The Browning Machine Gun

The Browning “50-cal” has become the longest serving weapon in the US inventory. The “fifty” has been employed in every imaginable role for a machine gun. It is considered such an effective and reliable weapon that few countries ever attempted to develop an equivalent weapon. Even the Japanese created a copy of it during World War II when the US was producing literally thousands every month to use in every theater. This is a history of the development of this famous weapon, its most critical operational use and the variants that have been produced to keep it at the forefront of the action.

First adopted in 1917, the rugged and reliable Browning .30-caliber machine gun remained in US service into the Vietnam era, and is still occasionally found in use elsewhere even today. Produced in both water-cooled and air-cooled versions, it has been employed in every imaginable role for a machine gun – antipersonnel, antiaircraft, mounted on aircraft as both defensive and offensive armament, defensive armament aboard vehicles (armored and soft-skin), mounted on watercraft, and others. Employing gripping first-hand testimony and featuring specially commissioned illustrations and detailed photographs, many in color, this lively study of the Browning .30-caliber machine gun reveals the origins, combat history and legacy of this versatile and dependable weapon.

"The .30 caliber Browning machine gun was adopted by the United States Army in the closing months of World War One. After the war ended there was little interest in development or manufacture of machine guns. In 1939, as the world braced itself for another major war, the Browning machine gun was being placed into mass production in the United States. Over 1,800,000 would be built before the war ended. The venerable Brownings in both .30 and .50 caliber were used by ground forces and were mounted on every vehicle, tank and aircraft the U.S. and her allies sent into the fight. The Brownings served with distinction through World War Two and beyond. This book is about the history, development and use of these famous weapons."--Back cover.