David LaPell
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The German MG 34. Not quite as fast as the MG 42 but it could still hold its own and with a bi-pod set up very portable.
If you could have only one belt fed machine gun what would it be?
- Thread starter CAJUNLAWYER
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thomasinaz
US Veteran
M60 E3; If it was good enough for Rambo it's good enough for me. Shoots thousands of rounds without a reload or barrel change........ Don't tell me it didn't happen, I saw it in a movie. 
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JcMack
Member
ozo
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calmex
Member
I had an MG-34 for several years, until I moved down here 22 years ago. I prefer it to the MG-42 -- although not by much -- as a household Machinegun (if there is such a thing). It can be fired semi-auto or full-auto depending on which part of the trigger you pull. I liked the sights better for my own use, and it shoots a little slower and doesn't tend to "walk away from you" as much if you don't have the bipod squarely planted. As to that, I noticed that on MG-42's you could just open the bipod and plop the gun down and open up. As long as you pushed forward with your shoulder, no problem. However, on the 34, at least on MY 34, it was best to open the bipod and spin it around 180 degrees before planting her legs and opening up. The 34 bipod could collapse on you on recoil if you didn't reverse it. I never had that problem with the 42's. It was just something I noticed, and may not have applied to all versions, I don't know. I can't remember now, but I seem to recall there was a visual way to tell if the tripod was reversed, and I recall seeing a photo of a German gunner firing an MG-34 out of a window in Stalingrad with the bipod just resting on the windowsill. In my opinion, using my own gun, that would work fine as long as you had that bipod swung around. In it's normal form that allowed you to fold her back and clip her to the barrel prong, she'd collapse on you straight away, which could be embarrassing to say the least.
Firing an MG-34 off a shooting bench. The bipod is spun around so she doesn't collapse on me.
Somewhere around here, I've got lots of photos of it. Mine was made by Maget in 1941, as stamped on the feed cover. I'll have to try to dig them up, right now I just have this one;
Most of my full-auto belt-fed owning friends had an MG-42 so I got to shoot lots of them. While they do really rip, I never found I had better "hit probability" on 18-inch metal plates out to any range one would normally engage at with an MG-42 (with or without tracers) than I did with my MG-34. Also, the MG-34 has a bolt that has to turn and lock before the firing pin can drop, so it always fires from a locked bolt. MG-42's, well at least the early ones, could suffer a "bolt bounce" problem where the locking rollers unlocked if the bolt slammed shut on a cartridge that experienced a hang-fire, allowing the cartridge to fire with the rollers unlocked. MG-3's have a "fix" to prevent this, and Peter Kokalis published a home-remedy for the problem in Soldier of Fortune about 25 years ago and a lot of the MG-42 owners I knew adopted it. Still, I saw a couple MG-42's with welded top-covers that indicated a round going off with the rollers unlocked. I always wore good shooting glasses when I shot MG-42's that were unmodified to prevent the bolt bounce problem if we were using 8 m.m. surplus ammo, which was common back then.
Firing my 34 on the Shilo range. That's a real, minty, fully-operable MP-44 laying on the ground beside me. Wasn't mine though.
Ejection on my 34 was rather violent. If a case hit the bipod legs, it would dent it in. You wouldn't want your support hand to be anywhere near the ejection port.
Both the MG-42 and 34 weigh about the same. Both can be shot standing up, although you have to be really careful about burning the bejesus out of your support hand. You can change the barrel rather more quickly on the 42 than you can on the 34, although you can do a good 34 barrel change if you can manage not to burn yourself. The barrels do NOT burn out as quickly as some movies seem to indicate they do. You can shoot quite a lot until you have a problem unless you really lay on that trigger and zip through belt after belt.
A friend fires an MG-42 standing up. This guy is a rock. I had to really lean into it. He just stood there. You have to be careful not to burn your support hand on the hot barrel doing this.
In the best timing-tests we could run, my gun seemed to be around 1050 rpm. If you Break-Freed up the bolt and raceway, she'd do 1,100. A friend's MG-34 was about the same. Others I knew of were a bit slower, around 950 rpm or so. My Dad told us once that a fast MG-34 was hard to tell from an MG-42...until you heard an MG-42 fire alongside it. Then you could tell which was which.
An MG-42 or 34 barrel does not burn out after a few ripping bursts. They hold up better than that.
I used to shoot mine a lot on a military range where nobody bothered me. The range had 18-inch metal plates along the butts that could be adjusted like Pepper Poppers to fall when hit. The shooter could walk back to 100, 200 and so on right out to 600 yards to shoot from small embankments all along the range. I used to like to mow down the 6 or so Metal targets they left out there from 200 or 300 yards back. It really was a lot of fun, and used up enough ammo to keep me poor back in the days when we could buy lots of 8 m.m. from Sarco or places like that and get it into Canada without sounding endless alarms.
One night, sitting with my Dad, we got talking about the MG-34 and the fun I was having with it. I had been shooting it quite a bit that summer and was really getting the hang of using it. My Dad had landed at Normandy on June 6th in one of the first waves to get to Juno Beach. He had used a Bren Gun through the European campaign. He liked the Bren gun, and always referred to the MG-34/42 guns as "those fast-firing German machineguns".
"You know," I told him, "if I had been a German machinegunner on one of those beaches, nobody would have gotten off of any landing craft that landed in front of me." Dad looked at me for a few seconds.
Then he said, rather sternly; "Son, a lot of people didn't get off those landing crafts. Do you think those German machinegunners were any less capable than you? They were very, very good with those guns. Don't kid yourself, that was a dangerous place to be. Lots of us got off those landing craft because we were lucky enough to land in just the right place. Not because the German gunners couldn't do their jobs. Don't you ever forget that." I never have forgotten that little talking to. I guess I shouldn't have gotten so uppity.
The beautiful lines of the MG-34 show up well in this photo.
Mounted on their corresponding tripods, either the 34 or 42 can be set to fire overtop of cover, while the gunner lays down and observes through a periscope. Those sneaky Germans.
I did not have a tripod for our 34, but I did have some of the 50-round drum magazines. I usually just shot four or five of the 50-round linked belts linked together into a long belt out of an ammo box and mowed down the metal plates. It was a fun -- and kind of expensive -- pastime. Canadian NATO style .30 caliber ammo boxes held 200 rounds linked. The original German cans held 250 rounds. I think that the Germans still use pretty much the same style, but although the West German Army was always "right there" while I was hanging around Shilo, I could never snarf myself one of their ammo boxes. My renowned mooching skills let me down on that one item I'm afraid.
If I could have any belt-fed M.G., I'd have an MG-34 hands down. Second choice would be a 42, but I'd really prefer a 34. I just loved that gun. It is my favorite machinegun.
An MG-42 and a Browning side-by-side at one of our old M.G. blast-aways.
But a close runner-up is the MG-42. There were a lot more MG-42's around in the "collector group" than there were 34's. I saw one MG-34 converted to 7.62 Nato, but it didn't work all that well. It shot really slow, about 800 rpm. The recoil-booster thingy at the end of the barrel that is supposed to rocket the barrel back to actuate the action has a .32 caliber hole in it, after all. You lost a lot of power as the gas slipped out along with the bullet through that larger hole and I don't think the guy that did the conversion ever found a correct .30 caliber part for the 34. The West German Army, which at that time used the tank range at Shilo, had lots of them that would fit the 42, but none for the older model.
Blasting out across the ranges with a 42 was just about as much fun as using a 34. I just liked the 34 better, probably because it was what I owned, but still to this day it's my preference. I'd take a 42 in a heartbeat though.
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JOERM
Member
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Another fine choice indeed. The gun that had a plane
designed around it. Love those Warthogs.
Chuck
DWFAN
US Veteran
If you're trying to scrounge West German ammo boxes for a 34 or 42, examine them carefully: the ones for the current machine guns in 308 are narrower than the older ones for 7.92, since the 308 is a shorter round. The design is the same and they look VERY similiar..
oldRoger
US Veteran
M51
M45/M51---Quadmount fifties---4 M2s in a quad mount on an M17 trailer.
I loved it when they opened up on a hillside in Korea.
M45/M51---Quadmount fifties---4 M2s in a quad mount on an M17 trailer.
I loved it when they opened up on a hillside in Korea.
COL Jagdog
Member
Japanese Type 99 -- because it is fitted for a bayonet and once it jammed, you could gloriously make a last charge..............
An RPK -- fired several in Iraq, very easy to shoot and operate and virtually jam-free
Breda Mod 37 -- reliable and accurate and excellent 8x59 mm Breda cartridge
An RPK -- fired several in Iraq, very easy to shoot and operate and virtually jam-free
Breda Mod 37 -- reliable and accurate and excellent 8x59 mm Breda cartridge
Skeptic 9c
Member
Hey, waddaminit! That Duster wuz CLIP fed!
Geoff
Who is a stickler for details.
Geoff
Who is a stickler for details.
Wow, Calmex, those are such nice toys!
I will be the practical one here. I once saw a picture of a 1917 water cooled Browning, that was in .22 LR, and used for training. How cool would that be.
I will be the practical one here. I once saw a picture of a 1917 water cooled Browning, that was in .22 LR, and used for training. How cool would that be.
Sign me up for a M60. Light enough to get up to the roof, heavy enough to knock down the Zombies.
Whats not to like when the Navy is buying the ammo?
Whats not to like when the Navy is buying the ammo?
Like others, I've owned and operated many belt fed MG's from the Marlin Potato Digger to the M134G Minigun. My favorites are the 1919A4, M2 .50 cal, M60, 240B, and PKM - all for different reasons - ease of operation, volume of fire, range, accuracy, reliability, spare parts, etc. I like 'em all, but have been focused on the MG34 for some time. I like the way they are built.
BUT if I had to pick just one beltfed it would have to be the 1919A4 because it is easy to operate and service. No, wait, the M60E4 because it's versatile. No, wait, the PKM because it will work in extreme conditions. Wait, the 240B because it's stout. Hard to choose....
BUT if I had to pick just one beltfed it would have to be the 1919A4 because it is easy to operate and service. No, wait, the M60E4 because it's versatile. No, wait, the PKM because it will work in extreme conditions. Wait, the 240B because it's stout. Hard to choose....
Attachments
Somethings NEVER change.. That's EXACTLY what my Dad used to say.. He carried a B.A.R... during WWII..
Remember, you asked......
GAU-8 Avenger
I want one of these for two reasons:
1. I want to use the words "depleted uranium" in a sentence as much as possible.
2. Because it comes with one of these...
Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II
And that, as far as I'm concerned, oozes cool. It totally changes a Sunday afternoon and the range!
God bless all of our service men and women.
GAU-8 Avenger
I want one of these for two reasons:
1. I want to use the words "depleted uranium" in a sentence as much as possible.
2. Because it comes with one of these...
Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II
And that, as far as I'm concerned, oozes cool. It totally changes a Sunday afternoon and the range!
God bless all of our service men and women.
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