Location of machine guns

[jay dubaya]

Thanks for that Jack, I'll look in to it.

Anyone have any experience of using a hand cranked MG belt filling tool?

cheers, Jon

[Andrew Upton]

Anyone have any experience of using a hand cranked MG belt filling tool?

Briefly - rather more experience just of the hand variety!

[bmg17a1]

Purely from the perspective of a recreational MG shooter, 9500 rounds through a watercooled MMG or HMG is not a lot. Although it might sound implausible, at the larger shoots in the US 10,000 rounds can be fired in half the day by one shooter and MG and is not uncommon. This without the benefit of the taxpayer footing the bill! 10k rounds is only forty belts and for ehtusiastic shooters thats not a lot to bring to the shoot loaded and ready to go.

I mention this simpy to put a different perspective on a single shooter and MG with a supply of loaded belts or assistents loadiing belts as the day goes by.

Twenty to thirty years ago when ammo was far less expensive than recently, huge quantities of ammo were expended at MG shoots, several million over a three day weekend, often at target ranges out to 2-3000 yards in Arizona and Texas where there's room to have long range fire. Shooting MGs at that range is a real treat, and even at 500 yards honing one's accuracy is very entertaining. Many MG shooters develop refned skills at accurate MG fire with Vickers, Brownings, Maxim s and other tripod mounted MGs, as well as excellent skills in maintaining the guns.

Surplus ammo has all but dried up, leaving reloading and expensive newly manufactured imported or domestic ammo so the quantities of ammo shot at MG shoots has dropped considerably for all but the well heeled.

I have heard that it took, on average, three shots to disable a soldier during the American revolutionary war and 50,000 rounds during the vietnam war.

Bob Naess

Black River Militaria CII

USA

[jay dubaya]

Thanks for the enlightening imput Bob, just out of interest, what does it feel like after firing 10,000 rounds, is it white knuckle stuff?

Jon

[Rob Connolly]

Purely from the perspective of a recreational MG shooter, 9500 rounds through a watercooled MMG or HMG is not a lot. Although it might sound implausible, at the larger shoots in the US 10,000 rounds can be fired in half the day by one shooter and MG and is not uncommon. This without the benefit of the taxpayer footing the bill! 10k rounds is only forty belts and for ehtusiastic shooters thats not a lot to bring to the shoot loaded and ready to go.

I mention this simpy to put a different perspective on a single shooter and MG with a supply of loaded belts or assistents loadiing belts as the day goes by.

Twenty to thirty years ago when ammo was far less expensive than recently, huge quantities of ammo were expended at MG shoots, several million over a three day weekend, often at target ranges out to 2-3000 yards in Arizona and Texas where there's room to have long range fire. Shooting MGs at that range is a real treat, and even at 500 yards honing one's accuracy is very entertaining. Many MG shooters develop refned skills at accurate MG fire with Vickers, Brownings, Maxim s and other tripod mounted MGs, as well as excellent skills in maintaining the guns.

Surplus ammo has all but dried up, leaving reloading and expensive newly manufactured imported or domestic ammo so the quantities of ammo shot at MG shoots has dropped considerably for all but the well heeled.

I have heard that it took, on average, three shots to disable a soldier during the American revolutionary war and 50,000 rounds during the vietnam war.

Bob Naess

Black River Militaria CII

USA

Thank you for a very interesting post! That first paragraph alone puts it entirely beyond the experience of UK posters "recreational MG shooter" "watercooled MMG" "10,000 rounds". That stuff about millions of rounds being fired - no, no, I must not have read it properly. "Millions"???