Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!linac!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Who designed & produced the M60 GPMG? Message-ID: <1991Mar4.210301.6800@cbnews.att.com> Date: 4 Mar 91 21:03:01 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (william.b.thacker) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 78 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Will Martin >Who designed the M60 General Purpose Machine Gun? Was it Stoner? >Who produced the M60 GPMG? Was it Browning? Fabrique National? I did a bit of research to answer this question, in the following sources: Gun Digest Book of Assault Weapons, 2nd Ed, ed. by Jack Lewis Small Arms of the World, 12th Ed, by E. C. Ezell Jane's Infantry Weapons 1987-88, ed by Ian Hogg Got some general agreement but a few conflicts on the details. The short answer to "who designed it" seems to be "nobody in particular" -- maybe a committee (perhaps that's why it didn't work all that well! :-). No source credits any individual with the design. During 1947, comparative tests were run on various candidates for a general-purpose lightweight machine gun (it appears these took place at Springfield Armory). Among the candidates was the T52, designed by the Bridge Tool & Die Works of Philadelphia, PA. Based on the design of the German FG42 automatic rifle, the belt-feed mechanism of the German MG-42 machine gun, and an operating system based on the British Lewis Gun of WWI fame. Over the years, the design was modified to handle the 7.62mm NATO cartridge, and a quick-change barrel feature was incorporated copied from the Czechoslovakian ZB26. Some sources cite the progression of design as T44 -> T52 -> T161. But I've seen "T44" refer to the early design version of the M14 so I don't know if that designation is a duplicate or an error or what... One source says the T161 was a design of the Inland division of General Motors, but another says Inland did a mass-production feasibility-study and design-evaluation contract on the T52, not mentioning "T161". In any case, the final M60 design was adopted by DoD in 1957 and a production contract was awarded to Saco Defense, Inc. (some say "Saco Division of the Maremont Corp.") in Saco, Maine. [Maybe the company name changed slightly over the years due to acquisitions, mergers, etc.] An improved version, the M60E1, was designed to correct some of the faults in the basic design. Two of the sources say that was never put into production, but the changes were finally incorporated in the recently-produced M60E3 version. Small Arms of the World says it *was* produced. I tend to believe Jane's instead. An M60E2 coaxial tank gun version was produced for the USMC. Two aircraft variants, the M60C (remotely charged and fired) and the M60D (pintle-mount, spade grips & rear trigger, as a helicopter door gun), were made. The M60E3 was produced at USMC request, to avoid the life-cycle costs of developing a completely new gun, and has been adopted by them, the Navy, and the USAF. The Army replaced the M60 in the Squad Automatic Weapon role with the M249 5.56mm Minimi. It seems the M60 has been retained in other roles but it wasn't clear if the Army upgraded its M60s to E3 configuration or not. (E3 appears to be circa 1987 vintage.) The E3 version has a lower-pressure gas system, new flash suppressor, barrel changing improved by moving carrying handle to the barrel and the bipod to the front end of the receiver (this lets the barrel be handled without the asbestos glove, plus spare barrels don't also have the weight of the extra bipod on them), the wraparound heat shield removed, pistol grip and sights changed. The trigger group has been modified, a drop-down winter-trigger-guard and ambidextrous safety added, the stock material changed to a lighter Zytel-fibreglass, and the cam roller has been altered to allow loading with the bolt closed. It appears Saco (whoever owns them) is still the prime (or only) military contractor. Civilian versions of the M60 were produced by Rock Island Armory, and they are producing them for the police market currently. They list for $1995 in recent Shotgun News ads. (Tackleberry [the gun nut from the Police Academy movies] would want one in his squad car, I'm sure... :-) Regards, Will wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil