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Adding local short description: "US heavy machine gun", overriding Wikidata description "machine gun" |
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{{Short description|US heavy machine gun}}
'''The M1921 Browning machine gun''' was a [[water-cooled]] [[.50 BMG|.50-caliber (12.7 mm)]] [[machine gun]], designed by [[John Moses Browning]], which entered production in 1929.
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Machine guns were heavily used in World War I, and weapons of larger than rifle caliber began appearing on both sides of the conflict. The larger rounds were needed to defeat the armor that was being introduced to the battlefield, both on the ground and in the air. During World War I, the Germans introduced a heavily armored airplane, the [[Junkers J.I]]. The armor made aircraft machine guns using conventional rifle ammunition (such as the [[.30-06]]) ineffective.<ref name="Chinn 1951 333">{{Harvnb|Chinn|1951|p=333}}, stating "The Germans put a heavily armored plane into service during the closing days of World War I. This act made obsolete for all time the rifle-caliber machine gun for aerial use. Some countries were slower to accept the fact than others but nevertheless, it cannot be disputed. The United States was among the first to come to this realization.<!-- The dramatic incident that caused it was the shooting down by such an aircraft of the young pilot, [[Quentin Roosevelt]]. -->"</ref>
Consequently, the [[American Expeditionary Force]]'s commander General [[John J. Pershing]] asked for a larger caliber machine gun.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chinn|1951|pp=181–182}}</ref> Pershing asked the Army Ordnance Department to develop a machine gun with a caliber of at least {{convert|0.50|in|mm|sigfig=3}} and a muzzle velocity of at least {{convert|2700|ft/s|m/s}}.<ref name="Chinn 1951 333"/> U.S. Col. [[John Henry Parker (general)|John Henry Parker]], commanding a machine gun school in France, observed the effectiveness of a [[11×59mmR Gras#"Balloon buster"|French {{convert|11|mm|in|abbr=on|adj=on}} Gras incendiary
Around July 1917, John M. Browning started redesigning his .30-06 [[M1917 Browning machine gun|M1917]] machine gun for a larger and more powerful round. Winchester worked on the cartridge, which was a scaled-up version of the .30-06. Winchester initially added a rim to the cartridge because the company wanted to use the cartridge in an anti-tank rifle, but Pershing insisted the cartridge be rimless.<ref name="Chinn182"/> In order to adapt his machine gun to .50 cal Browning had to introduce a proper hydraulic [[recoil buffer]] instead of a cheaper stack of fiber disks on .30-cal M1917 and M1919 which he also tried on the M1921, as well as breech block cushioning.<ref name="patent">{{US-patent|1628226A}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1614 | title=.30 Caliber Browning Buffering Systems }}</ref>
The first .50 caliber machine gun underwent trials on 15 October 1918. It fired at less than 500 rounds per minute, and the muzzle velocity was only {{convert|2300|ft/s|m/s|abbr=on}}. Cartridge improvements were promised.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chinn|1951|p=183}}</ref> The gun was heavy, difficult to control, fired too slowly for the anti-personnel role, and was not powerful enough against armor.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chinn|1951|p=184}}</ref> While the .50 caliber was being developed, some [[Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr|German T Gewehr 1918]] anti-tank rifles and ammunition were seized. The [[13.2mm TuF|German rounds]] had a muzzle velocity of {{convert|2700|ft/s|m/s|abbr=on}}, an {{convert|800|gr|g|abbr=on}} bullet, and could penetrate armor {{convert|1|inch|mm|abbr=on}} thick at a range of {{convert|250|yard|m|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chinn|1951|p=184}}. Chinn states that the German round was 12.7-mm anti-tank, but it may have been the [[13.2mm TuF]] round. The Germans were working on their [[MG 18 TuF]] heavy machine gun.</ref> Winchester improved the .50 caliber round to have similar performance. Ultimately, the muzzle velocity was {{convert|2750|ft/s|m/s|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chinn|1951|p=186}}</ref>
Both the [[United States Army|US Army]] and the [[United States Navy|US Navy]] adopted the M1921 after World War I, using it mostly as a static anti-aircraft weapon due to its {{convert|121| lb|abbr=on}} weight.<ref>{{cite book |title=Weapons of Patton's Armies |last=Green |first=Michael |year=2000 |publisher=Zenith Imprint |isbn=0-7603-0821-7 |pages=31–33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a8jk6165Q08C
A slightly improved version, the M1921A1, was introduced in 1930 with all of the M1921s being upgraded. The gun weighed {{convert|79|lb|abbr=on}} without water, was {{convert|56|in|m|abbr=on}} long, and had a {{convert|36|in|m|adj=on}} long barrel. The gun was mounted on a pedestal mount with three horizontal legs. It had a 500-650 rounds per minute rate of fire.
Development continued and the M1921A1 was replaced by the water-cooled .50-caliber [[M2 Browning]] in 1933. Ground and aircraft air-cooled versions of the M2 were also adopted
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==References==▼
{{Reflist}}▼
=== General bibliography ===▼
* {{Citation |author-link=George M. Chinn |last=Chinn |first=George M. |title=The Machine Gun: History, Evolution and Development of Manually Operated, Full Automatic, and Power Driven Aircraft Machine Guns |year=1951 |volume=1|publisher=Department of the Navy, Bureau of Ordnance}}▼
==See also==
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* [[List of individual weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces]]
* [[List of U.S. Army weapons by supply catalog designation]]
* [[
* [[.
* [[MG 18 TuF]]
▲==References==
▲{{Reflist}}
▲* {{Citation |author-link=George M. Chinn |last=Chinn |first=George M. |title=The Machine Gun: History, Evolution and Development of Manually Operated, Full Automatic, and Power Driven Aircraft Machine Guns |year=1951 |volume=1|publisher=Department of the Navy, Bureau of Ordnance}}
[[Category:.50 BMG machine guns]]
[[Category:Machine guns of the United States]]
[[Category:Military equipment introduced in the 1920s]]
[[Category:Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1921]]
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