Here's what you need to know: The Browning M2 heavy machine gun— the "Ma Deuce" or "50 cal," gave the troops a long shadow in U.S. military history.
When Lauren Bacall Wellington served during the Iraq War, the former Army sergeant and combat doctor did more than treat the wounded.
From 2007 to 2008, Wellington, together with the First Cavalry Division, conducted a 13-month deployment at the Falcon Forward Combat Base in southern Baghdad and the Prosperity in the Green Zone of Baghdad.
She often carried Browning's M2.50 caliber machine gun on duty at the gates, looking for suicide car bombs.
Do classic weapons look scary? Wellington said: "When I support it, it will do it. ”。“ It was a powerful machine gun. If I could choose whether to run in the direction of 50 cards or towards zombies, I would run towards zombies. ”
The Browning M2 heavy machine gun, the Ma Deuce or 50 Cal, casts a shadow over U.S. military history.
In a battle in eastern France, the wounded Audie Murphy, one of America's most honored soldiers, fired a bullet from a burning tank destroyer that blocked six tanks and 250 German soldiers for more than an hour, a brave act that earned him a medal of honor.
In 2003, Army Sergeant Paul Ray Smith climbed to the top of an armored vehicle and fired 50 shells at the more than 100 enemy soldiers who suppressed his platoon, repeating Murphy's feat.
Smith died in a firefight, so his Medal of Honor was awarded after his death.
According to Gordon Rottman, author of the book Browning.50-caliber Machine Gun, the M2 has been in production since 1933 and is the longest-serving weapon in the U.S. stockpile. Its sheer firepower and reliability ensure that the "doomsday" will remain in place for years to come.
"Witnessing the range effects of a .50-caliber bullet is an eye-opener," Rotman wrote in the Definitive Guide to Guns. "Few people can say they were injured by a .50 caliber bullet. Those who are hit rarely can say more. ”
In World War I, both France and Britain had large-caliber machine guns like The Hodgkis, but American machine guns fired only rifle-sized calibers. U.S. Expeditionary Force Commander Gen. John Pershing believed the Army needed a heavy machine gun to maintain balance with hostile forces.
So John Browning, an American weapons genius, experimented with his existing M1917.30 caliber machine gun design to develop a heavy machine gun capable of firing .50 caliber bullets. By 1921, the Army had adopted an experimental, water-cooled, 50-caliber machine gun designed after Mateus's "father," Browning.
After Browning's death, other weapons designers corrected defects in the M1921, such as its lightweight barrel. In the 1930s, Colt took over the production of weapons, but it was still basically Browning's original design. The army designated it the Browning M2.
The classic configuration of the Ma-Deuce is a belt-powered, air-cooled, recoil-operated machine gun. It's nearly six feet long, weighing 84 pounds without a tripod and 128 pounds with a tripod.
It fires 550 rounds per minute, but can also fire a single bullet. After making several adjustments to the gun, the ammunition belt can be fed in from the right or left side.
The weapon has an effective range of 6,000 feet, but a maximum range of 4 miles.
Both the Army and the Navy loved the M2, and by World War II, M2 was everywhere. Tanks mounted it on top of turrets, bombers mounted several fighter jets to defend against the enemy, and GIs and Marines mounted it on tripods to suppress fire. Naval warships carry it down attacking aircraft.
There is a version of the M-45 quad that was dubbed the "German Lawn Mower" by the army, originally designed as an anti-aircraft weapon, and gathered four halves in an armored shell at the rear of the half track.
Soldiers discovered that the M2 was an extremely effective anti-personnel weapon. A single 0.50 caliber shell was enough to destroy a German position.
Ma Deuce's long-range firepower coupled with its single-shot shooting capabilities convinced legendary Marine Sniper Carlos Hatcock that he possessed an unusual but effective weapon.
In 1967, Hartcock installed a 10x power sight on an M2 and killed a Viet Cong fighter at 2,500 yards away, a range of nearly 1.5 miles, holding the world record for the longest sniper kill before 2002.
M2 has its weaknesses. If the barrel overheats, you have to install a new one. The new barrel is not installed correctly and the gun will fail badly.
A Defense Department report to Congress said in 2012 the Pentagon approved a "quick-change" kit that allowed the barrels to be replaced without manually resetting weapons, but that M-2 malfunctions caused by improper barrel replacement injured dozens of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Its weight and tendency to shake the gunner's body can make it difficult to use. But it is a powerful weapon that can dominate any battlefield.
Wellington told War is Boring magazine: "It's a good weapon to protect FOBs or stationary objects or load vehicles. ”。“ Sound alone is frightening. ”