Not Your Average Sniper Rifle
M2 “Ma Deuce”
Pretty sure most here have heard of legendary Marine Carlos Hathcock and his record shot with one. Interestingly, he’s not the first to use a Ma Deuce in such a fashion, nor is he the last.
Reach out and touch someone.
M2 Heavy Machine Gun: The Ultimate Sniper Rifle?
By Peter Suciu
Developed as the “big brother” to the Browning M1919 .30 caliber machine gun, the .50 caliber M2 was introduced in 1933 and nearly 90 years later it is still in service around the world
The M2 “Ma Deuce” remains the primary heavy machine gun throughout NATO and has been in conflicts around the world. Weighing in at more than 127 pounds with tripod and T&E (Traverse and Elevation Mechanism), the M2 is truly a “heavy machine gun” in every sense of the word.
But with a muzzle velocity of 2,810 feet per second and an effective range of 2,000 yards and a maximum firing range of 8,100 yards (7,400 meters) it can reach targets like almost no other machine gun on the planet.
A Strange Transformation
One of the lesser-known uses of the .50 caliber M2 is a long-range sniper rifle. It was during the Korean War that soldiers were first issued the M2 with special scopes, but it was during the Vietnam War that U.S. Marine Corps sniper Carlos Hathcock II achieved notoriety for one of the longest shots in U.S. military history.
Hathcock generally used a Winchester Model 70, chambered in .30-06 and with a standard 8-power Unertl scope. He managed to achieve an astounding kill record of 93 – including an impressive shot through an enemy sniper’s scope, but it was with the M2 that he was able to take out a Vietcong soldier pushing a bicycle loaded with ammunition at more than 2,500 yards.
Read the rest of the article here: 19FourtyFive
Just had to pop this picture of Mother Deuce, with accompanying linky, right here at bed time. Now I’ll be a’tossin’ an’ a’turnin’ an’ a’dreamin’ of her and the Good Times we had back yonder. Shore would like to have one now here at Firebase Magnolia. Now THAT’s the way to re-enforce the North Wall.
All God’s lying, embellishing POS phonies wants to be White Feather. Fakebook is full of ’em.
Same here KoB. I had my GO/NOGO gages from the day they were awarded to me by my Bn CSM for passing the SGT promotion board in the mid 80’s. I had the gages up until I loaned to my armorer whilst in Iraq and he lost em. Ever seen a really pissed off SFC? Anyway, during the board, the CSM said he heard I was pretty good the the 50 so we went outside where he had one setup. My task was to field strip, reassemble, headspace, time, and function check. I think I did it all in about 9 minutes or so…in dress greens. I guess I did good since I came out with a set of gages. Oh, and promotable. God, I love that weapon to this day and anyone that has fired one understands the saying that it was better than sex.
Yeah they are nice…but you do always need to check the head space and timing! My only casualty from my Company in Iraq was a Soldier who volunteered to be on the BDE CDR’s PSD. She forgot to check the Head space and timing one day, and test fired it before they went out the wire… they had to make a quick side trip to the Hospital. Luckily just a scar nothing else permanent!
I was also glad I was not in weapons squad as a Ranger when they decided to do an OP with the M2s pre-mounted and the Teams ran off the Chinook one in front holding the barrel, and one at each rear leg, the fourth carrying the ammo! Some of our teams were short a man, so folks from other squads got volunteered to help (or the rear legs carried an ammo can as well).
Not everyone. I hate it. Hurts my ears like heck when I fired it, and having to mount and dismount and stow that thing on an M113 was a pain in the butt.
But, at my age there isn’t much sex so maybe it is better than (no) sex.
The M3 on the Avenger has been used to some effect. The FLIR targeting system was ahead of it’s time and can be dead on at 3000 yards.
B-17’s were chock full of them with a pair in the chin turret.
Gotta give credit to any fighter pilot that had the balls to
go up against a Fortress. Especially a G model with the chin.
From Wikipedia:
Guns: 13 × .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns in 9 positions (2 in the Bendix chin turret, 2 on nose cheeks, 2 staggered waist guns, 2 in upper Sperry turret, 2 in Sperry ball turret in belly, 2 in the tail and one firing upwards from radio compartment behind bomb bay)
“and one firing upwards from radio compartment behind bomb bay”
That would be your Signal guy…they’re everywhere.
Nobody ever knows we’re there until the NIPR goes out and the COL can’t check is gmail.
Shhhhh……..need to maintain Radio Silence.
31E…….Out.
So, so true. That exact situation happened to me on ship. We had to cut our onload at Okinawa short because of an in coming typhoon so we scurried up to Yakuska. Well our comm guys hadn’t worked out all the kinks in our email so we didn’t have any SIPR or NIPR. The CO (a colonel) was not pleased and let me know that several unpleasant times a day. Turns out the yahoos at PRNOC (Pacific Region Network Operations Center in Hawaii) didn’t set up the routing tables properly (we had asked them several times to check them and they said they were good). We asked them to one more time check the routing and they said “oh, ok”. They came back a few minutes later and mumbled something like, “yeah, you should be good now” and the deluge of email poured in.
That was the most frustrating thing about being a commo was that your success was largely in the inept hands of others. . .
It’s always the distant end. First rule of signal.
Balad, 2006. Had a COL screaming at our IT and tech control guys because she couldn’t check her Yahoo mail. They kept telling her that her NIPR was fine but Yahoo was down. She threw a screaming fit, ordering them to fix it. They referred her to me at the S3. She commenced to telling me I needed to get off my ass, do my job, and get her Yahoo mail working or she was going to call my BDE Commander. I just said yes ma’am, and handed the phone to my BDE Commander who had just stepped in for coffee. There were no further complaints from the aforementioned COL. It was a good day.
The venerable P-38 fighter saw combat in every theatre of WWII and was the first fighter to attain the interceptor nomenclature because of the speed and the firepower of the 4 Ma Deuce .50’s, + a 20 mm cannon along with it in the nose.
Because of the construction of the P-38, thanks to Lockheed engineer Kelly Johnson, the fighter bomber didn’t have to fire through a propeller so the Germans learned very fast NOT to approach a P-38 from the front.
Those 4 Ma Deuce monsters tore apart everything they shot at and took out numerous fighters from all the aggressors in WWII.
Still one of my favorite planes, ever !!!
US fighters generally had .50s mounted in wings. [The Bell P-39 was one I know that did have two .50s shooting through the prop (while also having 37mm cannon shooting through the spinner with some .30s in the wings).] The problem you have is figuring out convergence which I’m sure many of you are familiar with.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_harmonisation) The P-38’s configuration meant that all firepower could be concentrated directly to the front of the pilot.
Another nice thing about the P-38 is that since it had counter rotating propellers, it didn’t drift to the left while in motion. Folks who want more on that can go here:
https://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/aerodynamics/why-you-need-right-rudder-on-takeoff-to-stay-on-the-centerline/
It looks like the example in the picture has quite a bit of rust on it (or is it just dust from Georgia clay?) Either way it sort of hurts my heart. 🙁
Doith my eyes deceive me? are the first 3 visible rounds on the belt missing something?
That weapon is a bit lacking in the PMCS department.
Saint John of Browning’s heart breaks at the desecration of his beloved prefect weapon of war.
I am curious when the Ma Deuce tag started to be used. I was in RVN for 18 months ’68 and ’69 and I don’t ever recall the .50 being called that. It was either a 50 (or 50 cal), or on some of the trucks twin or quad 50s. I still have my gage(s), we mostly used the timing gage on the .30 BMG that some of the CIDG still used.
From 1995-2019, I never heard any Marine seriously call it the Ma Deuce. Perhaps jokingly, but never something like, “Gunny told me to get the Ma Deuce. . .”
I’m not sure, but I believe it is more of a WWII thing. I’m afraid all the WWII Vets that I used to talk to aren’t around any longer to ask. I did a minute long Duck Duck Go search (if you’re still using Google, you’re wrong) and didn’t come up with much. Perhaps some of the books I have may give a clue, but they don’t have much in the way of a ctrl+f function short of the index. This will have to wait until later. . .
My dad, B-17 Armorer/Gunner, always called them Brownings.
My father, (103rd Infantry in WWII) called it a .50 cal.
He ran a .30 cal for his buddies, from France through Germany to Austria.
At least by 1978 — when I went through OSUT the instructors called them “Ma Deuce” …. or someone did.
We didn’t have them in USAF Basic in 1973 … had to wait until I re-upped into the INFANTRY.
The M60 tank series had the M-85 50-cal MG in the TC cupola, 2 firing speeds, Chunk-Chunk-Chunk, and GO-BRRRRRRRRT.
Fun for the whole family.
“Yank My Chain” – Red to fire, Black to charge./s
(Now former) Tank range at Ft Huachuca getting shut down for an entire day to put out a brush fire in the 90’s because someone (the CO) pulled something they shouldn’t have and sent rounds somewhere they shouldn’t be??
Why no, I have no idea what you mean..
/Sham-On
Uh-Oh. Did he still get a end of command ARCOM? Or was it downgraded to an AAM?/smile
And – Best words of advice from TM 9-1005-231-10:
“When removing a stuck cartridge, do NOT stand in front of barrel assembly.”/s
Dad told a story of them being stuck in a valley while the tank killers traded punches with an 88 at the head of the valley. (The tank killers won.)
But while they were waiting the German CO sent a squad to flank them. A Sgt. who was “three sheets to the wind” per Dad got ticked, jumped up on a troop carrier (?) and laid down on the paddles, spraying on the hillside.
Removed that barrel, inserted the 2nd, and repeated.
He was removing the entire gun when the German squad leader decided the better part of valor was to come down the hill, hands on head.
As they were being led to the rear, the Sgt. picked up someone’s carbine to swat them. The owner of said carbine objected that the Sgt. would break his stock, so Sgt. settled for a book to the Heinie’s heinie.
No word what the higher ups thought of his treatment of the .50.