New Made Item: The M60 machine gun began development in the late 1940s as a program for a new, lighter 7.62 mm machine gun. It was derived from German machine guns of World War II (most notably the FG 42 and to a lesser extent the MG 42), but it contained American innovations as well. Early prototypes, notably the T52 and T161 bore a close resemblance to both the M1941 Johnson machine gun and the FG-42. It was intended to replace the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle and M1919A6 Browning machine gun in the squad automatic weapon role, and in the medium machine gun role.
The U.S. Army officially adopted the M60 in 1957. It later served in the Vietnam War as a squad automatic weapon with many U.S. units. Every soldier in the rifle squad would carry an additional 200 linked rounds of ammunition for the M60, a spare barrel, or both. The up-gunned M113 armored personnel carrier ACAV added two M60 gunners beside the main .50 caliber machine gun, and the Patrol Boat, River had one in addition to two .50 cal mounts.
During the Vietnam War, the M60 received the nickname “The Pig” due to its size.
Our solid resin non-firing display gun is nothing short of stunning. It really does look like the real thing from just a few feet away. It was cast from a silicon mold of an original M60 in the IMA collection and therefore is not only an accurate 1:1 scale but…
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