The true machine gun is designed for sustained, long-range firepower. Both the SMG and the assault rifle, while highly capable weapons, have significant limitations. They can both fire at a very high rate (usually well over 600 rounds per minute), but neither is actually intended for anything more than a short burst. Their magazine capacities are generally limited to 20 or 30 rounds, and they might even incorporate a special "three-shot burst" setting. A true machine gun, on the other hand, is a heavier weapon than either the sub-machine gun or the assault rifle, it is often belt-fed, and it is intended to fire hundreds or even thousands of rounds in short order. Early machine guns had huge, water-cooled barrels, and later machine guns had smaller air-cooled barrels. Heat was the predominant problem, since the barrel of a machine gun could become red-hot after sustained use. However, advances in materials science eventually permitted the development of light machine gun barrels which could withstand extremely long periods of sustained fire without a barrel change; in one particular test at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1967, an M60 fired a 164 foot long belt of ammunition in a long, single burst! Sparks shot from the barrel with each of the last few hundred rounds, but it delivered the rounds to the target area and it survived the brutal test without serious damage.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Machine Guns
The true machine gun is designed for sustained, long-range firepower. Both the SMG and the assault rifle, while highly capable weapons, have significant limitations. They can both fire at a very high rate (usually well over 600 rounds per minute), but neither is actually intended for anything more than a short burst. Their magazine capacities are generally limited to 20 or 30 rounds, and they might even incorporate a special "three-shot burst" setting. A true machine gun, on the other hand, is a heavier weapon than either the sub-machine gun or the assault rifle, it is often belt-fed, and it is intended to fire hundreds or even thousands of rounds in short order. Early machine guns had huge, water-cooled barrels, and later machine guns had smaller air-cooled barrels. Heat was the predominant problem, since the barrel of a machine gun could become red-hot after sustained use. However, advances in materials science eventually permitted the development of light machine gun barrels which could withstand extremely long periods of sustained fire without a barrel change; in one particular test at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1967, an M60 fired a 164 foot long belt of ammunition in a long, single burst! Sparks shot from the barrel with each of the last few hundred rounds, but it delivered the rounds to the target area and it survived the brutal test without serious damage.
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