Heavy machine gun - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The heavy machine gun or HMG is a larger class of machine gun

Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....

generally recognized to refer to two separate stages of machine gun development. The term was originally used to refer to the early generation of machine guns which came into widespread use in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. These fired the standard (.30 or 7.62mm) rifle cartridge but featured heavy construction, elaborate mountings, and water cooling mechanisms that enabled heavy and sustained defensive fire with excellent accuracy, but with the cost of being too cumbersome to move quickly. Thus, in this sense, the "heavy" aspect of the weapon referred to the weapon's bulk and ability to sustain fire, not the cartridge caliber. This class of weapons is best exemplified by the Maxim gun

Maxim gun

The Maxim gun was the first self-powered machine gun, invented by the American-born British inventor Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884. It has been called "the weapon most associated with [British] imperial conquest".-Functionality:...

, invented by the American born, British inventor Hiram Maxim. The Maxim was the most ubiquitous machine gun of World War I, regional variants of which were fielded simultaneously by three separate warring nations (Germany with the MG08 in 8mm Mauser, Britain with the Vickers

Vickers machine gun

Not to be confused with the Vickers light machine gunThe Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 inch machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army...

in .303 British

.303 British

.303 British, or 7.7x56mmR, is a .311 inch calibre rifle and machine gun cartridge first developed in Britain as a blackpowder round put into service in December 1888 for the Lee-Metford rifle, later adapted to use smokeless powders...

, and Russia with the Pulemyot M1910

Russian M1910 Maxim

The PM M1910 was a heavy machine gun used by the Russian Army during World War I and the Red Army during World War II. It was adopted in 1910 and was derived from Hiram Maxim's Maxim gun, chambered for the standard Russian 7.62x54mmR rifle cartridge...

in 7.62x54R).

The more modern definition refers to a class of large-caliber (generally .50 or 12.7mm) machine guns pioneered by John Moses Browning with the M2 machine gun

M2 Machine Gun

The M2 Machine Gun, Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun, is a heavy machine gun designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. It is very similar in design to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chambered for the .30-06 cartridge...

and designed to provide an increased degree of range, penetration and destructive power against vehicles, buildings, aircraft and light fortifications over the standard rifle calibers used in medium

Medium machine gun

A medium machine gun or MMG, in modern terms, usually refers to a belt-fed automatic firearm firing a full-power rifle cartridge.-History:...

or general-purpose machine guns. In this sense, the "heavy" aspect of the weapon refers to its superior power and range over light and medium caliber weapons. This class came into widespread use during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, when the M2 was used widely in fortifications, on vehicles and in the air by the American forces. A similar HMG capacity was fielded by the Soviets in the form of the DShK

DShK

The DShK 1938 is a Soviet heavy machine gun firing the 12.7x108mm cartridge. The weapon was also used as a heavy infantry machine gun, in which case it was frequently deployed with a two-wheeled mounting and a single-sheet armour-plate shield...

in 12.7x108mm. The ubiquitous German MG42

MG42

The MG 42 is a 7.9mm universal machine gun that was developed in Nazi Germany and entered service with the Wehrmacht in 1942...

, though well suited against infantry, lacked the M2's anti-fortification and anti-vehicle capability, a fact that was noted and lamented by the Germans after the D-Day invasion.
The continued need for a longer range machine gun with anti-materiel capability to bridge the gap between exclusively anti-infantry weapons and exclusively anti-materiel weapons has led to the widespread adoption and modernization of the class; the M2 is now the oldest serving weapon in the US arsenal, and most nations are equipped with some type of HMG.

Currently, firearms with calibers smaller than 12.7 mm are generally considered medium machine guns, while those larger than 15 mm are generally thought of as autocannon

Autocannon

An autocannon or automatic cannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannons are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a...

s instead of heavy machine guns.

History

In the late 19th century, Gatling

Gatling gun

The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...

s, and some other externally powered types such as the Nordenfelt

Nordenfelt gun

The Nordenfelt Gun was a multiple barrel machine gun that had a row of up to twelve barrels. It was fired by pulling a lever back and forth. It was produced in a number of different calibres from rifle up to 25 mm...

were often made in range of calibers, such as half inch and one inch. Thanks to their many barrels, overheating was not so much of issue, and they were also quite heavy.

When Hiram Maxim

Hiram Stevens Maxim

Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim was an American-born inventor who emigrated to England at the age of forty-one, although he remained an American citizen until he became a naturalized British subject in 1900. He was the inventor of the Maxim Gun – the first portable, fully automatic machine gun – and the...

developed his recoil-powered machine gun that used a single barrel, the first main design was a modest 26 pounds (11.8 kg) and fired a .45-inch rifle-caliber bullet (from a 24-inch barrel). As a famous photo of Maxim himself will attest that even he could pick it up by its 15-pound tripod (6.8 kg) with one arm. It was similar to present-day medium machine guns, but it could not be fired for extended periods. As a result, he created a water jacket cooling system to enable it to fire for extended periods. This added significant weight, as did the change to more powerful cartridges.

There were two main heavy, rapid-fire weapons, the heavy-caliber, manually powered machine guns and the water-cooled Maxim types. Soon, by the end of the 19th century, many new designs were developed, some powered by gas or recoil or some combination of the two (Colt 1895, Hotchkiss, etc.). Also, rather than the rather heavy water jacket, new designs introduced other types of cooling, such as barrel replacement, metal fins, or heat sinks or some combination of them.

Various designs

Machine guns diverged into heavier and lighter design. The later model water-cooled Maxim gun

Maxim gun

s and its derivatives the MG 08

Maschinengewehr 08

The Maschinengewehr 08, or MG08, was the German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an adoption of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim Gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG 08 remained in service until the outbreak of World War II due to shortages of...

and the Vickers gun

Vickers machine gun

, as well as the American M1917 Browning machine gun, were all substantial weapons. The .303

.303 British

Vickers

Vickers machine gun

, for example, weighed 33 lb (15 kg) and was mounted on a tripod that brought the total weight to 50 lb (23 kg). The heavier designs could, and in some cases did, literally fire for days on end. The need was to be able to cut down potentially thousands of charging soldiers. The heavy machine gun was mounted on a tripod and was water-cooled, and a well-trained and well-supplied crew could fire for hours on end. Carefully positioned heavy machine guns could stop an attacking force before they reached their objectives.

Light machine guns

However, during the same period a number of new, lighter air-cooled designs were developed that rather than weighing well over 30 lb (15 kg) were lighter and mobile. In World War I

World War I

they were to be as important as the heavier designs, and were used to support squad

Squad

In military terminology, a squad is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition this organization is referred to as a section...

s and infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

on the move, on aircraft, and on many types of vehicle as well (and on tanks to some extent). The two that would become critical were new medium and light machine guns. The new medium machine guns offered less, or more difficult to use, cooling than the heavier designs, but more than the lightest.

The lightest of the new designs were not capable of sustained fire, as they did not have an extra cooling features and were fed from a comparatively small magazine. Essentially a machine rifle with a bipod

Bipod

A bipod is a support device that is similar to a tripod or monopod, but with two legs. It provides significant stability along two axes of motion .-Firearms:...

, weapons like the Chauchat

Chauchat

The Chauchat , was the standard light machine gun of the French Army during World War I. Under the leadership of General Joseph Joffre, it was commissioned into the French Army in 1916. It was also widely used by the US Army in 1917-1918 and by six other nations: Belgium, Greece, Poland, Russia,...

, Madsen 1902

Madsen machine gun

The Madsen was a light machine gun developed by Julius A. Rasmussen and Theodor Schoubue and proposed for adoption by Captain Vilhelm Herman Oluf Madsen, the Danish Minister of War and adopted by the Danish Army in 1902...

and the Hk21

HK21

The HK21 is a German 7.62mm general-purpose machine gun, developed in 1961 by small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch and based on the G3 battle rifle. The weapon is in use with the armed forces of several Asian, African and Latin American countries. It was also license-manufactured by Fábrica do...

were the most mobile, but were made for single and burst fire. These were used in assaults to great effect by infantry, but were not as popular on other mounts.

Medium models

The medium designs offered greater flexibility, either using a bipod

Bipod

A bipod is a support device that is similar to a tripod or monopod, but with two legs. It provides significant stability along two axes of motion .-Firearms:...

and being used like lighter designs, or being put on a tripod

Tripod

A tripod is a portable three-legged frame, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The word comes from the Greek tripous, meaning "three feet". A tripod provides stability against downward forces, horizontal forces and moments about the...

or on heavier mounts. The Hotchkiss Mark I

Hotchkiss M1909 Benet-Mercie machine gun

The Hotchkiss M1909 machine gun was a French designed light machine gun of the early 20th century, developed and built by Hotchkiss et Cie. It was also known as the Hotchkiss Mark I and M1909 Benet-Mercie....

(e.g., Benet-Mercie, M1909) was a 27.6 lb (12.2 kg) machine gun that normally used a mini-tripod and linkable 30-round strips, but there was also a belt-fed

Belt (firearm)

A belt or ammunition belt is a device used to retain and feed cartridges into a firearm. Belts and the associated feed systems are typically employed to feed machine guns or other automatic weapons...

version of it. Not to be confused with heavier Hotchkiss models (such as the M1914

Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun

The Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun became the standard machine gun of the French Army during World War I. It was manufactured by the French arms company Hotchkiss et Cie, which had been established in the 1860s by American industrialist Benjamin B. Hotchkiss...

), the design proved a useful intermediate and would serve even to the end of World War II

World War II

in some roles. The design would be followed by lighter machine guns and better medium types.

Lewis gun

The Lewis gun

Lewis Gun

The Lewis Gun is a World War I–era light machine gun of American design that was perfected and widely used by the British Empire. It was first used in combat in World War I, and continued in service with a number of armed forces through to the end of the Korean War...

, which weighed 27 lb (12.3 kg), was commonly used with a 47-round drum

Drum magazine

A drum magazine is a type of firearms magazine that is cylindrical in shape, similar to a drum. Instead of rounds being stored flat, as in a more common box magazine, rounds in a drum magazine are stored in a spiral around the center of the magazine, facing the direction of the barrel.There are...

and bipod

Bipod

A bipod is a support device that is similar to a tripod or monopod, but with two legs. It provides significant stability along two axes of motion .-Firearms:...

; it was used while moving to support squad

Squad

s, and on vehicles and aircraft as well, or on a tripod (either for anti-aircraft use, or to fill in for a heavier machine gun). What made it very useful was that it was significantly lighter than water-cooled weapons, but could fire nearly as much due to a very large cooling assembly. This sort of multipurpose machine gun would be further developed, and later given names like Universal Machine gun (later called the general-purpose machine gun) and would eventually supplant the water-cooled designs. Later designs have mostly switched to fast barrel replacement for cooling, which further reduces the weapon's weight (but can increase the total weight carried by a soldier). Some earlier designs like the Vickers

Vickers machine gun

had this feature, but it was mainly for barrel wear, not for cooling (as they normally used water cooling). It was in the 1920s and 1930s that fast barrel replacement for cooling became more popular (such as the ZB 1930, and later the MG34 and the Bren

Bren

The Bren, usually called the Bren Gun, was a series of light machine guns adopted by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1991...

Heavier models

The heavier water-cooled designs continued to be used throughout WWII and into the 1960s, but were gradually phased out in favor of air-cooled designs. The mediums are now used both as heavy machine guns while mounted on tripod

Tripod

s and as light machine gun

Light machine gun

A light machine gun is a machine gun designed to be employed by an individual soldier, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. Light machine guns are often used as squad automatic weapons.-Characteristics:...

s while mounted on bipod

Bipod

A bipod is a support device that is similar to a tripod or monopod, but with two legs. It provides significant stability along two axes of motion .-Firearms:...

s. This was possible in part because a heavy, static MG position was not a very effective tactic in vehicle-centered warfare, and the lighter air-cooled designs could nearly match the capabilities of water-cooled designs with a combination of other lighter cooling features. Also, during WWII, many new larger-caliber machine guns were developed, the Soviet Union having developed a number of larger calibers, as well as other countries. (There was the large-caliber Vickers design, for example.)
They are about 200 - 350 lbs

Latest inventions

By the latter half of the 20th century, use of heavy machine guns, especially water-cooled designs, was declining. The venerable Browning M1917 saw its last major use during the 1960s in the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

. At the same time, however, Gatling-type weapons were making a comeback. Those firing 7.62 mm such as the General Electric Minigun

Minigun

The Minigun is a 7.62 mm, multi-barrel heavy machine gun with a high rate of fire , employing Gatling-style rotating barrels with an external power source...

were popular for ships, and helicopter mounted weapons, and have established a niche; the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

also developed a number of Gatling-type weapons. The need for sustained fire on the ground, however, was now nearly entirely the domain of air-cooled medium machine gun

Medium machine gun

A medium machine gun or MMG, in modern terms, usually refers to a belt-fed automatic firearm firing a full-power rifle cartridge.-History:...

s that used some cooling manifolds, barrel replacement, and special or heavier barrels. By the 21st century, new heavy-caliber machine guns have become much lighter (for a given type) as well; less than many of the old water-jacketed types.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

History

Various designs

Light machine guns

Medium models

Lewis gun

Heavier models

Latest inventions

See also

External links