Who said the M60 GPMG was unreliable?

[Evil Monkey]

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGAwrmOapb4&mode=related&search=

 

[Jeff White]

If he had been one of my machine gunners, he'd be in more trouble then he thought possible .

The best we can say about that is; It was a reliable machine gun. It probably won't be now. Looks to me like some idiots have more money then sense.

Jeff

 

[Glockfan.45]

Jeff the video was from the DeGroats. They are a SOT that builds minguns so I doubt this was a loss to them. That said yikes shot till the upper hanguard caught fire . The guy behind the trigger was either brave or stupid as I would be afraid of the barrel bursting.

 

[Jeff White]

I imagine if you started with a shot out barrel and didn't care that you heated the receiver up enough to cause it to stretch out of spec, you could do whatever you want.

I saw an M2 barrel that had been heated up so hot that it drooped and the rounds exited through the side instead of through the muzzle. but it was left over from a test. I have read about that happening in combat. I can't imagine how much ammo you had to fire to do that.

I guess I just hate to see weapons, even crap ones like the M60 shot to destruction.

Jeff

 

[Roccobro]

Poor gun.

I wish I had friends that would lend me uber cool stuff like an M60 just to destroy.

Justin

 

[bogie]

At Knob Creek, Big Jim would run a belt of 500 in one burst, and then light a cigar from the barrel. His gig was reliability modifications. Barrels are cheap.

 

[rkba_net]

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig.... and the PIG is still a dog...

 

[bogie]

Yeah, but the pig is still better than a mouse...

 

[RangerHAAF]

I carried the thing for three years for the 1st Ranger Battalion, it was a piece of junk then and it's a piece of junk today. When I got out of the army in 1989 they were changing over to the FN-Mag a superior machine gun to the M-60 that the Dutch Royal Marines let us try out in Puerto Rico in the spring of 1987.

 

[Steve N]

Who are the DeGroats? What is SOT?

 

[SDC]

Who are the DeGroats? What is SOT?

Degroat Tactical Armament: http://www.armamentsales.com/home.html

SOT: Special Occupational Tax, ie. they're licenced as manufacturers of certain firearms like machineguns, grenade launchers, etc., etc.

 

[rangermonroe]

I carried the thing for three years for the 1st Ranger Battalion, it was a piece of junk then and it's a piece of junk today.

Damn straight.

Close the cover wrong on that POS and see what happens.

 

[TexasRifleman]

I guess I just hate to see weapons, even crap ones like the M60 shot to destruction.

Testing to destruction is common in the manufacturing business.

Taken out of context the video looks like recreation, but an SOT may very well have a good reason for wanting to examine failures in this manner.

Boeing tears up LOTS of brand new airplanes.........

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I saw an M2 barrel that had been heated up so hot that it drooped and the rounds exited through the side instead of through the muzzle. but it was left over from a test. I have read about that happening in combat.

Indeed it does happen in combat. I've had to order as many as 12 barrels (for one mech infantry company) on the "morning after."

 

[lathedog]

Peter Kokalis had an excellent article on the M-60 in an issue of shotgun news within the last year or so; sorry but I forget the date.

I hear the M240 is much better, if you have a choice. If the choice is nothing or an M-60, I think I'd rather have the M-60.

I recall the M-60 as being pretty good if you babied it and had access to spare parts, and had a good armorer with the right tools. Definitely had its warts.

 

[cane]

Since we don't have C-rats anymore what do you use for "field modification"?

 

[Vern Humphrey]

The M240 is simply an update of the FN MAG -- which is the gun we should have adopted back in the '50s. Pull out your copy of Smith & Smith Small Arms of the World and take a look at it. It's basically a BAR with the locking mechanism turned upside down and a belt feed.

The M60, among it's many other sins, would shed parts while firing. A machinegun that has to be kept together with safety wire isn't exactly what I want in combat.

 

[SIRVEYR666]

I can't imagine how much ammo you had to fire to do that?

What...you lost count, too? I got to 473 and then I blacked out.

 

[Gifted]

I've been told it's improved a bit over the years, for what that's worth. Don't think they fixed the weight though. There's a video of someone running one for even longer than that one with the latest model and the new barrel they made for it.

Barrel melting is what water jackets are for.

 

[SDC]

The FN-MAG is probably closer to a belt-fed Bren than anything else; it locks up the same way, and other than the feed and the better gas regulation, there's not really anything in it that isn't in the Bren.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

I have carried a pig (M60) for two solid years and not another soldier around me ever envied me in the slightest. They merely chose me because of my stature. All I ever seen those things do is Jam, jam and Jam some more.
Once in a while you would get one that would run like a raped ape and keep on running no matter what and never jam at all. What gives?
Unreliable and maintenance intensive and if any of you automatic junkies wanna spend the big bucks to have one, be my guest.