The M60, officially the Machine Gun, Caliber 7.62 mm, M60, is a family of American general-purpose machine guns firing 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges from a disintegrating belt of M13 links. There are several types of ammunition approved for use in the M60, including ball, tracer, and armor-piercing rounds. [5]

Apr 1, 2002 · The new T161 weapon was modeled after the T52 series but developed with improved mass production techniques incorporated into it. In addition, the T161 series had the actuator lug for the belt feed mechanism on the bolt rather than on the rear of the operating rod as used in the T52 series.

Apr 9, 2024 · Despite tipping the scales at 23 lbs., the T161 was adopted and re-designated the M60. The BAR weighed about 16 lbs. The open bolt, gas-operated, air-cooled, and belt-fed M60 offered plenty of firepower against structures and vehicles and throw plenty of lead down range.

The M60 machine gun was what the military called a “crew-served weapon,” requiring a team of three soldiers to transport, load, and fire it. It was capable of several types of fire: grazing, plunging, flanking, oblique, and enfilading.

Feb 20, 2023 · The gun weighed almost ten pounds less than the M1919A6, tipping the scales at around twenty-three pounds. The T161E3 was adopted as the M60 on 30 January 1957. The M60 would see its first combat use in the Vietnam War in 1965 with the U.S. Marines.

Apr 24, 2023 · The T161 Barrel will have a stamped bipod yoke. True T161s will also have different shaped flash hiders (less pointy). The Gas cylinder on the T161 is also machined slightly differently.

The M60 machine gun is a gas-operated, belt-fed, air-cooled weapon which fires from an open bolt and in automatic mode only. It has quick-change barrels with no need for headspace adjustments. Most of the steel partsare produced using stamping and forming techniques.

Jul 7, 2011 · The M60 is a gas-operated, air-cooled, belt-fed, automatic machine gun that fires from the open-bolt position. It has a maximum rate of fire of 550 rounds per minute.

Jun 16, 2016 · Though the M60 is reputed to have a mercurial nature, overall it has proven to be a reliable, robust weapon. During its development, one T161E2 machine gun was put through a sustained fire test in which it fired 25,000 rounds over the course of four hours at a rate of 100 rounds per minute.

Jul 22, 2022 · Refined in multiple phases, the final iteration before formal adoption was the T161, which in the end was very close to the M60 that would be America's chief infantry machine gun starting from Vietnam and on through the Cold War.