The ten fastest-firing machine guns of World War II
During World War II, machine guns were one of the main means of holding back advancing enemy infantry. It's all about their rate of fire, which ensured sufficient density of fire.
The top ten fastest-firing machine guns of that time were opened by the Type 99, a Japanese-made machine gun whose rate of fire was the lowest among the other weapons of this class presented in the top ten. It fired an average of 550 rounds per minute. Due to the high cost, the Japanese industry was able to produce no more than one hundred thousand machine guns of this type from 1939 to 1945.
In ninth place in terms of rate of fire is the American heavy machine gun of the Browning M2 system, capable of firing from 450 to 600 rounds per minute. The M2 was developed in 1932 based on the earlier Browning 1921. Various modifications of this machine gun are still used by the US Army today. In total, more than three million M2 machine guns were produced.
The list continues with the Czech ZB-30 machine gun, which had a rate of fire of 500-600 rounds per minute. The machine gun was created in 1924-1926 and chambered for the German 7,9x57 mm cartridge. It was equipped with a box magazine for 20 rounds. A total of 200 thousand machine guns of this type were manufactured.
Different models of the Browning M1918 light machine gun had different rates of fire - on average from 500 to 650 rounds per minute. The M1918 was created in 1917 specifically for the US Expeditionary Force in Europe and was intended to replace earlier French machine guns. The machine gun could be carried on a belt, but American soldiers preferred to use it from a bipod. In total, more than 350 thousand units of M1918 machine guns were produced.
The Soviet 7,62 Goryunov SG-43 machine gun, which had a rate of fire of 500-700 rounds per minute, was created in 1943 to replace the Maxim machine gun and already in the same year entered service with the active army. The SG-43 was distinguished by its simplicity of design, survivability of parts and trouble-free operation.
Next on the list are the Maxim machine gun model 1910 with a rate of fire of 600-900 rounds per minute, the Soviet 7,62 mm heavy machine gun DS-39 (600-1200 rounds per minute), the Soviet heavy heavy-caliber DShK (600-1200 rounds per minute) and German MG 34.
The fastest-firing machine gun of the Second World War (not counting aviation) was a German MG 42, capable of firing between 900 and 1500 rounds per minute. It was developed and adopted by the Wehrmacht in 1942.
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