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401:, these weapons are designed to provide increased range, penetration and destructive power against vehicles, buildings, aircraft and light fortifications beyond the standard rifle calibers used in medium or general-purpose machine gun, or the intermediate cartridges used in light machine guns. In this sense, the "heavy" aspect of the weapon refers to its superior power and range over light and medium caliber weapons, in addition to its weight. This class of machine gun came into widespread use during
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which further reduced the weapon's weight, but at the cost of increasing the soldier's load due to the extra barrels. Some earlier designs like the
Vickers had this feature, but it was mainly for barrel wear, as they normally used water cooling. It was in the 1920s and 1930s that quick barrel replacement for cooling purposes became more popular in weapons such as the
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mechanisms that enabled long-range sustained automatic fire with excellent accuracy. However, these advantages came at the cost of being too cumbersome to move and required a crew of several soldiers to operate them. Thus, in this sense, the "heavy" aspect of the weapon referred to the weapon's bulk
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Vickers, for example, weighed 33 lb (15 kg) and was mounted on a tripod that brought the total weight to 50 lb (23 kg). The heavier designs could, and in some cases did, fire for days on end, mainly in fixed defensive positions to repel infantry attacks. These machine guns were
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The heavier designs continued to be used throughout World War II and into the 1960s, but were gradually phased out in favor of air-cooled designs. The mediums were now used both as medium machine guns while mounted on tripods and as light machine guns while mounted on bipods. This was possible in
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This type of multipurpose machine gun would be further developed, and later given names such as "universal machine gun", and later "general-purpose machine gun", and would eventually supplant the water-cooled designs. These later designs used quick-change barrel replacement to reduce overheating,
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reappeared after World War II. These are typically mounted on ships and helicopters because of their weight and large ammunition requirements due to their extremely high rate of fire. The need for sustained automatic fire on the ground, however, is now nearly entirely filled by air-cooled medium
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using a single barrel, his first main design weighed a modest 26 pounds (11.8 kg) and fired a .45-inch rifle-caliber bullet from a 24-inch barrel. A famous photo of Maxim showed him picking it up by its 15-pound tripod (6.8 kg) with one arm. It was similar to present-day medium machine
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typically mounted on tripods and were water-cooled, and a well-trained crew could fire nonstop for hours, given sufficient ammunition, replacement barrels and cooling water. Carefully positioned HMGs could stop an attacking force before they reached their objectives.
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guns, but it could not be fired for extended periods due to overheating. As a result, Maxim created a water jacket cooling system to enable it to fire for extended periods. However, this added significant weight, as did the change to more powerful rifle cartridges.
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capability to bridge the gap between exclusively anti-infantry weapons and exclusively anti-materiel weapons has led to the widespread adoption and modernization of the class, and most nations' armed forces are equipped with some type of HMG.
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general-purpose machine gun, though well-suited against infantry, lacked the M2's anti-fortification and anti-vehicle capability, a fact that was noted and lamented by the
Germans. The continued need for a longer-range machine gun with
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part because a heavy, static MG position was not a very effective tactic in vehicle-centered warfare, and the significantly lighter air-cooled designs could nearly match the capabilities of the water-cooled versions.
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were often made in a variety of calibers, such as 0.5-inch and 1-inch. Due to their multiple barrels, overheating was not so much of an issue, but they were also quite heavy. When Maxim developed his recoil-powered
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There were thus two main types of heavy, rapid-fire weapons: the manually powered, multiple-barrel machine guns and the single-barrel Maxim guns. By the end of the 19th century, many new designs such as the
479:. Also, rather than the heavy water jacket, new designs introduced other types of barrel cooling, such as barrel replacement, metal fins, heat sinks or some combination of these.
325:. The Maxim was the most ubiquitous machine gun of World War I, variants of which were fielded in large simultaneously by three separate warring nations—Germany with the
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Currently, machine guns with calibers smaller than 10mm are generally considered medium or light machine guns, while those larger than 15mm are generally classified as
405:, when the M2 was used widely in fortifications, on vehicles and in aircraft by American forces. A similar HMG capacity was later fielded by the Soviets in the form of
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188:, that are identified as being "heavy" due to their weight and cumbersomeness, which prevents infantrymen from transporting them on foot. Examples include the
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However, during the same period a number of lighter and more portable air-cooled designs were developed weighing less than 30 lbs (15 kg). In
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The lightest of the new designs were not capable of sustained automatic fire, as they did not have water jackets and were fed from comparatively small
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weighing 27.6 lb (12.2 kg) fitted with a mini-tripod and using linkable 30-round ammunition strips, but there was also a
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The modern definition refers to a class of machine guns chambered in "heavy caliber" ammunition, generally with a minimum
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Machine guns diverged into heavier and lighter designs. The later model water-cooled Maxim guns and its derivatives the
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The term originally referred to the generation of machine guns which came to prominence in the lead up to and during
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and ability to sustain fire, not the cartridge caliber. This class of weapons was best exemplified by the
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US .50 caliber HMG developments – Browning M2, Browning M2E2 Quick Change Barrel,
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The historical definition refers to machine guns, typically chambered in standard
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a bullet diameter of 20mm which are considered "medium caliber" ammunition for
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The modern definition refers to "heavy caliber" machine guns, pioneered by the
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they were to be as important as the heavier designs, and were used to support
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The medium designs offered greater flexibility, either being fitted with a
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were portable by one soldier, but were made for single and burst fire.
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than its lighter counterparts. Popular HMG rounds today are the
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There are two classes of weapons generally defined as HMGs:
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on the attack, on aircraft, and on many types of vehicles.
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711:"How The Machine Gun Changed Combat During World War I"
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in the light machine gun role or on a tripod or other
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445:and other externally powered types such as the
364:length of 80mm and a minimum bullet weight of
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574:as medium machine guns. An example was the
729:"Medium Caliber Ammunition (MCA) - USAASC"
613:Lightweight .50 Caliber Machine Gun (LW50)
502:system (7.92 mm) and crew circa 1931.
207:which was a Maxim derivative chambered in
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510:and the Vickers, as well as the American
239:beyond the full-power cartridges used in
215:. They are designed to provide increased
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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751:Heavy Machine Guns used in WWI and WWII
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673:List of multiple barrel machine guns
542:. Essentially machine rifles with a
514:, were all substantial weapons. The
321:, invented by the American inventor
165:to be operably stable or tactically
47:adding citations to reliable sources
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394:Maschinengewehr 18 Tank und Flieger
16:Gun capable of heavy sustained fire
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296:. These fired standard full-power
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746:Heavy Machine Guns at World Guns
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133:weighs 58 kg (128 lb).
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360:diameter of 12mm, a minimum
249:general-purpose machine guns
155:general-purpose machine guns
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576:Hotchkiss M1909 machine gun
471:were developed, powered by
267:. HMGs also have more felt
175:require a team of personnel
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512:M1917 Browning machine gun
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441:In the late 19th century,
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194:M1917 Browning machine gun
715:Norwich University Online
416:. The ubiquitous German
211:fielded near the end of
346:Ukrainian Ground Forces
265:squad automatic weapons
253:intermediate cartridges
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668:List of machine guns
43:improve this article
546:, weapons like the
491:Wheel mounted DShK.
465:M1895 Colt–Browning
407:Vasily Degtyaryov's
379:. Pioneered by the
348:soldier firing the
329:, Britain with the
129:machine gun with a
58:"Heavy machine gun"
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653:Medium machine gun
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99:January 2021
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41:Please help
36:verification
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529:World War I
451:Gardner gun
431:autocannons
399:World War I
385:13.2×92mmSR
377:autocannons
323:Hiram Maxim
294:World War I
283:cartridges.
221:penetration
213:World War I
209:13.2×92mmSR
127:M2 Browning
697:Britannica
679:References
648:Autocannon
414:12.7×108mm
310:7.62×54mmR
281:14.5×114mm
277:12.7×108mm
235:and light
69:newspapers
635:GShG-7.62
588:ZB vz. 30
582:version.
548:Lewis Gun
540:magazines
456:Maxim gun
389:MG 18 TuF
319:Maxim gun
306:7.7×56mmR
273:12.7×99mm
205:MG 18 TuF
171:firepower
760:Category
642:See also
598:and the
580:belt-fed
554:and the
552:Chauchat
533:infantry
387:caliber
335:PM M1910
255:used in
233:aircraft
229:vehicles
227:against
159:mounting
631:Minigun
627:Gatling
483:Designs
437:History
331:Vickers
161:onto a
83:scholar
594:, the
590:, the
556:Madsen
371:, but
358:bullet
269:recoil
245:medium
167:mobile
151:medium
131:tripod
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78:
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611:XM806
568:bipod
544:bipod
508:MG 08
500:MG 08
373:below
368:grain
350:DShKM
327:MG 08
147:light
90:JSTOR
76:books
633:and
600:MG42
596:MG34
592:Bren
516:.303
467:and
449:and
418:MG42
410:DShK
366:500
279:and
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243:and
223:and
192:and
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