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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
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1moar ago
Love these posts man.
Somewhat off topic, apologies in advance. I need a sub/compact 9. Had a Glock 19, liked it. Looking at budget, single stacks are ok. I can start my own thread too. Starting over from scratch.
clamhurt_legbeard ago
why not get a glock 19
what did you dislike
also what generation was it
1moar ago
Sold in a desperate need of cash. Hate that I had to do it, but $500 doesn't come easy and means the difference between wheels, to do better, and being stuck. It was a gen 4.
I'd like to get a pair, tbh. But that's a ways off.
clamhurt_legbeard ago
glocks are a great balance of reliability and affordability
if you didnt dislike it i suggest looking for a used glock online
lots of police tradeins for 400 or less
dont be afraid of gen 2 or 3 either
1moar ago
Personally, I love glocks. Can handle and strip em, eyes closed...which, a person should be able to with any piece. Anywho...omw to work, ot for this nigga, who knows, I might have enough on my next check for an LCP at least.
clamhurt_legbeard ago
i replaced my stolen glock with a bersa firestorm
no ragrets
1moar ago
Checked my hours for this coming check, and it's buying time next weekend.
Oh yeah.
How's the Bersa?
clamhurt_legbeard ago
i love the bersa
check it
light
accurate
thin with my custom grips
it goes pew pew real good
im carrying that or the j frame
or both
every day
1moar ago
Well shit, I even replied. Ok.
I figured out what I'm getting. Canoe trip coming up, bear country.