MG42 (Maschinengewehr 42)
Type	Machine gun
Place of origin	Nazi Germany
Service history
In service	1942–1959, variants to present
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designed	1942
Produced	1942–1945
Number built	400,000
Variants	MG45/MG42V, MG1, MG2, MG3
Specifications
Weight	11.57 kg (25.5 lb)
Length	1,220 mm (48 in.)
Cartridge	7.92 x 57 mm Mauser (8 mm Mauser)
Action	Recoil-operated, roller-locked bolt
Rate of fire	1200 rounds/min as factory standard. (Varied between 900 and 1,500 rounds/min by installing different bolts).
Muzzle velocity	755 m/s (2,475 ft/s)
Effective range	1,000 m (1,100 yd)
Feed system	50- or 250-round belt

The MG42 (shortened from German: Maschinengewehr 42, or "Machine Gun 42") was a machine gun that was developed for and entered service with Nazi Germany in 1942, during World War II. The 7.92 mm rifle caliber weapon was developed from, and was intended to supplant the MG34 machine gun, though both would continue to be used and manufactured until the end of the war. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (768x1024, 77 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): MG42 ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany_1933. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The German MG3 is one of the most popular universal machine guns in the World. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The 8 mm Mauser cartridge next to a United States 5 cent coin. ... In firearms terminology, an action is the system of operation that the firearm employs to seal the breech (in a breech-loading firearm), and to load consecutive rounds. ... Recoil operation is a type of locked-breech firearm actions used in automatic firearms. ... Roller-delayed blowback is a firearm operating principle, a refined form of blowback. ... (for paintball markers also)Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. ... A guns muzzle velocity is the speed at which the projectile leaves the muzzle of the gun. ... A disintegrating belt feeding into an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, from a United States Army training manual A non-disintegrating belt feeding into a . ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The 7. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... “Calibre” redirects here. ... MG34 The Maschinengewehr 34, or MG34, was a German machine gun that was first produced and accepted for service in 1934, and first issued to units in 1935. ...

Overview

The MG42 has one of the highest average rates of fire of any single-barreled light machine gun resulting in a distinct muzzle report. It has a proven record of reliability, durability, simplicity, and ease of operation. The MG42's lineage continued past Nazi Germany's defeat, forming the basis for the nearly identical MG1 (MG 42/59), and subsequently improved into the still very similar MG2, which was in turn followed by the MG3. It also spawned the Swiss MG 710, MG42/59, and a 5.56 SAW in the Spanish CETME Ameli machine gun. The Ameli and the MG3 were in service with many armies during the Cold War and remain so into the 21st century. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, one of the most popular modern 5. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... The MG3 is an air-cooled, belt-fed general purpose machine gun manufactured by the German firm Rheinmetall. ... The MG 710 is a General Purpose Machine Gun 7. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ...

There were other automatic weapon designs with similar firepower at its inception, such as the Hungarian-Gebauer single-barreled tank MG's and the Russian 7.62 Gshak aircraft gun. However, the MG42's barrel change system allowed for more prolonged firing in comparison to these weapons.

History

Development of the MG42 was by Metall und Lackierwarenfabrik Johannes Großfuß AG and resulted from further attempts at improving on the MG34, particularly making them easier to mass-manufacture. The internals were still a short recoil system like the MG34, but the bolt locking system was a design originally patented by Edward Stecke of Poland.

A limited run of about 1,500 of its immediate predecessor the MG39/41 had been completed in 1941 and tested in combat trials. It was officially accepted, and the main manufacturing of the production design began in 1942; contracts going to Großfuß, Mauser-Werke, Gustloff-Werke, and others. Production during the war amounted to over 400,000 (17,915 units in 1942, 116,725 in 1943, 211,806 in 1944, and 61,877 in 1945). It could be produced in roughly half the number of man-hours of the MG34, using less metal in the process. Mauser is the common name of German arms manufacturer Mauser-Werke Oberndorf Waffensysteme GmbH, as well as the line of bolt action rifles they built for the German armed forces. ... A man-hour or person-hour[1], [2] is the amount of work performed by an average worker in one hour. ...

One of the weapon's most noted features was its comparatively high rate of fire of about 1,200 rounds per minute, twice the rate of the British Vickers machine gun and American Browning at 600 round/min. (for paintball markers also)Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. ... The revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM or r/min) is a unit of frequency, commonly used to measure rotational speed. ... The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled . ...

At such a high rate the human ear cannot easily discern the sound of individual bullets being fired, and in use the gun makes a sound described as like "ripping cloth" and giving rise to the nickname "Hitler's buzzsaw", or, more coarsely, "Hitler's zipper" (Soviet soldiers called it "linoleum ripper"). German soldiers called it Hitlersäge ("Hitler's saw") or "Bonesaw". The gun was sometimes called "Spandau" by British troops from the manufacturer's plates noting the district of Berlin where some were produced. This article is about firearms projectiles. ... Hitler redirects here. ... Invented in England in 1780, the circular saw (also known as the buzz saw in the USA) is a metal disc or blade with saw teeth on the edge as well as the machine that causes the disk to spin. ... CCCP redirects here. ... A linoleum kitchen floor Linoleum is a floor covering made from solidified linseed oil (linoxyn) in combination with wood flour or cork dust over a burlap or canvas backing. ... For the 1980s New Wave group, see Spandau Ballet. ... Local government areas called districts are used, or have been used, in several countries. ... This article is about the capital of Germany. ...

So distinct and terrifying was the weapon, that the United States Army created training films to aid its soldiers in dealing with the psychological trauma of facing the weapon in battle. The high rate of fire had resulted from experiments with preceding weapons that concluded that since a soldier only has a short window of time to shoot at an enemy, it was imperative to fire the highest number of bullets possible to increase the likelihood of a hit. (This principle was also behind the Vickers GO aircraft gun.) The disadvantage of this principle is that the weapon consumed exorbitant amounts of ammunition and quickly overheated its barrel, making sustained fire problematic. The United States Army is the largest and oldest branch of the armed forces of the United States. ... Vickers Gas Operated Type Machine gun Nationality UK Era History Date of design Production period Service duration Operators UK War service Specifications Type Calibre 0. ...

In the late 1930s, the MG34 had proved satisfactory. However, it did have its drawbacks, such as sensitivity to dust and comparatively expensive production. One attempt at improvement was the MG34S, an incremental improvement on the basic 34 design. A much bigger improvement would come from a design firm, Metall-und-Lackierwarenfabrik Johannes Großfuß AG, experts in pressed and punched steel parts. Their efforts resulted in a dramatic reduction in complexity — it took 75 man-hours to complete the new gun as opposed to 150 man-hours for the MG34, and cost 250 RM as opposed to 327 RM. User(s) Germany Subunit 1/100 Reichspfennig Symbol RM Reichspfennig Rpf. ...

The resulting MG39 (redesignated MG42 when adopted in 1942) remained largely similar to the earlier MG34, a deliberate decision made in order to maintain familiarity. The only major changes from the gunner's perspective were dropping the drum-feed options, leaving it with a loose belt of ammunition only, simplifying the weapon's open sights for aiming purposes and to further increase the rate of fire. Although made of relatively cheap parts, the prototypes also proved to be considerably more rugged and resistant to jamming than the somewhat "temperamental" MG34. A disintegrating belt feeding into an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, from a United States Army training manual A non-disintegrating belt feeding into a . ...

The MG42 weighed 11.6 kg in the "light" role with the bipod, lighter than the MG34 and easily portable. The bipod, the same one used on the MG34, could be mounted to the front or the center of the gun depending on where it was being used. For sustained fire use, it was matched to the newly-developed Lafette 42 tripod, which weighed 20.5 kg on its own. The barrel was lighter than the MG34's and heated more quickly, but could be replaced in seconds by an experienced gunner. A bipod is a support device that is similar to a tripod or monopod, but with only two legs. ... Look up tripod in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

The operating crew of an MG42 consisted of three men: the gunner, the ammunition loader (also barrel carrier), and the spotter. The gunner of the weapon was preferably a junior non-commissioned officer (or Unteroffizier). It was possible for operating crews to lay down a non-stop barrage of fire, ceasing only when the barrel had to be replaced. This allowed the three-man crew of an MG42 to tie up significantly larger numbers of enemy troops. Both the Americans and the British trained their troops to take cover from the fire of an MG42, and assault the position during the small window of barrel replacement. The high rate of fire of the MG42 sometimes proved a liability — mainly in that, while the weapon could be used to devastating effect, it could quickly exhaust its ammunition supply. For this reason, it was not uncommon for all soldiers operating near an MG42 to carry extra ammunition, thus providing the MG42 with a backup source when its main supply was exhausted. A non-commissioned officer (sometimes noncommissioned officer), also known as an NCO or Noncom, is an enlisted member of an armed force who has been given authority by a commissioned officer. ... Unteroffizier insignia Unteroffizier is a military rank (non-commissioned officer) of the German Bundeswehr that has existed since the 19th century. ...

Operation

The MG42 is roller-locked and recoil-operated (short recoil) with gas assist. The roller-locked bolt assembly consists of a bolt head, two rollers, a striker sleeve, bolt body, and a large return spring, which is responsible for pushing the bolt assembly into battery (the locked position) and returning it there when it is unlocked and pushed backwards by the recoil of firing or by the charging handle. As the striker sleeve is movable back and forth within the bolt assembly, the return spring is also responsible for pushing the striker sleeve forward during locking (described below). The bolt assembly locks with the barrel's breech (the end the cartridge is loaded into) via a prong type barrel extension behind the breech. As it is recoil-operated and fired from an open bolt, the weapon must be manually charged with the side-mounted charging handle. Roller-delayed blowback is a firearm operating principle, a refined form of blowback. ... Recoil operation is a type of locked-breech firearm actions used in automatic firearms. ... A muzzle booster or recoil booster is a device affixed to the muzzle of a firearm, intended to harness the energy of the escaping propellant to augment the force of recoil on portions of the firearm. ...

The roller-locked recoil operation functions as follows: two cylindrical rollers, positioned in tracks on the bolt head, are pushed outwards into matching tracks in the barrel extension by the striker sleeve and lock the bolt in place against the breech. Upon firing, rearward force from the recoil of the cartridge ignition pushes the striker assembly back and allows the rollers to move inwards, back to their previous position, unlocking the bolt head and allowing the bolt assembly to recoil, extracting the spent cartridge and ejecting it. The return spring then pushes the bolt assembly forwards again, pushing a new cartridge out of the belt into the breech, and the sequence repeats as long as the trigger is depressed. The MG42 is only capable of fully-automatic fire. Single shots are exceptionally difficult, even for experienced operators, due to the weapon's rate of fire. Usual training aim is to be able to fire a minimum of three rounds. The weapon features a recoil booster at the muzzle to increase rearwards force due to recoil, therefore improving functional reliability and rate of fire. M2 machine gun An automatic firearm is a firearm that will continue to load and fire ammunition as long as the trigger (or other activating device) is pressed or until it runs out of ammunition. ... A muzzle booster or recoil booster is a device affixed to the muzzle of a firearm, intended to harness the energy of the escaping propellant to augment the force of recoil on portions of the firearm. ...

The MG42, as do the majority of machine guns, fires from an open bolt, meaning the bolt (not the firing pin) is held in a rearward position when the trigger is not depressed. Depressing the trigger releases the bolt assembly, of which the firing pin is a component. A semi or fully-automatic firearm which is said to fire from an open bolt is one where, when ready to fire, the bolt and working parts are held to the rear. ...

The shoulder stock (or butt) is designed to permit gripping with the left hand to hold it secure against the shoulder. Considerable recoil otherwise causes the stock to creep from its intended position. If the weapon is not properly "seated" on the bipod, a prone gunner may be pushed back along the ground from the high recoil of this weapon.

This weapon is still in use in the Serbian army.

Variants and developments

Various configurations of MG42. The right-most object is a tripod for anti-aircraft use.

In 1944, the acute material shortages of the Third Reich led to a newer version, the MG45 (or MG42V), which had a different operation mechanism used retarded blowback as opposed to roller locking, used steel of lesser quality, reduced weight to only 9 kg, retaining the horizontal cocking handle. First tests were undertaken in June 1944, but development dragged on and eventually only ten were ever built. The tested Mg45/42V fired 120,000 rounds in succession at a rate of fire around 1,350 rounds per minute. The MG42V had some influence in the post-war development of roller-delayed blowback system, as employed in Heckler & Koch modern small arms. The MG45/MG42V should be considered a different firearm however as the mechanisms of these guns were different from that of the MG42. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2336x3504, 482 KB) MG42 Maschinengewehr 42 photo by baku13, 7 Aug 2005 on display at the Deutsches Panzermuseum Munster, Germany. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2336x3504, 482 KB) MG42 Maschinengewehr 42 photo by baku13, 7 Aug 2005 on display at the Deutsches Panzermuseum Munster, Germany. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Blowback is a system in which automatic or semi-automatic firearms operate through the energy created by combustion in the chamber and bore acting directly on the bolt face through the cartridge. ... Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K) (pronounced [1]) is a German weapons manufacturing company famous for various series of small firearms, notably the MP5 submachine gun, the MP7 personal defense weapon, USP series of handguns, high-precision PSG1 sniper rifle, and the G3 and G36 assault rifles. ...

The American military tried to copy the MG42 during the war, the new version being adapted for the .30-06 cartridge. Saginaw Steering Gear constructed a working prototype designated as the T24 machine gun. However, a design flaw in the prototype and the realization that the cartridge might be too powerful for the gun's mechanism to easily cope with resulted in the discarding of the project. However, its belt-feeding mechanism was adopted for the design of the M60. .30-06 Springfield cartridge specifications. ... The M60 (formally the United States Machine Gun, Caliber 7. ...

The MG42, with small modifications, resulted in the MG42/59 and Rheinmetall MG3, which is the primary general-purpose machine gun of the modern German army (Bundeswehr). A number of other armies around the world have adopted versions of the original, especially the MG3, and it remains in widespread service today. The U.S. Army's M60 uses a modified belt-feed mechanism from the MG42 (developed from the 34). The T161 beat the FG42 derived T52 during tests in the 1950s to become the M60. The T161 used a different gas system and was easier to make than the T52, but they both used a similar belt-feed and basic configuration. The trigger mechanism of the FN MAG is a virtual copy of the MG42's and the belt feed is also similar. The MG3 is an air-cooled, belt-fed general purpose machine gun manufactured by the German firm Rheinmetall. ... The Bundeswehr (German for Federal Defence Force;  ) is the name of the unified armed forces of Germany. ... The United States Army is the largest and oldest branch of the armed forces of the United States. ... The Fallschirmjagergewehr 42, shown with magazine and detachable bayonet. ... The FN MAG (or MAG-58) is a machine gun manufactured by Fabrique Nationale (FN), Belgium. ...

• Rate of fire: Variable, from 1,100 round/min to 1,600 round/min or more depending on installed bolt weight (different weight bolt components introduced to regulate rate of fire, lighter assemblies providing faster rates of fire). Throat erosion and component wear also introduced significant variation. Up to 1,800 round/min on the MG45 or without "recoil booster" (Rückstoßverstärker).
• Parts changes:
  • Barrel: 3 to 7 seconds
  • Barrel and lock: 25 to 30 seconds

The MG42 was adopted by a number of armed organizations after the war, and was copied or license-built as well. Yugoslavia license-built the MG42 as the M52, retaining the 7.92 x 57 mm caliber. By doing so, the Yugoslavians retained the original weapon's design features, making the M52 a nearly exact copy of the German MG42. The only major difference is a slower rate of fire. The aiming range of the M52 is 2000 meters, and the terminal range of the bullet is 5000 meters, the same as the MG42. In materials science, wear is the erosion of material from a solid surface by the action of another solid. ... Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in the Latin alphabet, Југославија in Cyrillic; English: South Slavia, or literary The Land of South Slavs) describes three political entities that existed one at a time on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century. ...

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

MG42

• General purpose machine gun
• MG34, predecessor of the MG42
• MG 81 machine gun
• MG3, successor of MG1 and MG2, all derived from MG42.
• MG 710, Swiss GPMG derived from the MG42, Also known as the MG55.
• MG4, successor of the MG3, referred to as the MG43.
• List of World War II firearms of Germany

Grenade may refer to: The well-known hand grenade commonly used by soldiers. ... The Model 24 Stielhandgranate (In English: Stick Hand Grenade) was the standard hand grenade of the German Army from the end of World War I until the end of World War II. The very distinctive appearance led to it being called a stick grenade, or Potato Masher in British Army... The Model 43 Stielhandgranate was introduced by the German Army mid way through World War II to supercede the Model 24 (the atypical stick grenade). ... The Model 39 Eihandgranate (or Eierhandgranate, egg hand grenade) was a German hand grenade introduced in 1939 and produced until the end of World War II. The Eihandgranate used the same fuze assembly (the BZE 39) as the Model 43 Stielhandgranate (Stick Grenade), which was screwed into the top of... The Splitterring was a fragmentation sleeve for the M24 and M43 stick grenades, developed by the German army in 1942. ... The Panzerwurfmine (abbreviated to PWM) was a shaped charge hand-thrown anti-tank grenade used by Luftwaffe ground troops in World War II. // The Panzerwurfmine owes much to the Panzerfaust in its appearance (specifically the Panzerfausts warhead), the Panzerfaust being of a similar construction and operation. ... The Browning Hi-Power is a semi-automatic, single-action, 9 mm pistol. ... Vis (Polish designation , German designation 9 mm Pistole 35(p), often simply called the Radom in English sources) is a 9 mm caliber, single-action, semi-automatic pistol. ... The vz. ... The ZB vz. ... The karabin przeciwpancerny wzór 35 (kb ppanc wz. ... The 7. ... .303 in. ... 7. ... The 7. ... Ball and hollowpoint 9mm Luger rounds The 9 mm Luger pistol cartridge (9 x 19 mm Parabellum, 9 x 19 mm NATO) was designed by firearms designer Georg Luger. ...

External links

• Nazarian`s Gun`s Recognition Guide (FILM) MG42, proper assault (video clip)
• Video showing how to field-strip the MG-42
• Modern Firearms and Ammunition: MG-42
• U.S. Report on MG-42 from WWII
• MG42 Enthusiasts and semi-auto rebuilders