An Introduction to Machine Guns

Many would wonder what sort of weapon could redefine warfare, some would definitely say its the atom bomb or other weapons of mass destruction, however my answer would simply be the machine gun. It would occur to some that machine guns are just a lump of steel lobbing lots of lead from A to B, I cannot deny nor endorse that definition for reality is more complex than it would seem. To start off, machine guns are firearms that could fire and cycle bullets automatically as long as it is loaded and the finger is on the trigger. This definition could easily be mixed with assault rifles or submachine-guns, but machine-guns are a lot different from those light weight autoloading firearms.

Here's some elements that sets machine-guns apart from common automatics:

I) Machine-Guns are complex, crew-served weapon require more than one operator

II) Machine-Guns stationary, meaning they are either planted on a position or mounted on vehicles 

III) Machine-Guns offers larger magazine capacity than regular infantry weapons (belt fed, drum magazine)

Types of MG's:

I) SAW (squad automatic weapon)- lightweight, small caliber MG designed to be operated by one man

II) GPMG (General Purpose Machine-gun)- larger, mid-sized caliber MG that can fulfill many roles

III) HMG (Heavy Machine Gun)- heavy weight MG, too large to be carried by a squad, offers large caliber fire power that can be used to fulfill almost any desired role in the military.

How MG's Work:

I) Recoil Operated: Utilizes the recoil (blow back force of rounds) to eject, and chamber rounds

II) Gas Operated: Utilizes propellant gases to eject and chamber rounds 

III) Rotating Barrel: Utilizes batteries to spin multiple barrels to fire, eject and chamber rounds

Parts of a typical MG: (MG42)

I) Receiver (bottom most) holds all the component of the MG

II) Butt Stock and Buffer Assembly (above receiver) supports the weapon and drives the bolt forward

II) Barrel (above buffer assembly) rifled steel tube that guides to bullet

III) Bolt + Bolt Carrier Assembly (left of barrel) fires and ejects the rounds

IV) Feed Tray + Cover (above bolt) has claws that extracts the rounds from links and drop them into the gun

V) Bipod (right of feed tray) supports weapon when placed on the ground