CHAN93%SNYBUFVA.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu (Alvin M. Chan) (02/27/91)
From: "Alvin M. Chan" <CHAN93%SNYBUFVA.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Who designed the M60 General Purpose Machine Gun? Was it Stoner?
Who produced the M60 GPMG? Was it Browning? Fabrique National?
I don't have a clue, that's why I'm asking!
- Alv
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// Alvin M. Chan Buffalo State College //\
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\\______________________________________________________________________\\/major@uunet.UU.NET (Mike Schmitt) (02/28/91)
From: bcstec!shuksan!major@uunet.UU.NET (Mike Schmitt) > From: "Alvin M. Chan" <CHAN93%SNYBUFVA.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu> > Who designed the M60 General Purpose Machine Gun? Was it Stoner? > Who produced the M60 GPMG? Was it Browning? Fabrique National? > I don't have a clue, that's why I'm asking! The M60 7.62mm Machine Gun is produced by Saco Defense Inc. The M249 5.56mm Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW) was initially contracted by Fabrique Nationale (82-83 procurement). Current procurement is from F. N. Manufacturing, Inc., Columbia, S.C. ("F. N." - now WHO could that be?) mike schmitt "Ready on the left. Ready on the right. Ready on the firing line. Firers watch your lanes."
little_re@lrc.uucp (02/28/91)
From: little_re@lrc.uucp
> Who produced the M60 GPMG? Was it Browning? Fabrique National?
I got to help out a friends ROTC unit this past weekend, and one of the
weapons issued was the M-60. This particular one was manufactured by a
division of General Motors. A friend, a Marine reservist, said that a company
by the name of Food and Machinary makes 60's. These are two among probably
five or six comapnies. As for the design, no idea.
Rich Little
Lenoir-Rhyne College
Hickroy, NC U.S.A.
UUCP:lrc!little_re@mcnc.org swilliam@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Steve Williams) (03/05/91)
From: swilliam@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Steve Williams) >> Who designed the M60 General Purpose Machine Gun? >> Who produced the M60 GPMG? The M60 is the US Army general-purpose machine gun and it came into service in the late 1950s. The prime producer has been Saco Defense Inc., a subsidiary of the Chamberlain Manufacturing Corporation. The M60 is a gas-operated weapon. The M60 is designed to fire full automatic only, at a cyclic rate of 550 rounds per minute. This is a slow enough rate for an accomplished firer to get off a single round. The tactical rate 'rapd' is 200 rds/min. Five versions of the M60 are distinguished by separate designations. In addition to the basic M60 and M60E3 infantry weapons there are: M60C: Remotely fired, for external mounting on helicopter. No longer in production. M60D: Helicopter and vehicle weapon, pintle-mounted in helicopter doorways, vehicle platforms, etc. Current and in production. M60E1: A development to overcome undesirable features of first production guns (bipod and gas cylinder permanently attached to barrel). None was introduced into service, but improvements were incorporated in the lightweight M60E3 design. M60E2: Armor weapon for internal mounting in armored fighting vehicles. Current and in production. M60E3: (see M60E1) Current and in production. Weights: Gun: 10.51 kg Barrel (including bipod and gas cylinder): 3.74 kg Lengths: Gun: (overall) 1105 mm Barrel: (excluding flash hider) 560 mm Firing Characteristics: Muzzle velocity: 855 m/s Remaining velocity: (at 500 m) 492 m/s (at 3700 m) 108 m/s Rate of fire: (cyclic) 550 rds/min Effective range: (bipod) 1000 m (tripod) 1800 m Manufacturer: Saco Defense Inc. a subsidiary of Chamberlain Manufacturing 291 North Street Sago, Maine 04072 In Service with: US forces. Australia, South Korea, Taiwan and many other countries. Steve Williams | "An expert is a person who has made all the Department of the Navy | mistakes which can be made in a very narrow David Taylor Research Center | field." -- Niels Bohr, Danish Scientist
wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin) (03/05/91)
From: Will Martin <wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL> >Who designed the M60 General Purpose Machine Gun? Was it Stoner? >Who produced the M60 GPMG? Was it Browning? Fabrique National? I did a bit of research to answer this question, in the following sources: Gun Digest Book of Assault Weapons, 2nd Ed, ed. by Jack Lewis Small Arms of the World, 12th Ed, by E. C. Ezell Jane's Infantry Weapons 1987-88, ed by Ian Hogg Got some general agreement but a few conflicts on the details. The short answer to "who designed it" seems to be "nobody in particular" -- maybe a committee (perhaps that's why it didn't work all that well! :-). No source credits any individual with the design. During 1947, comparative tests were run on various candidates for a general-purpose lightweight machine gun (it appears these took place at Springfield Armory). Among the candidates was the T52, designed by the Bridge Tool & Die Works of Philadelphia, PA. Based on the design of the German FG42 automatic rifle, the belt-feed mechanism of the German MG-42 machine gun, and an operating system based on the British Lewis Gun of WWI fame. Over the years, the design was modified to handle the 7.62mm NATO cartridge, and a quick-change barrel feature was incorporated copied from the Czechoslovakian ZB26. Some sources cite the progression of design as T44 -> T52 -> T161. But I've seen "T44" refer to the early design version of the M14 so I don't know if that designation is a duplicate or an error or what... One source says the T161 was a design of the Inland division of General Motors, but another says Inland did a mass-production feasibility-study and design-evaluation contract on the T52, not mentioning "T161". In any case, the final M60 design was adopted by DoD in 1957 and a production contract was awarded to Saco Defense, Inc. (some say "Saco Division of the Maremont Corp.") in Saco, Maine. [Maybe the company name changed slightly over the years due to acquisitions, mergers, etc.] An improved version, the M60E1, was designed to correct some of the faults in the basic design. Two of the sources say that was never put into production, but the changes were finally incorporated in the recently-produced M60E3 version. Small Arms of the World says it *was* produced. I tend to believe Jane's instead. An M60E2 coaxial tank gun version was produced for the USMC. Two aircraft variants, the M60C (remotely charged and fired) and the M60D (pintle-mount, spade grips & rear trigger, as a helicopter door gun), were made. The M60E3 was produced at USMC request, to avoid the life-cycle costs of developing a completely new gun, and has been adopted by them, the Navy, and the USAF. The Army replaced the M60 in the Squad Automatic Weapon role with the M249 5.56mm Minimi. It seems the M60 has been retained in other roles but it wasn't clear if the Army upgraded its M60s to E3 configuration or not. (E3 appears to be circa 1987 vintage.) The E3 version has a lower-pressure gas system, new flash suppressor, barrel changing improved by moving carrying handle to the barrel and the bipod to the front end of the receiver (this lets the barrel be handled without the asbestos glove, plus spare barrels don't also have the weight of the extra bipod on them), the wraparound heat shield removed, pistol grip and sights changed. The trigger group has been modified, a drop-down winter-trigger-guard and ambidextrous safety added, the stock material changed to a lighter Zytel-fibreglass, and the cam roller has been altered to allow loading with the bolt closed. It appears Saco (whoever owns them) is still the prime (or only) military contractor. Civilian versions of the M60 were produced by Rock Island Armory, and they are producing them for the police market currently. They list for $1995 in recent Shotgun News ads. (Tackleberry [the gun nut from the Police Academy movies] would want one in his squad car, I'm sure... :-) Regards, Will wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil
cash@convex.com (Peter Cash) (03/06/91)
From: cash@convex.com (Peter Cash) In article <1991Mar4.210301.6800@cbnews.att.com> Will Martin <wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL> writes: >... and the USAF. The Army replaced the M60 in the Squad Automatic Weapon >role with the M249 5.56mm Minimi. It seems the M60 has been retained in What is the 5.56 mm Minimi? This is the first I've ever heard of it. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Die Welt ist alles, was Zerfall ist. | Peter Cash | (apologies to Ludwig Wittgenstein) |cash@convex.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~