Zephyr Net

look at the pile of spent links lol

http://www.defensereview.com/water/M60E4.wmv

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Fighting for justice with brains of steel

Let your anger be like the monkey which hides inside the piniata.

When I was in active service I was invited to a USMC weapons shoot and fired the M-60 in comparison to a German WWII MG-42... While the M-60 was a robust and reliable weapon, it paled when compared to the mighty German machinegun... The rate of fire, the ease of barrel change and the accuracy of the older German weapon was superior...

Only the fragility of the weapon was second rate when compared...

It was a kick to fire them both though... Nothing in the world like rocking and rolling... cept maybe saying hello with a M-61 in a strafing run!

CAG out...

Just what I was thinking CAG, the MG3 is just a slightly modified MG42 (no more wood, weights less, ...). Fires a little more slowly, but still twice as fast as the M60. Got to change barrels after 150 rounds though. (however every gun is equiped with 2 barrels, and it takes less than 3 seconds for a good gunner to change barrels and reload).

M60 was pretty unreliable in mud, however the video is indeed impressive. I haven't been able to test accuracy, the MG3 is superb there, but I would assume that the M249 is better. What I never liked about the M60 is the low rate of fire, its mainly a psychological reason, but a big one. If you've ever heard an MG3 fire you'll know what I mean (and dont try to listen to a video, guns sound very different in real). Those men who stormed the beaches must have been damn brave.

BTW: they say the Kalashnikov had an inventor, the MG42 came from god directly.

Sad but true: On D-Day there were only 5 MG42s which fired. They were credited with more then 5500 confirmed kills.

[edit] spelling mistakes corrected (probably not all of them )

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Yeah well said. If it wasn't for the Germans the AK-47 series, the M60, the RPK, RPG, etc. just wouldn't exist. And yes those MGs on that beach did kill a lot of GIs but we still took the beach . Damn well turned the sea red. My grandfather's brother was in a tank but died the day after DDAY from a German 88 probably or a Panzer. Those Sherman's weren't exactly well suited for combat against your tanks thats for damn sure. We fell victim to Soviet thinking (Quantity over Quality). But then again FDR called Stalin, Uncle Joe soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....

:: sigh :: Good thing for the Germans, many many inventions out of WWII. I'll drink to that!

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Centurian

Ak47 looks very much like the StG44 (for da big that would mean its a copy )but I remember reading an article that proved the AK47 was an independent design

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Well there is no doubt that the Soviets had captured STG-44s since they were only used on the Eastern Front and it most certainly did influence the AK-47 at very minimal. I wouldn't put it past the Soviets to copy the STG-44 for the AK. It'd be one of the smartest copies they ever did.

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Centurian

I read an article by Mikhail Kalashnikov and again saw the same thoughts echoed on a History Channel interview with him... The AK-47 was based on earlier work he did on machine pistols in WWII... Not on the German MP(43?) assault rifle. He said the SKS semi auto rifle that came out post WWII, but prior to the AK-47 was based on the German Rifle, and as such the same cutdown cartridge was used in teh AK-47, thus the ammunition used was the main influence in the weapons feed.

One needs to remember the original production AK-47 had a milled receiver from a solid block of steel and the German assault rifle was a pure stamped steel construction...

They both had different bolt lock mechanisms also...