Picture of the day

Zdragunov said:
I am not sure which one would freak me out more, go against an M2 50cal, or MG42. Just wondering. Which one is quicker to reload and the M2 had changeable barrels?
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M2 had a changable barrel, but it was not a fast process, you undid the hot barrel, screwed in the fresh one and then set the headspace and began firing.
that said, you could simply push a new belt in the side of the feed area and #### it twice and fire to reload, the mg42 had to open the top cover and position your belt, then close and #### before firing
 
You can change-out a hot barrel in an MG-42 in THREE SECONDS. I have done it in 4 myself. You don't even have to unload the gun: hit the catch and cant the gun to the right, drop out the hot barrel, toss in a cool one and slap the catch shut, pull the trigger.

Ammo for the MG-42 was packed in 250-round boxes: 5 connected belts of 50 rounds each with a STARTER TAB. You can just insert the Starter Tab into the gun, pull it through until it stops solid, snap back the cocking-handle and pull the trigger.

RRRRRRRIPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!

Twenty-two to 25 shots a second out of a gun with a perfect straight-line action: I am NOT going to mess with it.

Many years ago, I worked with a guy who made it to Oberscharfuhrer in the Waffen-SS. When they were short of Panzers (a lot of the time) he did a lot of walking: Russia is a very damned BIG country. The first time he ever saw an MG-42, it was one which had been brought up to the outfit by a new replacement. They had been using strictly MG-34s and other guns (such as Czech Brens and so forth) with normal rates of fire. NO-one had seen a 42 in action. They were at a road, with the SS on one side and the Russians on the other side, the road embankment the only thing between them and they were close enough that they could hear the Russian officer talking. The "plan" was simple: go straight up over the road and take the Germans with the bayonet.

When the Russian officer gave the command to "Go!", the new replacement guy with the funny gun threw the gun up over his head, landing it on the bipod on the road embankment above him....... and let off most of a belt in a single pull of the trigger.

Next thing they heard was, "Tovarishch! Kamerad! Tovarishch!" and an awful clatter as the whole Russian Company dropped their weapons and came over the road slowly, hands in the air.

Nobody got killed that day...... on either side.

Old Ludwig liked it like that.
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Lots of War Amps on our side who got caught by 42s, too. The things fired so fast that it wasn't hard at all to catch half a dozen in your legs from a single burst. After that, all the medics had time to do was chop the leg off.

Lots of fun to fire, but I wouldn't want to stand in front of one.
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smellie said:
Ammo for the MG-42 was packed in 250-round boxes: 5 connected belts of 50 rounds each with a STARTER TAB. You can just insert the Starter Tab into the gun, pull it through until it stops solid, snap back the cocking-handle and pull the trigger.

RRRRRRRIPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!
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this is new to me, i have seen a few period training photos of them being loaded with the top cover open, so i figured that was how it was done.
i wonder if this was common knowledge amongst the troops or not
 
If you're interested, here's a little bit of what it was like to have to try and advance facing MG42's, and the guy C2Builder has other cool LMG videos including barrel swapping in a MG42. Enjoy,.......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N59msUnyy1g
 
macm31franceww2.jpg
 
In other words the MG42/G3 is a better gun than the FN MAG we finally adopted about 40 years after the end of WWII?

But on other hand several generations of chairborne types probably spent their careers in NDHQ "studying" what our next MG should be, while the troops wore out those M1919 Brownings. You could say the money saved by wearing out those old war-surplus MGs first helped to pay the salaries and pensions of the officers who spent their careers "studying" which one to buy instead, someday. Who says there's no logic to our system!?:rolleyes:
 
1898guns said:
macm31franceww2.jpg
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No wonder he's smiling: he's in Paris, not Russia. He didn't have to dig that foxhole, just pull off the manhole cover, and the cafes and les filles are as close as they could be.:D I think there are some pretty good cafes on the Rue de la Paix too. Not to mention a little irony!

And the Belgian(?) BAR is not that heavy either.
 
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Hmmmmm...........

Luftwaffe troopies with a Krag?!?

Channel coast? North Sea coast? Airfield guards?

Good photo to demonstrate just how tight for weapons Fritz really was. He was hard-put just to keep the weapons actually at the Front all the same calibre of ammo. In the rear areas, anything that would go "Bang!" was used, including Mannlichers, Lee-Enfields..... and Krags.

I want that rifle!

Letter to write..... "Dear Uncle Herrmann, I saw this great photo and I was wondering if it might be possible........."
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Zdragunov said:
I don't think I would like to be in that hole. No cover at all when your head is sticking up firing. You can get picked off from any angle.
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Show me any hole that you can't get shot in when your head is sticking up while firing the weapon. That hole will work just as well as any that isn't constructed like a bunker.

The only way a hole becomes effective is when you're laying down in it anyway. Any exposure at any time is to be considered a dangerous activity in a hot zone.
 
scott585 said:
M2 had a changable barrel, but it was not a fast process, you undid the hot barrel, screwed in the fresh one and then set the headspace and began firing.
that said, you could simply push a new belt in the side of the feed area and #### it twice and fire to reload, the mg42 had to open the top cover and position your belt, then close and #### before firing
Click to expand...

Wrong. The MG34 AND MG42 can be loaded with the feed cover closed. The starter tab feeds through accross the feed tray and you finish pulling it out the other side. Helps align the feed prawls too to boot. After first burst the starter tab falls off the rest of the 50 round belt and can be used to pull the hot barrel out of the barrel jacket as well. Plus you can then atach the starter tab to any other belt that is missing one.
 
RRCo. said:
No wonder he's smiling: he's in Paris, not Russia. He didn't have to dig that foxhole, just pull off the manhole cover, and the cafes and les filles are as close as they could be.:D I think there are some pretty good cafes on the Rue de la Paix too. Not to mention a little irony!

And the Belgian(?) BAR is not that heavy either.
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With a decent run at him I'll bet I can punt das brainbucket through the uprights:rolleyes:.
 
RememberTheSomme said:
If you're interested, here's a little bit of what it was like to have to try and advance facing MG42's, and the guy C2Builder has other cool LMG videos including barrel swapping in a MG42. Enjoy,.......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N59msUnyy1g
Click to expand...

I've seen this video before.

The only thing missing to really drive home the point is another 1-7 '42's, about 70 infantry (shooting anything else that will go bang), mortar, perhaps some heavy coastal artillery, a few SP gun's and perhaps a 20mm anti-aircraft gun or two shooting in the ground role.

Now we're starting to get a better picture of what our grandfathers and fathers witnessed in France, Begium and Holland.

Oh, in the case of the Scheldt campaign, enough mud and water to rival the Somme.

RRCo. said:
In other words the MG42/G3 is a better gun than the FN MAG we finally adopted about 40 years after the end of WWII?

But on other hand several generations of chairborne types probably spent their careers in NDHQ "studying" what our next MG should be, while the troops wore out those M1919 Brownings. You could say the money saved by wearing out those old war-surplus MGs first helped to pay the salaries and pensions of the officers who spent their careers "studying" which one to buy instead, someday. Who says there's no logic to our system!?:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Evidently you've never heard of the MG-3. Same basic design of the MG-42, but modernized a little and with a caliber change.
 
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