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Thread: Best machine guns - America or the Nazis - VIDEO

  1. #1
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    Best machine guns - America or the Nazis - VIDEO

    I thought you guys would appreciate this old Army movie.

    I'm still trying to put my feelings about it into words, but it is apparent it was intended to bolster confidence in American machine guns in light of the overwhelming superiority of the German machine guns.

    Here is the movie, see what you think.
    Last edited by STAFF; 06-25-12 at 12:00. Reason: No more videos.

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    Interesting piece of history. Apparently they didn't poll the G.I.s that had to carry those M1919 .30 MGs on which MG they'd rather have. Also, the M1919 wasn't the basis for every other belt fed MG that came ofter WWII and that should be quite telling in the "which is better" polling.

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    Interesting. One of my high school coaches spent plenty of time in combat in WW11 in Europe. I asked him which MG he would rather have for combat. Without hesitation he said the 1919. He told me the MG 42 was too accurate- made too small a group and that he would rather have had more dispersion. (Obviously contrary to that training film.)

    My father-in-law was at D-day and all the way across Europe. He said the US arms were just fine.
    former cat herder

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    Interesting, thanks for sharing that.

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    Here I thought the German military were the ones using the MG42...
    Needless to say my family members had nothing but high praise for the MG42.

    Divisions of service.
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    Between the M1919 and the MG42, a version of the MG42, as the MG3 in 7.62x51 is still in service with many of the world's forces.


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    Awesome, thank you.

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    I wasn't aware that we tried to copy the MG42 during WWII but failed when it wouldn't work in .30-06 in a project called the T-24. You learn something new everyday.

    http://www.forgottenweapons.com/wp-c...4%20report.pdf

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    I did my active duty in the Marine Corps and there were always pictures around of Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone with a water-cooled M1919. There will always be a special place in my heart for the M1919 and its variants, even if history and machinegun design have long passed it by.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kmrtnsn View Post
    I wasn't aware that we tried to copy the MG42 during WWII but failed when it wouldn't work in .30-06 in a project called the T-24. You learn something new everyday.

    http://www.forgottenweapons.com/wp-c...4%20report.pdf
    That's pretty interesting stuff. IIRC there was some reverse engineering error in the metric conversions, or that's the story that was told in the past, and the receiver wasn't long enough for the 30-06. I read somewhere that the stamping dies for that weapon were destroyed after the project didn't pan out. But, if they had been kept you just wonder how that MG would have worked with the 7.62X51 when it was adopted.
    Also, keep in mind that the 1919 was in service for over 40 years here and served many more years elsewhere. Not too shabby.

    It was replaced by the m-60 which had features from several prior MG's, including the WW1 Lewis gun.
    Last edited by g5m; 05-26-12 at 02:16. Reason: spacing
    former cat herder

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