Rifles and Machineguns of WW2

[Douglas Jr.]

Hi,

You are right: the main difference between the MG42 and the new MG3 is the rate of fire. The WWII gun was capable to fire at 1.200 rpm rate.

Douglas.

[Douglas Jr.]

And here is a nice picture of the old and nice MG42 during the lunch break!

Wishes,

Douglas.

[Nonskimmer]

No, the rate of fire is approximately the same between the two. The only significant difference is a slight reduction in calibre for the MG3. The earlier MG34 had a slower max rate of fire of around 750-800 rpm.

[trackend]

A machine gun linked more with WW1 that was used considrably in WW2 was the Old US designed Lewis gun speaking to some body who actually used one in anger he said that apart from a few stoppage problems he found it a pretty good weapon as it only weighed 12 kg it could be fired from the hip. On D-day as a group of LCA's approached the beach a Spandau open fire on the eight landing craft, immediatley all eight boats emptied their pans of ammo at the pill box slit. With a quite reasonably 600 round per minute rate of fire and 97 round magazines fitted nearly 800 bullets peppered the slit in just over 6 seconds The MG42 ceased firing.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

yes it truely is one of the great weapons, along witha personal favourite of mine, the bren gun, smaller magazine but much lighter and a truely great weapon..........

[cheddar cheese]

Great pic Douglas Jr.! I love the MG42.

[trackend]

Originally Posted by the lancaster kicks ass

yes it truely is one of the great weapons, along witha personal favourite of mine, the bren gun, smaller magazine but much lighter and a truely great weapon..........

The Bren was a very good weapon as you say Lanc in my opinion much better than the BAR and very accurate when used in only short few round bursts

[Douglas Jr.]

Originally Posted by the lancaster kicks ass

yes it truely is one of the great weapons, along witha personal favourite of mine, the bren gun, smaller magazine but much lighter and a truely great weapon..........

Oh yeah! The Bren is a very nice weapon and a modern version of it was used even during the Falklands War (1982) - I think it is called L1A1, but I´m not sure. But remember: its design is based on the Czech machine gun ZB26 / ZB 30.

Douglas.

[plan_D]

The Bren Gun was the most accurate LMG of the war. They had to off-set the barrel to stop all the rounds hitting in the same place, the gun would strafe itself.

It was heavier than the BAR but in the cartridge it carried 30 rounds instead of 20. It was also a better support weapon because of a sturdier support.

The Bren was also extremely effective when used from the hip in the jungle.

[BombTaxi]

The Bren used in the Falklands, and allegedly in Desert Storm too was chambered for 7.62mm NATO ammunition and designated L4A1. However, they were used in small numbers as the L7A1 GPMG was the favorite of troops in the field. To this day, the Gimpy is the only belt-fed, sustained-fire weapon to be issued to British infantry.

[plan_D]

I have a picture of my dad on one of them in the Gulf. But I don't have a ****-in' scanner!

[trackend]

Got a mate at work in the TA who used one in Iraq he quite liked the gimpy.

Found these pic of an GPMG and a L4A1
image co modernarms.com

[CharlesBronson]

Finnish antitank rifle Lathi L-39 cal 20mm ( 20x138b, the same of 2cm Flak 30/38 )

[P38 Pilot]

I think the best rifle and best sub-machine gun used in the U.S Army, marines, ect. had to be the M1Garand and Thompson! M1 Garand using the good ol' .30 cal while the Tommy gun use the traditonal .45 cal slug! Whenever i watch a movie like Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, Patton, Sands of Iwo Jima, Windtalkers, etc., i always love to see those guns giving the Germans or Japanese a run for their money!

[trackend]

I think your right about the Tommy gun P38 the British preferred it too The British Sten gun was made as cheap as possible. at the time it was costing 12s6d to produce which is 75p or a little under a $1 in todays money problem was it was unreliable and used a heavy shock activated bolt with a floppy spring and it was possible to fire off a round by banging the butt on the ground.
The Thompson was a much more refined weapon as for the Grand it was undoubtedly a good rifle but let down to a certian degree by a small clip size this reduced its rate of fire considrably due to the constantant requirement to reload I think the M! carbine was a more advanced weapon.