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M60

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 12:22 Written by Administrator Thursday, 02 July 2009 03:28

The M60 is a family of general purpose machine gun that was designed in the United States. The M60 is designed for use with the 7.62x51 mm cartridge type and can fire ball, tracer and armour piercing ammunition. The gun was introduced in the year 1957 and continues to be in service till date with the US military and many other operators.

The M60’s development stems back to the late 1940s when a need for a lighter machine gun was felt. The United States Military was also searching for a suitable design to replace the earlier Browning Automatic Rifle and the M1919. Finally, the M60 was adopted in 1957.

The M60’s design is based on many concepts of that period such as stamped steel parts, quick barrel replacement and the belt-feed mechanism. The operating system of the M60 is also based on the German MG42. However, the gas mechanism is unique in many ways. At the same time, it is also simpler and this easier to clean and maintain.

The M60 is a gas-operated machine gun that fires from an open-bolt. It is fed by a belt of metallic M13 links. Most variants of the M60 come with a foldable bipod. However, it can also be mounted on some fixed mounts such as the M122 tripod. The gun has an effective range of up to 1,100 meters depending on how it is mounted and fired.

The M60 is designed to be operated by a crew of two or three. The gun weighs around 10.5 Kg and consumes a large amount of ammunition—this makes firing the weapon difficult for a single soldier.

The M60 machine gun was very effective in the field. However, it did have some drawbacks in some field conditions. During its deployment in Vietnam, the common complaint was that it would jam frequently, especially in muddy conditions. Maintenance needed to be meticulous as fine sand and dust entering into the gun mechanism would cause it to get jammed.

In addition, the M60’s barrel was also prone to getting heated-up quickly. The barrel could be easily changed. However, it didn’t have a handle and thus an asbestos glove has to be used. Loss of the glove in field conditions would severely disable the gunning unit and make them prone to enemy fire.

Another area where the M60 lacked was in its safety mechanism. In other weapons of the era, such as the M16 rifle, the safety catch had to be moved downwards to engage the weapon. However, in the M60 it was the opposite and thus soldiers who had trained with other weapons found the safety catch system a bit difficult to master.

The M60 had a number of variants. These are:

>> M60E1: Improvised version with a barrel handle, but didn’t enter production.

>> M60E2: This variant was used in vehicles and was electrically fired.

>> M60B and M60C: Variants used on helicopters and aircraft respectively.

>> M60D: Replacement for the M60B.

>> M60E3: An improved version introduced in the 1980s.

>> M60E4: Improvised version of the M60E3 that was introduced in the 1980s.

The United States and many other countries continue to operate the M60. However, it is being replaced by other designs. Newer machine gun designs such as the M240 are slowly replacing the older M60s and so these guns may be phased out of service in the next few years to come.

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