You love them. We love them. Machine guns and automatic weapons are a marvel of engineering and an incredible feat of human kind. And let’s face it, they are the most fun to shoot. They revolutionized how war was done starting back in World War 1. But we need some background before talking about machine guns and rifles.
M2 Browning .50 Cal machine gun
Below are some categories that are important to know about guns. Every gun falls into one of these broad categories regarding how they fire:
Manual - When the trigger is pulled, only one round is fired. The shooter needs to do an action for another round to be chambered.
Semi-automatic - When the trigger is pulled, only one round is fired. The next round is automatically fed into the chamber to and ready to be shot again.
Automatic - When the trigger is pulled, the gun keeps firing rounds until the trigger is released. The next round is automatically fed into the chamber to and ready to be shot again continuously as the trigger is being held down.
Burst - When the trigger is pulled, more than one round is fired, usually two or three. After one trigger pull, the next round is automatically fed into the chamber and shot the amount of times predetermined (again two or three).
Machine Gun Types
Machine guns are automatic weapons that are capable of sustaining fire. Machine guns typically use higher caliber rounds, but not all do. Machine guns are a favorite amongst major militaries across the world because of their incredible firepower and destructive capabilities. Machine guns are divided into a few categories:
Light Machine Gun (LMG) - An obviously light-weight machine gun designed to be infantry support. LMGs are light enough to be operated by a single person.
M249E3 (5.56×45mm NATO)
Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) - Of course, this is the heaviest machine gun that is designed for high caliber cartridges and way too heavy to be carried around by one person. HMGs are typically mounted to vehicles or a defensive spot where it does not need to be moved often.
M2 Browning (.50 Cal)
Medium (General Purpose) Machine Gun - These were created as a compromise between HMGs and LMGs. General purpose machine guns are portable and light enough to be able to be carried by a single person, but typically need at least one other person to fire optimally and manage recoil.
MG42 (7.92×57mm Mauser)
Submachine Gun - The submachine gun is a smaller automatic carbine that is designed to fire pistol rounds. Submachine guns are very different from the other kinds of machine guns because they are extremely light weight, and use smaller calibers. Submachine guns are less popular as military weapons and more commonly found in law enforcement.
HK MP5K (9mm)
There are also machine pistols. Although not considered a submachine guns, they are capable of shooting automatic fire using pistol rounds. Technically not the same but very similar. This is a common pattern amongst gun classification. Automatic rifles are like this as well.
Automatic Rifles
But what about the classic M16? It is an automatic rifle but not considered a machine gun. So what is the difference?
Inside of an M16
The definition we used for a machine gun was deliberate:
Automatic weapons that are capable of sustaining fire.
The reason automatic rifles are not considered machine guns is because they cannot “sustain fire” like machine guns can. A machine gun usually has a belt feeding it cartridges because it is designed to continuously fire over longer periods of time without stopping. Most automatic rifles are magazine fed because rifles would overheat from firing nonstop like a machine gun does.
We will discuss more about all different types of rifles in the next part.
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