The 50 cal. Machine gun.

[Niner]

This gun has been a war machine for ever. It is about to be replaced by a new 50 cal that doesn't require as much maintainence. The 50 has to be adjusted for headspace and timing at intervals. The new one won't have the problem... so they say.

This was taken at Ft. Benning recently. The US Army still finds the 50 cal a very useful weapon and they teach firing it as part of regular infantry training.

There is also a new kind of machine gun that fires granades. At least it is new to me. That's what the second of these pictures is of, also.

[joseyclosey]

Did the army let you shoot one Robert? Just curious as they are all set up on the range.

Joe

[PeterN2]

When was the last new production of the .50 cal machine gun? I presume they haven't been made for a while.

Regards

Peter.

[Niner]

A couple of regular Army instructors gave us more information than I was able to absorb.... but at my stage of life as an over the hill civilian, it doesn't matter anyway.

Peter, I was told back in my Vietnam days, 35 years ago, that the 50 Cal. Machine gun hadn't been made since WWII. They were just reissued for special defensive use in both emplacements and certain vehicles. . I wondered the same thing yesterday when I took the pictures but didn't ask if they were the same old WWII issue guns or not.

What you don't see in the pictures is who was watching besides myself. I was with a group from the 31st Regiment Association at a reunion field trip event. There were guys with our reunion party who were on the Bataan "death march", and guys who fought in the battle of the Chosin Reservoir, and many from my old battalion from the delta of Vietnam and the Cambodian incursion.

[stripperclip]

I fired both of those when I was in and the grenade launcher can lay a lot of steel on target.

[TaosBob101]

This ones belongs to the owner of the Madsen M47 posted in this Forum. *Notice the belt of prue API .50(AP-Icen).* He was firing into a rock wall 2/3 mi away,you would see the Icen "flash", then here the report/rock strike.

[dromia]

Whats the barrel life on those?

[ThePitbullofLove]

The Grenade Launcher is an Heckler & Koch mk 19. Shucks 40mm grenades at an alarming rate

.50 BMG's are awesome

This is an M2 (or is it M3) high-speed aircraft gun, owned by a firend of mine ...

http://images7.fotki.com/v109/photos/2/ ... rop-vi.jpg[/pic]

http://images8.fotki.com/v112/photos/2/ ... IMG-vi.jpg[/pic]

[keithreid]

the THUMP..THUMP..THUMP of the mk19 is pretty cool to hear. it's really cool when they're fired from a ship as the grenades fall about 5 feet underwater before the pressure sets off the fuze.

i've heard they were coming out with quick change barrel kits for the .50 cal m2, is this what's in the pic's? as i understood it, the kit's could be backfitted to the older guns??

be a real upgrade from running around trying to find out who has the headspace and timing keys in their pocket. y'all have a good day, Keith

[Aughnanure]

I have many fond memories of the .50 Browning.

I don't remember the barrel life Adam, but it was very short if the barrel unscrewed on a ship and slightly longer in the Armoured Corps if the tank didn't run over it

I repaired/modified/serviced them at one time and had the experience of being the 'Expert*' on a Naval Board of Inquiry, and of running a course for Navy civilian armourers.

I must write my experiences up sometime.

* Expert; 'X' for the unknown quantity and 'spert' for a drip under pressure.