I’d go with the MG-42… It’s still considered one of the best Machine Guns till this day.
You are on drugs, aren’t you ?[/quote]
Ok, I’m getting visuals.
The Trench magazine on my gun is about the same as a BAR’s magazine. It hold 20 shots of about the same calibre (don’t get pissed at me, 7.92 and 30-06 are about the same). The only difference is that my magazine is curved a little bit.
Me laying on the ground with the magazine touching the floor.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/DerMann3/100_3612.jpg
Me laying on the ground with the gun sideways.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/DerMann3/100_3613.jpg
(I adjusted the brightness and contrast on them to make them easier to see them)
Wow Dermann Just Owned you Cuts. :lol:
DerMann, I think Cuts is assuming you intend to shoot from that position. Certainly that is the assumption I got from reading your post.
Me laying on the ground with the gun sideways.
AAAH! Scary image of man with sideburns that flashman would be proud of!
But seriously, there’s no way you could hope to be effective firing with the weapon titlted sideways. For starters you can’t aim properly and also the bolt mechanism is at a funny angle. Good weapon though fella, is it still working?
Well what I meant is that If you absolutely needed to get down, you could turn the gun sideways. I didn’t intend that you could still shoot it. I think I might have been a bit vauge on what I meant. My apologies, next time I’ll try to be a little more specific
And my Mauser still works.
If you’re who I think you are you should know better than to troll mate ! 
Well if I was who thought I was and I knew what you meant by “troll” then …I still don’t know what I would do.
No worries, apologies accepted.
Your earlier post did seem to indicate that the wpn would be fired from the ‘Hollywood gangster’ psn, which as we all know is about as much use as tits on a fish.
I’ve never carried a BREN as a job, only for range work, however I have carried the L4 which is for these purposes the same.
It is a supremely useful piece of kit which doesn’t have a belt slapping around during fire & movement. Further, if we’re looking for a mag fed wpn the best place to locate it is on the top, reasons including, but not limited to moving through the bush, gravity assisted feed and profile/capacity.
The BAR, (which I like on the range,) is not as well balanced and has less rds available in the mag. I’ve just missed out on buying one but hopefully this will be remedied in due course.
Another humongous advantage of the Bren over the BAR (aside from it actually being a PROPER LMG), is that the top-mounted magazine gives you a super-slick mag change, one that only has to be done every 30 rounds.
A Bren gun team was a pair: the number 1 who fired the gun and the number 2 who loaded it. When the magazine was exhausted, the number 1 would remove it with his left hand iirc and place it under the gun. As he’s doing this, the number 2 slaps a new one on and retrieves the empty. Since the bolt remains to the rear when the magazine is exhausted, all the number 1 has to do now is pull the trigger. Firing is essentially uninterrupted.
Do that with a BAR!
Edit: it’s a humongous advantage
My recollection of firing/using the bren/L4 is vague, did it have last round hold open? As generally the drill is not to put a mag on a gun with the working part to the rear. And I seem to remember removing the mag with the right hand as the No 2 is on the left and the gun would stay in the shoulder if the left hand remained on the gun.
The .303 Bren certainly did have a last round hold open. There’s a GBFO lug on the back of the magazine follower which prevents the bolt going forward when the magazine is exhausted.
I’ll take a BAR due to the fact the high rate of fire is not a plus with 500 rounds only. Forget the ridiculousness of belt fed or drum as a truly mobile squad fire supression weapon too. And top fed mags that can interfere with you view are out for me too. Everything beside the BAR are too cumbersome given any scenario with 500 rounds in 1944 western Europe combat. The BAR would be best for what we used to call shoot 'n scoot tactics.
Have you fired a BREN or L4 ? Come to that an F1, Owen, or Madsen ?
They don’t obscure vision to any noticeable extent, certainly not as much as the current CQB optics.
Are you a vet ? There are a number of serving soldiers that read this site too, where did you serve ?
Has anyone here actually tried to carry one of the mentioned MGs and 500 rounds of ammunition?
Good luck!
a mg42 with 500 rounds of ammo, or 1 and 2/3s of an ammo box weighs around 26+16+10= 52 pounds
also, magazines tend to double the weight of the ammo.
Yes but that weight would be split between the gunner, the no2 and possibly the rest of the section.
Someone once asked me what the weight of 250 rounds 8mm mauser actually was.
In linked belts, including the 2 cans it’s just shy of 9.5kg a can. Each can holds 250rounds only so thats a 12kg machinegun and 19kg of ammo for a nice total of 31kg…
Try lugging that around in combat situations along with the rest of your battle kit.
Edited to add pretty picture of Kar98k and 250 rounds of 8mm mauser:
well, actually, the cans could carry 300 rounds.
ammo allocation:
gunner- mg42 with loaded drum for quick firing. I’ve seen many photos with the gunner carrying the mg42 and one can though.
assistant- pistol, two cans, 2 spare barrels
all other riflemen (except for rifle grenadier and scoped rifleman) in the gruppe- one can.
Belt box, right ?