20th Century. The Germans nevertheless continued widespread production of MG 34s in parallel until the end of the war. And I read somewhere that the M60 was develpoed from the MG42. Springfield Armory Hellcat Pro CCW Pistol Review. [6] According to comparative tests by the US military under battle conditions, 5 to 7 rounds bursts with 22 bursts in a minute were most effective. What would yall say is the better between the two? [11] Grofu AG's entry proved to be the best design by far, employing a unique recoil-operated roller locking mechanism whereas the two competing entries used a gas-actuated system. The weapon was simply too light for accurate, fully automatic fire though, so the T52 was made. It used steel of lesser quality, which reduced weight to 9 kilograms (20lb), while retaining the horizontal cocking handle. I heard all this noise about M60s being unreliable, but really thought that they worked great when I had them as a PL in Korea (1990) and the 101st (91 - 92). Equipped with a quick-change barrel and fed either with non-disintegrating metallic-link belts, or from a 50-round Gurttrommel (belt drum) or a 75-round spring-loaded saddle-drum Patronentrommel 34 magazines (with a simple change of the feed cover for a Trommelhalter magazine holder), the MG 34 could sustain fire for much longer periods of time than other portable squad-level weapons such as the American M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), Soviet Degtyaryov machine gun (DP-27) and the British Bren gun, which were fed by magazines, while also being much lighter and more portable than crew-served weapons like the Browning M1919, SG-43 Goryunov or Vickers machine guns (which also lacked quick-change barrels). You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers. He was issued a very beat up M60 from local stock that day (he was a rifleman, filled in on this) and the trigger group just fell off. Unlike the old Brownings, the M60 could keep firing, and when its barrel became too hot, the assistant gunner could quickly swap it out for another. Only negative I had with the MG42 was the high cyclic rate. The final design, which appeared in 1950, was in most respects still similar to the MG 42, although many components were produced by machining instead of stamping, which increased the weight, the stability and the production costs of the machine gun. The Gurttrommel assault drum was an alternative feed option and designed to be clipped to the left side of the gun. [20][21] The MG 42 incorporated lessons hard-won on the Eastern Front. [7] The twin-barreled Gast gun was developed with the goal of providing a high cyclic rate of fire weapon for anti-aircraft use which was reported to have reached cyclic rates of fire as high as 1,600 rounds per minute.[7]. World War II Infantry. The M60 machine gun bears the nickname "The Pig". The MG 74 of the Austrian Federal Army, is a modification of the MG 42. Three were tested with front units. As for lineage there are some components of the M60 that were taken directly from the MG42 and many . and ive shot just about everything. This weapon was mostly constructed out of stamped metal, easing production, and could fire on a closed bolt during a semi-automatic fire, and on an open bolt for going fully automatic. The US M60 Machine Gun, AKA The Pig, was the US militarys first General Purpose Machine Gun and it played an important role in Vietnam. Additionally, problems with the trigger group meant it could quite literally fall out, and the feed tray couldnt be closed with the bolt forwards. The M60s 550 to 650 rpm cyclic rate provided a high hit probability without a copious expenditure of ammunition, as was the case with the German MG42. Like the MG 42, the MG3 cyclic rates of fire can be altered by exchanging the standard weight (about 650g (22.93oz)) bolt used for the standard 1,1001,300 rounds per minute rate of fire for an extra weight (about 900g (31.75oz)) bolt for a reduced 800950 rounds per minute rate of fire. Its 22" barrel develops a muzzle velocity of 2,800 f.p.s. The Headrest Safe is the ultimate in discreet storage for your valuables (gun, money, credit cards, jewelry, medicines). There's nothing to hold the bolt back so it starts firing. 4 posts Page 1 of 1. The Lafette 42 weighed 20.5kg (45.2lb) on its own and was a simplified version of the Lafette 34 used for the MG 34, as the MG 42 could be operated more easily from a Lafette and featured no semi-automatic firing mode. At the end of World War II the original technical drawings and data for the MG 42 were captured by the Soviets. You must log in or register to reply here. He was one of my instructors in the Norwegian NG in the early 80'ies. During WWII, U.S. soldiers faced down the advanced MG42 machine gun and FG42 automatic rifle. During the war, General Motors was ordered to adapt an MG 42 to fire the .30 caliber round, but this ended in failure due to a number of errors throughout the project. The story of the M60 begins right after the end of WWII. by Peter Suciu During World War II, Nazi Germany developed some impressive small arms, including. While some may say the MG42's rate of. Later variants of the gun, like the M60E1 and M60E3 rectified many of these problems though, making the weapon more reliable and longer-lasting. Yes, they are both light squad machine-guns, but the MG 42 has a much higher rate of fire and in a defensive position, that alone can come in pretty handy to the defenders. Brandon explains how his company has streamlined the suppressor buying process. Its relatively light 23-pound weight allows the gun team to keep up with assaulting infantry. After investigation using high-speed photography the rollers in the bolt were found to "bounce" back and forth or oscillate up to 1mm (0.04in) when lock up is proceeding and then they settle into full lock up. Patronenkasten 34 and Patronenkasten 41 ammunition boxes could hold up to 300 belted rounds and were used in more static non-highly mobile situations. Headrest Safe a new way to secure your firearm. The battle of Ia Drang in November 1965 is notable. the m60 was a poor copy of the MG42. U.S. weapons designers fealt that the ROF of the MG42 was too high resulting in wasted ammo and reduced accuracy. The MG 42 (shortened from German: Maschinengewehr 42, or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Yeah, MG42's certainly did have changed in rate of fire based on how they were feed. The resulting weapon had a cyclic rate of fire of 1,000 rounds per minute, was in the light machine gun role 4.4kg (9.70lb) heavier than the German MG 42, and much more finely made and finished. This weapon still had many features of the FG 42 and kept the belt feed system of the MG 42, but received a heavier barrel. Just FYI. The Patronenkasten could contain an Einfhrstck belt starter-segment. Krause Publications. [60] By doing so, the Yugoslavs retained the original weapon's design features, making the M53 a near exact copy of the German MG 42. The resulting Grofu MG 39 prototype gun presented in February 1939 remained similar to the earlier MG 34 overall, a deliberate decision made to maintain familiarity and capability to use the various mounts and other accessories developed for the MG 34 to adapt the gun to different roles. Print view; Search Advanced search. This sweeping of a selected beaten zone continued as long as the gun fired. Sorta like the 1919. The Soviets did not really go in for grace in their designs, did they? Is the .357 Magnum the Most Versatile Handgun? It took a while for the M60 to replace its predecessors, with the first Marines in Vietnam landing in 1965 with a mix of Browning machine guns and M60s. . The MG 42V had some influence in the post-war development of roller-delayed blowback system, as employed in issued CETME, SIG and Heckler & Koch small arms. Even still updated, more so than even the otherwise very nice MAG 58, which has for backwards-compatibility issues been stuck in time in many ways. While not an issue when being fired off the tripod, it was a pain changing barrels while firing off the bipod. These two parts start the unlocking sequence after the barrel and bolt assembly have moved 7mm (0.3in) rearwards when the parts have moved far back enough that the rollers start the rest on angled/oblique surfaces and allow the rollers to move inwards, controlled by the wedge-shaped front of the striker sleeve, back to their previous position, unlocking the bolt head and allowing the bolt assembly to further recoil rearwards, extracting the spent cartridge case and ejecting it downwards through an ejection port normally covered by a spring-loaded dust cover at the bottom of the receiver, just in front of the trigger group. Quote; Post . A new addition to the Honey Badger line is a 115 grain 10 mm round. In 2007 he covered the war in Iraq as an embedded journalist. The spring-loaded dust cover automatically opens when the gun is fired, but the user has to close it after firing to prevent dirt entering the receiver through the open port. Initially, the first concept for the M60 was essentially a second model FG-42 with an MG-42 feed system shoehorned onto it. After around 150 rounds of rapid fire, the gun operator would open a side hatch (leading to the barrel) and replace the hot barrel with a new cooler one. In 1944, the material shortages in Nazi Germany led to the development of a newer version, the MG 45 (or MG 42V), which had a different operating mechanism that used roller-delayed blowback as opposed to roller locking. As personal small arms, the squad leader was issued a rifle, or as of around 1941 a submachine gun, the machine gunner and his assistant were issued pistols and the deputy squad leader, ammunition carrier and the riflemen were issued rifles. The average cyclic rate of fire of the tested weapon was 614 rounds per minute. All these changes were intended to increase, maintain, or accommodate the gun's high cyclic rate of fire and dispersion. Excessive overheating caused by rapid firing about 500 rounds through a barrel resulted in unacceptable wear of the bore rendering the barrel useless. Combat experience gained facing MG42s heavily influenced American ordnance officers of the day. The butt-stock was produced in various wood and bakelite versions. I dont know Ive never been an infantryman, but the ones I know are split on it. An accessory to lengthen these sights' periscope was available to use these sights behind cover. [27] In 1944, this was altered to six machine guns in three sections with two seven-man heavy machine gun squads per section as follows: The optimum operating crew of an MG 42 in its medium machine gun role was six men: the squad leader, the machine gunner who carried and fired the gun, the assistant gunner/loader who carried the tripod, and three riflemen who carried 1,800 rounds of ammunition between them, spare barrels, entrenching tools, and other items. One new winner* is announced every week! The Winchester 350 Legend is built with hunters and sport shooters in mind, 350 Legend is versatile on the range and in the deer woods. However, the realization that the .30-06 Springfield cartridge was too long for the prototype gun's mechanism to easily and reliably work with resulted in the discarding of the project. Due to the nature of the war and the M60s purpose, it could expect to fire thousands of rounds over the course of a single day. 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