Probably some Dillon Super 1050 users!

[seagiant]

Hi,
Thought this was interesting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=uCppmoZiXUY&vqhd1080

[btroj]

That is awsome.

[Doc_Stihl]

That's on the bucket list now....

[44Vaquero]

Seagiant, Nice post!

[seagiant]

Hi,
The greatest light air cooled MG was or is the German MG-42, IMO. The US Army paid the Germans to copy and use somethings from the 42 for the US M-60 machinegun that made it's bones in Vietnam. The most obvious is the feed mechanisim for the belt cartridge feed (the Germans were the first to use metal belt cartridge clips) If you look at both you can see the simularities!

The M-60 did have a good rep from what I have heard but why we just did not build and use the MG-42 to begin with I have no idea??? Maybe others do?

[btroj]

Three words why - not invented here

[seagiant]

Three words why - not invented here

Hi,
Ha! Well the ego IS a wonderous thing!

[44Vaquero]

Too much machine work and fitted parts it was essentially a modern weapon built with Pre-War craftsmanship. The M-60 is by contrast built with lots of stamped parts, less hand work. That's what my Grandfather says. In the same way the Thompson was technically a superior weapon to the M-3, but cast too much and took too long to build.

[BruceB]

MG34 is the German MG that was so carefully built with machined and fitted parts.

MG42 made WIDE use of stamped parts and even welding. The result was a gun that was just as good as the traditionally-built guns, but much less expensive and far quicker to make.

A US attempt to copy the MG42 was a failure, because apparently the design team FORGOT to allow for the length difference between the .30'06 and the 7.92 Mauser rounds. Obviously, there was then insufficient receiver length to accommodate the longer bolt travel needed to function with our cartridge.

I owned a full-auto MG42, and it is a most impressive weapon!

[quasi]

the Germans still use a modified MG 42 in 7.62 Nato. Some of the Leopard 2 Medium tanks Canada had in Afghanistan were leased from German and part of the lease agreement was the turret top mounted MG 42 had to be retained and used by Canada on the tanks. They were / are not as liked or as reliable as the normal Canadian issue FN -MAG MG's.

[seagiant]

Hi,
Well...I'm not doubting anyones word here but the MG-42 was known to be VERY reliable! It was the MG-34 that was tempermental and one of the reasons the MG-42 was designed!

As far as the FN M240 7.62 MG it is really just a big FAL on steriods! I sailed with a squad of Marines in the Persian Gulf and made friends with the Armourer and told him I had built a few FALS and would like to look at the M240. We field stripped one and the only big difference I could see was that the gas piston was connected to the bolt carrier (ala AK-47) where as the FAL has a seperate gas piston that impinges (sp) the bolt carrier!

I know there are not many (if any) WWII Vets around but you can be sure they held the MG-42 in VERY high regard!

[BruceB]

The MG42 I owned had to be left behind in Canada when I emigrated to Nevada. I sold it for about $ 650 CDN, which was market value there in '97. In the USA, that gun was worth around $30,000! Today in the US, the value is more like $45,000.....(sigh).

Owning it for about twenty years, I likely fired in excess of twenty thousand rounds of surplus ball ammo through it, and as long as the ammo was reliable, so was the gun. I had several barrels for it; changing barrels is about a ten-second job. 1200 rounds-per-minute is an experience! The shortest burst I ever managed was four rounds, I believe. I tried a few jacketed handloads in it, but it buggers the brass SO BADLY that it was pointless.

The German Army uses its 7.62 NATO version of the MG42 as the MG3.

Owning the .303 Bren at the same time as the MG42, I have to say I much preferred the Bren. Of course, I was trained on the Bren by the Canadian Army, and fired it rather extensively. Over a long life of shooting, the Bren is my all-time favorite firearm of ANY type. It too, had to be left behind and was subsequently destroyed due to unfortunate circumstances.

A good friend of mine, a veteran of the Canadian infantry in WWII, once told me, "I never liked that damned '42, ever since some #%#@*&^%$ put three rounds through the pack I was wearing with one of them!"