baabbabababababababababababababa
bababababa
babababababababababbababababababa
holy shit
it must be machinegun time
today were gonna look at the gun that invented the modern machinegun
this is the mg34
it is the first universal machinegun
also called a general purpose machinegun
everybody and his brother uses these now
but it was not always that way
let us travel back
so the machinegun basically first showed up around 1900
it was one of the big technological leaps that completely changed warfare along with trucks and airplanes
at the start of wwi the generals had to figure all this new stuff out
the machinegun fired rifle rounds like regular infantry
except instead of cocking and firing every round for five shots
then stopping and reloading
it just keeps going automatically until you let go of the trigger
and it holds a bunch of rounds
and fires so fast it would basically saturate an area with so many bullets its suicidal to run through it
this makes it possible for a couple guys to set up a position and deny a big area to a whole squad of guys
so naturally everybody got in on this
and they tried a lot of different things
we got light machineguns to carry around
heavy machineguns on bigass tripods
plus stuff to put in tanks or shoot at airplanes or put in airplanes
it was pretty cool but also pretty complicated
so after wwi people were like dang
can we simplify that
can we make like
one gun for everything
for like general purpose
a universal machinegun
the german government was interested in this too
they werent supposed to be inventing machineguns because of the versailles treaty
but the government started secretly designing them anyway
oops lol
so one reason heavy machineguns were so heavy was they had a big tank of water around the barrel
the whole front half of the gun is just a tank you literally fill with water like your car radiator
add a tripod and the thing weighs like 80 or 90lbs
but you gotta to keep that barrel cool
if you dont keep the barrel cool it overheats in just a couple hundred rounds and is ruined forever
well the germans came up with a cool trick to ditch the water
a quick change barrel
this is huge because you can put a cold barrel in and your problem is instantly solved
and if its quick enough the enemy wont even have a chance to realize the gun is disabled before youre already shooting again
the mg34 has a system where the receiver rotates off to the side
push a tab
rotate the receiver off to the right
and the barrel drops out the back
a trained crew can swap a barrel in 6 sec
like daaaaaang
with this system you can totally ditch the water cooling jacket and save like 10lbs
now the mg34 is belt fed
machineguns often did this because you get an uninterrupted stream of fire for as long as you make the belt
the germans made 50rd belts and you could hook them together
so you could have 500rds in a row if you wanted
lol good thing we got a quick change barrel
but then they even did better than that
belts have a downside of being all floppy and making it hard to run to a new position
so the mg34 has a magazine
nice and compact so you can run with it
except psyche its still just a belt in a box
this is awesome because while its nice and compact
you dont have to worry about designing an intricate magazine
you just roll up a belt and plop her in
magazines are usually the hardest part of a gun to make work right so this lets you have the best of both belt and magazine
so now we have a gun that is light and mobile
whats next
well if we want to take down aircraft we need a lot of lead very quickly
because planes are friggin fast
or so i hear
so they gave it a firing rate of like 900rpm
thats like twice other machineguns
its so fast they called it hitlers buzzsaw
hardcore
they also gave it an awesome tripod
ok i know
really fuckin complicated
but look
you can dial this shit exactly for elevation and windage
it has a dang shock absorber to prevent the gun from jumping around
its so accurate it can be a sniper rifle
you can shoot at aircraft or ground targets
it even has a mechanism that moves the barrel around in a pattern to cover a wide area for you automatically
its pretty legit is what im saying
so now we have light and heavy machinegun and antiaircraft
but wait theres more
take the buttstock off and mount it inside your tank
and if your tank gets disabled you can very quickly detach it and turn it back into an infantry light machinegun because the other parts are in a box at the ready
heck yeah
and the swinging quick change made this super easy for tank crews in cramped vehicles
that advantage kept the mg34 in service for years even after newer designs came around
so dang guys we got a gun that does it all
we have a general purpose machinegun
this is excellent
the first prototypes came out in 1929 and it was adopted in 1934
there were so many parts from so many different companies the government had to do a ton of arbitration splitting up royalties lol
pretty unprecedented
the germans kept this super secret before the war because this was cutting edge
of course everybody got a chance to see it eventually ehhhhh lol
it was so well executed the concept got adopted by everybody afterwards
another modern weapons system invented by the nazis
interesting stuff
ok now lets see how this thing works
so first off its short recoil operated
the barrel kachunks back and locks the bolt back
then the barrel goes forward and the bolt stays open and ready to fire
the barrel has a booster to use some of the gas to help push the barrel back even more
it also has an interesting trigger
pull the top part with the e and its one shot semi auto
bottom with the d is automatic
no switch to mess with or anything
as for field stripping it
charge the charging handle back
friggin safety hazard if you dont
then lift the top cover and remove it
if you lift the top cover without locking the bolt back its gonna slam forward and explode a round in your face
pull out the feed tray
press in a latch at the rear to remove the buttstock and rear receiver tube cover
note there is a separate latch that will remove the buttstock by itself for use in a tank
pretty nifty
then pull the bolt out the back
overall this gun has a bunch of awesome features
but obviously awesomeness has its price
the metals needed had special exotic elements and it was a bit complicated to fabricate
and this only became worse when everybody got mad at germany for no reason
so instead of making more of them the germans took the concept and designed a new gun using lots of stampings
they called it the mg42
it operates pretty differently and is simplified
so not really a derivative
but it further evolved the concept
in fact the german military basically uses a recalibered mg42 to this day
other people made gpmgs too
the us adopted the m60 and the m240
the soviets the pk
this concept friggin works
if you want to buy one today
well theyre machineguns so theyre friggin expensive
like car money
but you can do it if you really want
and who wouldnt want to blow through hundreds of dollars worth of ammo in 30 seconds
lol
pew pew
#click here for previous articles
view the rest of the comments →
Epictetus_Hierapolis ago
I have an mg42, and half of the kubel it will be mounted on. https://files.catbox.moe/29mxy4.jpg
clamhurt_legbeard ago
no
fucking
waaaaaay
thats fucking awesome
ok so this is an excellent opportunity
what are your thoughts on comparing the mg42 and the 240
Epictetus_Hierapolis ago
Clearing the feed tray, loading, and remediation feed failures is virtually identical. Operating the weapon does not feel the same at all though due to the different rates of fire and weight distribution. One thing I really noticed was the constant failures of the 240s, almost always eating a link. The comments were always 'because Marines, we get old broken shit', but I rarely had failures on the 34s and 42s that I ran belts of blanks through and they were 70 years old.
clamhurt_legbeard ago
ive heard of many complaints from the second generation of guys using m60s
the m60 is very lightly constructed and wears
if you get a worn one it gives a bunch of headaches
meanwhile the seals prefer the m60 over the 240 because they can afford to maintain it so much better
i wonder if the 240s were getting worn out
assuming an excellent condition example of each
which was better with fire rate and weigt distribution in your experience
Epictetus_Hierapolis ago
Really depends. Obviously I'm using the 42 in a quasi tactical situation, and it really looses all suppressive ability when you factor in the blanks and the fact that fat American reenactors are impervious to anything us SS throw at them. Another limiting factor is that I am not dealing with a huge amount of recoil with the 34 or 42, and blanks weigh a lot less.
In ideal situations, for their respective time periods, all other factors theoretically equal, I would take the 240. Not because it is a better gun, but strictly due to logistics.
The 42 is a cleaner weapon, is easier and more manageable to carry, has less upward stray, a much higher volume of fire, and is scary as hell to be downrange of (I've pulled pits downrange of one, they are fucking terrifying. A 240 or 249 is like a hornets nest of buzzing and snapping, the 42 is indescribable in ferocity). The drawback, and I see it as a major drawback, is the limitations in the amount of ammo a fire team can carry in comparison to the rate of fire. That may entirely be doctrine based, as I've always reenacted with other vets of Iraq and Afghanistan, so it is entirely possible that our employment of the 42 is completely out of practice with how the heer or SS would have used it. While we do try to conduct squad operations in a historical manner, there are implicit biases due to our years of knowing we had quick resupply. Comparably at least.
We can keep 2000 rds of ammo spread out between the squad, panzer, and half track, but even in the very limited scale of a reenactment we burn through on hand ammo within seconds. It's fairly difficult to get a tracked vehicle to stop and let you get supplies without a squad radio.
This leaves the 42 limited to short bursts of high intensity fire and maneuver. Once riflemen are withing effective range, it is usually up to them to engage and destroy. With the 240, you can pump rounds downrange and still have some to spare for consolidation and security within the same amount of time.
None of that, however, can hide the massive boner you get firing a 34 or 42 at a group of American reenactors.
clamhurt_legbeard ago
hoooly fuck lol
i bet thats quite an experience
a very amusing comparison of the practical advantages of modern technology
hahaha
excellent
big thanks for sharing your detailed experiences
this is great
Epictetus_Hierapolis ago
When you finally get around to the scar(because it had better be a gun clammy likes), give me a heads up so I can clean off all the white paint pen writing on it.
clamhurt_legbeard ago
fuck yes
i havent forgotten
now that i did the ar i need to do the attempted improvements
you promised pictures and video heh heh