Machine Gun

INTRODUCTION

A Machine gun is a fully automatic weapon or firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. Machine guns are designed to fire a cartridge from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine in quick succession, usually at the rate of several hundred bullets per minute. Automatic machine guns are mostly belt-fed, and are capable of firing several hundred rounds per minute. The machine gun's main role in ground-combat is to provide suppressing fire on an opposing force's position. A machine gun with a bullet caliber of more than 12.7mm is called automatic cannon while smaller caliber guns would be called machine guns.

HISTORY

Machine guns have a long development history back to some of the earliest weapons, and attempts at higher rates of fire and some machine gun like traits happened early 1700s. However the recognition was not there until the mid-1800s successful machine guns designs came into existence. Key feature of modern machine guns, their high rate of fire and more importantly automatic loading, came with the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy force. Mr. Gatling also experimented with electric powered Gatling guns; this externally powered machine reloading has seen use in modern guns as well.

The Vandenberg volley weapons concepts have been revived partially in the early 21stcentry in the form of multi-barrelled volley guns. The first well known ancestor of machine guns was developed by James Puckle, a London based lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" in the year 1718. The first true machine gun was the Maxim machine gun, designed in the year 1883 by Hiram Maxim. It used the recoil energy of the previously fired bullet to reload rather than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than earlier designs. The trend toward automatic firearms, lighter machine guns, and more powerful submachine guns culminated with the creation of Germany's revolutionary MP44 assault rifle, a weapon that combined all the characteristics of an ordinary rifle and a machine gun.

CATEGORIES OF MACHINE GUNS

1. Light machine gun

2. Medium machine gun

3. Heavy machine gun

LIGHT MACHINE GUN

Light machine gun is known as LMG. As the name suggests, it is generally lighter than other machine guns of its period, and usually designed to be carried by an individual soldier or by an assistant. They are either automatic rifles or medium machine guns with a bipod, a stock, and sometimes a pistol grip. Modern light machine guns are often chambered for smaller calibers than medium machine guns and are considerably lighter and more compact.

MEDIUM MACHINE GUN

A medium machine gun or MMG in modern context usually refers to a full-power rifle caliber automatic weapon with a provision for more extended firing than lighter automatic firearms, often using an extra-heavy barrel.

HEAVY MACHINE GUN

A heavy machine gun refers to a larger-caliber, high-powered machine gun or one of the smaller, medium caliber machine guns meant for prolonged firing. These weapon types have history extending back to the 1800s.