This article is about the specific category of firearms. For the broader topic of all automatic firearms, see automatic firearm. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation).
Top: IWI Negev Bottom: FN MAG (general purpose machine gun)Czechoslovak 7.62 mm Universal Machine gun Model 1959A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest-serving and most successful machine gun designs
A machine gun (MG) is a fully automatic, rifled auto-loading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) are typically designed more for firing short bursts rather than continuous firepower and are not considered true machine guns. Submachine guns fire handgun cartridges rather than rifle cartridges, therefore they are not considered machine guns, while automatic firearms of 20 mm (0.79 in) caliber or more are classified as autocannons rather than machine guns.
As a class of military kinetic projectile weapons, machine guns are designed to be mainly used as infantry support weapons and generally used when attached to a bipod or tripod, a fixed mount or a heavy weapons platform for stability against recoils. Many machine guns also use belt feeding and open bolt operation, features not normally found on other infantry firearms.
Machine guns can be further categorized as light machine guns, medium machine guns, heavy machine guns, general-purpose machine guns, and squad automatic weapons.
A machinegun (MG) is a fully automatic, rifled auto-loading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms...
transliterated as Pulemyot Kalashnikova, or "Kalashnikov's machinegun") is a belt-fed general-purpose machinegun, chambered for the 7.62×54mmR rimmed cartridge...
machinegun or Vickers gun is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machinegun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was...
The Bren gun was a series of light machineguns (LMG) made by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role...
The M2 machinegun or Browning .50 caliber machinegun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machinegun that was designed near the end of World War I by...
submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an automatic firearm with notably less firepower than a machinegun (hence the prefix "sub-"). As a machine gun...
A heavy machinegun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machineguns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried...
Pulemyot Degtyaryova, English: Degtyaryov hand-held machinegun) is a 7.62x39mm light machinegun developed in the Soviet Union by Vasily Degtyaryov for...
The M240 machinegun, officially the MachineGun, 7.62 mm, M240, is the U.S. military designation for the FN MAG, a family of belt-fed, gas-operated medium...
The M1919 Browning is a .30 caliber medium machinegun that was widely used during the 20th century, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and...
MachineGun Preacher is a 2011 American biographical action drama film directed by Marc Forster and starring Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, and Michael...
The Lewis gun (or Lewis automatic machinegun or Lewis automatic rifle) is a First World War–era light machinegun. Designed privately in the United States...
A medium machinegun (MMG), in modern terms, usually refers to a belt-fed machinegun firing a full-powered rifle cartridge, and is considered "medium"...
Nikitin-Sokolov-Volkov; Russian: Утёс, lit. 'Cliff'), is a Soviet heavy machinegun chambered in 12.7×108mm. It is named after the designers, G. I. Nikitin...
The Madsen is a light machinegun that Julius A. Rasmussen and Theodor Schouboe designed and proposed for adoption by Colonel Vilhelm Herman Oluf Madsen...
The Besa machinegun was a British version of the Czechoslovak ZB-53 air-cooled, belt-fed machinegun (called the TK vz. 37 in the Czechoslovak army)....
MachineGun Etiquette is the third studio album by English punk rock band the Damned, released on 2 November 1979 by Chiswick Records. The album was the...
The M1917 Browning machinegun is a heavy machinegun used by the United States armed forces in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam...
Browning machineguns are a family of machinegun designs by John Browning, a prolific weapon designer. These include: M1895 Colt–Browning machinegun, based...
The Maxim gun is a recoil-operated machinegun invented in 1884 by Hiram Stevens Maxim. It was the first fully automatic machinegun in the world. The...
Maschinengewehr (Schwarzlose) M. 7, also known as the Schwarzlose MG, is a medium machine-gun, used as a standard issue firearm in the Austro-Hungarian Army throughout...
The MG 3 is a German general-purpose machinegun chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. The weapon's design is derived from the World War II era...
The Kord-12.7 mm heavy machinegun is a Russian design that entered service in 1998 replacing the older NSV machinegun. Externally the weapon resembles...
The LAD machinegun (Russian: пулемет ЛАД) is a Soviet prototype light machinegun. Although belt-fed and having a built-in bipod, it is chambered for...
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