The Five Best US Machine Guns Ever Produced: The United States military has produced some incredible machine guns throughout history, but worldwide, the machine gun has changed warfare forever.
Soldiers had always marched in lines and rows; those tactics were still used in the US Civil War. But the Gatling gun began a revolution that revolutionized warfare.
The US was at the forefront, and brilliant gunmakers did the rest. Hiram Maxim from Maine produced the first actual automatic machine gun. The basic design concepts are still the basis of modern machine guns—the recoil of a round being fired ejects the spent casing and loads the next one.
5 Best U.S. Machine Guns
It was portable, water-cooled, and belt-fed, which allowed it to be positioned with infantry and provide sustained automatic fire, unlike any other weapon before it. It made infantry tactics involving formations of men in open fields completely obsolete and changed cavalry tactics as well.
Here are the five best machine guns ever fielded by the US military.
M2 Browning .50 Caliber Heavy Machine Gun:
The “Ma Deuce,” as it is affectionately known, is the longest-serving machine gun in the world. It was born in the trenches of World War I. The German Army would tether its hydrogen-filled balloons well out of range of rifle and machine gun fire, giving the Germans clear observation of the American lines.
John M. Browning, arguably the best weapons designer ever, produced the M2 HB (heavy barrel), which was fitted with Winchester’s .50 caliber BMG ammunition. In the last 100+ years, the US military has tried …and failed to find a better heavy machine gun.
The Ma Deuce has been fitted on jeeps, tanks, armored personnel carriers, the decks of naval warships, and an untold number of aircraft. In the skies over Europe during World War II, US B-17 bombers each carried at least 10 AN/M2 machine guns. During the “Thousand Plane Raid” over Berlin, 10,000 machine guns protected our bombers.
The fact that it is still widely used today among many of our allies speaks volumes about the quality of the design.
Browning M1917 .30 Caliber Machine Gun:
John M. Browning designed another iconic machine gun, a solid design to give the US military a US-produced machine gun after it entered World War I. It was heavy, requiring a four-man crew. But it could fire up to 600 rounds per minute and was highly reliable. In one test, it fired 20,000 rounds without a single malfunction.
The M1917 was a water-cooled weapon that could keep firing if the water jacket remained intact. The weapon was slightly modified as the M1917A1, which stayed on the books of the US military and was used in World War II, Korea, and even Vietnam. John Basilone of the USMC was awarded the Medal of Honor after using his M1917A1 against superior numbers of Japanese infantry, charging his position on Guadalcanal.
Notable writer and military historian Bruce N. Canfield wrote about the machine gun: “The .30-cal. water-cooled Browning was heavy and cumbersome …”
“When mounted on its sturdy tripod in a defensive position, though, it was a rock-solid arm with tremendous firepower and amazing reliability. It has been called the best machine gun of all time … Like the old saying goes, ‘it doesn’t take long to call the roll.’”
M1919 Browning .30 Caliber Machine Gun:
The M1919 Browning was a .30 caliber medium machine gun widely used during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The US and many other countries used it as a light infantry, coaxial, mounted, aircraft, and anti-aircraft machine gun.
The M1919 was an air-cooled development of the standard US machine gun of World War I; the John M. Browning-designed water-cooled M1917. The M1919 modernized the M1917 and replaced the famed water jacket with an air-cooled barrel.
Initially, the Army wanted something easier to use on tanks. Still, the platforms soon grew into a family of weapons, eventually making the M1919 one of the longest-serving machine guns in US history. They were simple, reliable, and just wouldn’t quit.
Browning Automatic Rifle:
Are we noticing a pattern here? The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) was another feather in the cap of John M. Browning, whose brilliance showed through once again. The Browning Automatic Rifle was beloved by the infantry troops. It fired .30-06 rounds at nearly 2,700 ft. per second and could spit those rounds at up to 550 rounds per minute.
It gave each infantry squad an automatic weapon to support it, greatly increasing its firepower. It could fire 350 or 500 rounds per minute. The only drawback, however, was that it only had a 20-round box magazine.
The BAR, and all its variants over its more than sixty years of employment by the United States Army, Marine Corps, and National Guard, was an “open bolt” weapon. Since it was air-cooled and generated great heat in fully automatic fire, it had to be an open bolt weapon to prevent “cook-offs.”
The BAR served well into the Vietnam era and was a workhorse right to the end.
The M134 Minigun:
The M134 Minigun is a six-barreled, electrically powered rotary machine gun that fires 7.62x51mm NATO rounds. It is known for its high rate of fire, typically 2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute. Initially designed for helicopters during the Vietnam War, it has since evolved into a multipurpose weapon.
The minigun features a magazine of up to 4,000 rounds but can tear through those at 50 rounds per second. It fires from six barrels like a Gatling Gun but rotates not through a hand crank or gases like ordinary machine guns but through a 24-volt battery or vehicle power. The guns fitted to the AC-47 were the first “Spooky” gunships, but the Air Force knew them as the GAU-2/A.
Because it operates electrically, it is virtually recoilless, making it much more accurate. Despite the enormous rate of fire, each barrel fires about only 500 rounds per minute. It is an exceptional weapon.
About the Author:
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications
