rifles and machine guns

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#1

i heard german has some kind of technology that made any rifles to have some anti-tank capability, just want to know what kind of technology did they use?

can someone post anything they know about german machine guns. What good can a machine gun having high firing rate while the machine gun can only used for 5-6 seconds and have requried to reload again?

low rate of firing means stable and easier to aim at enemy target, maybe required less to repair?

personally i prefer MP 40 with 500 bullets per min, easy to aim and much portable

#2

In the Great War, the Germans converted G98’s to shoot 12.7mm (.50) rounds. It was a single shot, though.

If you’re talking about the MG42, it was better than the slower MG34 because it was easier to produce. And you wouldn’t need to reload every six seconds, it wasn’t that fast.

#3

@1200rpm, the 50rd belt is gone in 2.5 seconds (if you let it go in 1 burst). And then you had to change the barrel with some frequency due to the high ROF (after 250-300rds in sustained fire). It was very cheap to produce, simple & cheap to maintain. It’s still used by many countries chambered in 7.62mm (Germany, Denmark & others).

The souped-up Mausers had a larger action based around the G98 (in 13.2mm, not 12.7mm), and were not conversions.

These were obsolete & ineffective by WW2, and consequently weren’t used. The Brits had an anti-tank rifle in .55" in WW2 called the Boyes Anti-Tank rifle, and was alledgedly useless against most tanks.

The russkies had some higher calibre stuff which was more effective.

#4

another thing is would a long range gun really useful in war? many times soldiers are confronted in short distance and might not need the long range ability. what do you think? if guns are design for shorter range, they could have leave space for more bullets or better firing rate

#5

That’s the whole assault rifle concept, and has been accepted by most of the world - AK-47, M16, SA-80, FN-FNC, GALIL, AUG, AK-74, FAMAS, HK G36, Stg.44 etc etc etc.

However, the long-range stuff still has a place, as the russkies found out in Afghanistan when they were being picked off at 600yds (out of AK-effective range) by tribesmen armed with SMLEs. This is the reason they use the Dragunov at platoon level, for those occasions when you do need to engage at a longer range. You also need to be able to lay down machinegun barrages at long range. Taking the 7.62mm machine gun (L4 LMG or GPMG) out from the section was a mistake for the British Army, IMHO.

#6

The Germans had a range of shaped charge rifle grenades, which could be launched from a cup attachment for the 98k using special blank cartridges. These had a modest AT capability.

Jan

#7

As Walther said, the Germans used shaped charge rifle grenades that fired from a cup launcher attached on to the end of the Kar98k. I was also intended to be used with the MP44 but not the G43.

What would you like to know?

Basically the MG34/42 of WWII introduced a new concept in machineguns, the General Purpose Machine Gun (the Germans called it the Universal MG). The concept is simple, one weapon for all rolls, in a squad it was a light machine gun used in the attack. On the Lafette tripod it became a heavy machine gun, able to engage targets out to 2000m. The ability to link belts together solved the supply problem and the rapid change barrels meant that a good team could keep the gun firing for a very long period of time.

That said, I have read one comment from a Norwegian SS volenteer that ammo supply was a problem especially for the MG42.

All other armies at the time used a seperate LMG and HMG.

Apples vs Oranges, over all I would prefer the MP44 as it has better range.

Bbut even then, when the MP44 was introduced, studies were done to see if it could replace the light machine gun in the platoon and it was found that even with the increase in firepower from the MP44, LMGs were still necessary.

#8

your 1st point - that’s the problem with the “what’s your favourite Brit/Yank/German” gun threads on here.

Your 2nd point - the MP44 muzzle-climbs like buggery (I know - I’ve fired one full-auto), so is useless at delivering automatic fire above SMG ranges. LMGs are required to deliver accurate automatic fire from mid-ranges, and no rifle-weight arm is capable of this (the BAR without the bipod has this problem too, since it’s really a heavy automatic rifle and not a true LMG)

This guy’s pretty much armed for every eventuality - Panzerfaust, G43 and MP44:

#9

i am really a newbie on machine gun
what is the difference between a semi-auto and a auto machine gun?
what is a recoil?
and what is the most popular type of bullets they used in world war 2?
thanks for helping me out

#10

a machine gun fires a sequence of rounds for a single trigger pull, a semi-automatic fires one round per trigger pull.

Recoil is when the weapon moves back on firing.

Most popular type of bullets? What do you mean by this? If you mean “most common calibre” then I can’t answer cos most countries used different ones, if you mean “most common projectile type” then it’s FMJ (full metal jacket), known in the military as “ball” ammunition (although the projectiles are not shaped like balls).

#11

http://johnnocmdow.tripod.com/unit1.htm

gives you the equipment overview of squads. easy to read.

kid, bascially theres pistols, submachine guns, assault rifle, rifles, lmg, medium mg, heavy mgs.

pistols and submachingunes use the same low power ammo, low range.

assault rifles used medium power ammo, medium range.

rifles boltaction and semiauto use high power ammo, long range.

lmgs, medium mgs, use high power ammo, long range.

heavy mgs use antiaircraft rounds, long range, can destroyed lightly armored vehicles.

every weapon type has its function. except for the fact that assault rifles are better then submachineguns overall.

#12

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 1:22 am Post subject:

i am really a newbie on machine gun
what is the difference between a semi-auto and a auto machine gun?
what is a recoil?
and what is the most popular type of bullets they used in world war 2?
thanks for helping me out

A semi auto means if you pull the trigger once it will fire one round, auto it will continue to fire if you hold the trigger. Recoil is how hard the weapon kicks back when rounds are fired, Most WWII machine guns like today use 7.62mm Rounds or .30Caliber (mostly americans though)

#13

Do you mean 7.62x51, as adopted by NATO?

#14

^^^

Ironfist, please reply to the above post - I need clarification!!!

#15

Sry for the late Reply, and yes i do mean the 7.62mm X 51mm standard NATO round

#16

Interesting. Could you name a machine gun, which fired this cartridge during World War II please? I’d like to know.

#17

Yeah you got me beat, i didn’t mean the NATO rounds, sry for the false info.

#18

It can get confusing round here.

#19

Good. Now that that’s sorted, we should reiterate:

No weapon in World War II was chamber to fire 7.62x51 NATO, which was developed in the 1950s to replicate the .30 M2 ballistics in a slightly smaller package. This was made possible by improvements in powder technology between the 1900s and the 1950s. Thus, .30 M2 (7.62x63) could be shortened to 7.62x51.

In other news, British rifle-calibre machine guns were chambered in .303 (except the BESA, which was 7.92 Mauser and the Browning M1919 which was .30 M2), Russian rifle-calibre machine guns were chambered in 7.62 x 54 R, German machine guns were chambered in 7.92 x 57 Mauser, French machine guns were chambered in 7.5 x 54 and possibly also 8 mm Lebel, Dutch machine guns were in 6.5 Mannlicher, 7.92 x 57 R, and .303, Italian machine guns were in 6.5 Italian and 8 mm Breda… and so on and so forth.