0:02 While the Allies hated German machine
0:03 guns in World War II for their
0:05 incredibly high rate of fire, the
0:07 Germans, on the other hand, hated the
0:09 incredible power of the M2 Browning and
0:12 its 50BMG cartridge. After all, it
0:14 didn't get nicknames like meat chopper
0:16 and crout for nothing. But the real
0:18 story is actually much darker and well,
0:20 as you could imagine, after being hit by
0:22 such a round, more gruesome. Okay, so
0:25 let's go back now and explain why and
0:27 how what would turn out to be the M2 was
0:29 created. In World War I, it was realized
0:31 how important effective machine guns
0:33 were. But during that time, machine guns
0:35 were firing the same ammunition as
0:37 infantry rifles. And as new wonders of
0:39 the battlefield emerged, like the first
0:41 armored planes and tanks, they showed
0:43 the need for something with a heavier
0:45 punch. So, General John Persing
0:47 specifically demanded a new machine gun
0:49 that could destroy these things much
0:51 more effectively than the 30 caliber
0:53 machine guns they had. That request was
0:55 given to John Browning, America's most
0:57 famous gun designer. He got the
0:59 requirements to create a new machine gun
1:01 that would fire a half-inch round at a
1:04 velocity over 2700 feet per second,
1:05 which was a significant jump from
1:07 anything he had designed before. He then
1:10 took his already reliable M191730
1:12 caliber water cooled machine gun and
1:14 basically scaled it up to fire a new
1:16 much larger cartridge. That new
1:18 cartridge was also a scaled up version
1:21 of the 3006 with a specific request to
1:23 be rimless for smoother feeding and with
1:24 some inspiration from the captured
1:27 German 13.2 2 mm anti-tank rifle
1:31 cartridge. It became the 50BMG or 12.7
1:33 by 99 mm. They didn't know it at the
1:35 time, but they had created one of the
1:37 most effective cartridges that was soon
1:39 about to have plenty of use on the
1:41 battlefield. After some back and forth,
1:42 the first prototype was ready for
1:45 testing and soon entered production as
1:48 the M1921, a water cooled, heavy machine
1:50 gun intended mostly for anti-aircraft
1:52 use. It was then tested to see where
1:54 else it could be used. And at first, it
1:55 wasn't looking very promising.
1:57 Infantrymen couldn't handle it as it was
1:59 too heavy to carry. Weighing about 120
2:02 lbs in the water cooled version or £84
2:03 for the lighter air cooled model with
2:06 the tripod adding another £44. So a
2:09 complete ground setup ranging between
2:12 130 and 170 lb plus all the ammo for it
2:14 which also wasn't light was not giving a
2:16 promising future. Not to mention it had
2:18 substantial recoil making it difficult
2:21 to fire accurately. Smaller aircraft of
2:23 the time also couldn't make much use of
2:25 it. And for vehicle use mounted in early
2:27 small turrets, it was also problematic
2:29 as it could be fed only from the left
2:31 side. So at first the only real use was
2:33 as an anti-aircraft coastal gun, but no
2:35 one could imagine just how everything
2:37 would soon change. John Browning passed
2:40 away in 1926, but development continued
2:42 and his design was refined. Internal
2:43 parts were changed so the feeding could
2:45 be quickly switched between left or
2:47 right side feed by changing the top
2:48 cover. and a universal receiver was
2:50 developed on which could be mounted
2:52 either a water cooled barrel with its
2:54 jacket, a heavy air cooled barrel or a
2:55 light air cooled barrel for aircraft
2:57 use. This concept now began looking
2:59 promising and with other smaller
3:00 improvements, the gun got the
3:02 designation M2 Browning machine gun.
3:04 During this time, other nations had
3:06 turned to heavier weapons like 20 or 30
3:08 mm cannons. But the Americans believed
3:10 the 50 caliber's high velocity and
3:12 adaptability would still make it
3:14 effective. So, it stayed in production.
3:16 and just how effective it would be was
3:18 now going to be found out as the new
3:20 global conflict began. And the M2 turned
3:23 into the legendary Marduce. 50 caliber
3:25 or just 50 as soldiers would soon be
3:27 calling it. Muse, if you didn't know,
3:29 was coined from the words mother and
3:31 deuce, meaning two. Something like
3:33 mother of machine guns. And it turned
3:35 out to be quite close to that. Now, as
3:37 World War II broke out, the United
3:39 States already had M2s serving in
3:41 multiple roles. Fixed aircraft guns,
3:43 anti-aircraft guns mounted on ships,
3:45 bombers, or vehicles. and of course on
3:47 tripod mounts for infantry use.
3:49 Effective against almost anything they
3:51 might encounter on the battlefield. At
3:52 first, the biggest use was on aircraft
3:55 with lighter barrels and a tuned up rate
3:57 of fire from around 500 to about 1,200
3:59 rounds per minute. Remember, this is
4:01 almost the same rate of fire as the
4:04 German MG42, although it was meant only
4:06 for short bursts and was tuned up so
4:07 much because on aircraft or
4:09 anti-aircraft use, you'd have only a
4:11 shorttime window before your targets got
4:13 out of sight. And in some
4:15 configurations, the M2 really reached
4:17 absurd levels. Like for example, you've
4:19 all heard of the B17 Flying Fortress
4:21 Bomber, which used M2s for protection
4:23 against enemy fighter interceptors. In
4:26 the G model, it carried up to 13 of them
4:28 mounted in twin configurations in
4:30 various turrets. The fighter bomber P47
4:32 Thunderbolt had eight of them, four in
4:35 each wing. While the Douglas A26 Invader
4:36 took this to another level with, listen
4:39 to this, up to 18 M2s, mounting eight in
4:42 the nose, four in each wing, and two in
4:44 the turret. The M2 immediately proved to
4:45 be a significant improvement over
4:48 lighter around 30 caliber machine guns
4:49 early in the war, and had that neat
4:52 balance between rate of fire and single
4:53 round power. More than enough to down an
4:55 enemy fighter or bomber aircraft. It
4:57 could easily go through engine blocks,
4:59 especially with armor-piercing rounds.
5:00 And when you have several of them firing
5:02 at the same time, it's dangerous for
5:04 anything on the battlefield. American
5:06 fighter planes would strafe locomotives,
5:08 armored vehicles, and even tanks with
5:10 great effectiveness since the roof armor
5:12 was always thinner. Very soon into the
5:14 war, the heavy barrel variant became a
5:16 must-have on almost all tanks and
5:17 vehicles and wherever else they could
5:20 mount it. Already by 1945, millions of
5:22 M2s had been produced, making it the
5:24 most produced machine gun ever. And the
5:26 Germans were frustrated that American
5:28 heavy machine guns were simply
5:30 everywhere on the battlefield. This also
5:32 made every attack from low-flying
5:34 fighter aircraft or dive bombers like
5:36 the Stooka much riskier because almost
5:38 every jeep halftrack and tank had a 50.
5:41 This is why on tanks the M2 was mounted
5:42 on the back of the turret and operated
5:44 by a soldier standing on the engine
5:46 deck. This way it could fire upward in
5:47 case of an air attack, although the
5:49 gunner was outside the relative safety
5:51 of his tank. Before we get into battle,
5:53 here is an explanation in case you ever
5:54 wondered why Browning's barrel goes back
5:57 after firing. The M2 operates on the
5:59 short recoil principle where the barrel
6:01 and bolts start locked together and move
6:03 rearward as one unit after firing. That
6:05 keeps the cartridge case supported while
6:06 chamber pressure is still high so it
6:08 would not rupture when extraction
6:09 begins. After traveling backwards some
6:12 10 mm, the barrel stops and the bolt
6:13 continues rearward on its own,
6:15 extracting and ejecting the spent case.
6:17 As it moves, it compresses the recoil
6:19 spring which pushes the bolt forward
6:21 again, extracting a new round from the
6:22 disintegrating belt, chambers it and
6:24 fires again, repeating the process for
6:26 as long as the trigger is pressed. Now,
6:28 let us talk about how the Germans looked
6:30 upon them and why they hated the 50s for
6:32 several reasons. The first and most
6:34 obvious one is that Americans began
6:36 relying more and more on overwhelming
6:38 firepower as their main tactic. And the
6:40 Germans, of course, were terrified by
6:42 it. The Americans never suffered from a
6:44 lack of ammo like the Germans did. And
6:45 it seemed that anything with wheels or
6:47 wings on the battlefield had at least
6:49 one heavy machine gun. Getting shot at
6:52 by 50 cals is nowhere near the same as
6:54 smaller caliber rounds. And they
6:56 significantly outrange lighter machine
6:57 guns. Just look at the difference
7:00 between the 8 mm mouser round the MG42
7:02 fired and the 50 caliber beside it. The
7:05 50 delivers between 5 and 10 times more
7:07 energy than all other weapons used by
7:09 the infantry. So, if you were fighting
7:11 from a house, for example, concrete or
7:12 brick walls would not protect you
7:14 anymore as the rounds would either go
7:16 through the wall and kill you, or if not
7:18 with the first round, a longer burst
7:19 concentrated on one spot would collapse
7:21 the whole wall section or shred your
7:23 sandbag bunker. Even better armored
7:25 tanks like the Panza 4 when hit by heavy
7:27 50 caliber fire could let some rounds
7:29 slip through, especially from the side
7:31 or rear or have their optics and tracks
7:33 damaged or turret jammed. lightly
7:34 armored Japanese tanks in the Pacific,
7:36 for example, were knocked out by the 50s
7:38 easily, especially when they came in
7:39 banzai charges, which happened on
7:41 multiple occasions. Surprising American
7:43 tankers who opened up on them with
7:45 everything they had. There is also one
7:47 controversial thing about the 50 in
7:49 World War II, and that is the myth that
7:51 it was said to have been banned by the
7:52 Geneva Conventions because of its
7:54 devastating effect on the human body.
7:56 This was a myth, but the effect on the
7:58 body was not exaggerated. Basically, if
8:01 you are hit by a 50 in any part of the
8:02 body, you are either going to lose that
8:05 part if surviving without it is possible
8:07 or you're going to die. And many German
8:08 soldiers were unfortunate enough to
8:11 witness that. When the 50 BMG's energy
8:13 transferred to a human body, it created
8:15 an effect so gruesome that we can't even
8:17 describe it here because of YouTube, but
8:19 I'm sure you get the idea. If it can do
8:22 that to a wall or a watermelon, imagine
8:23 what it does to a human body. So, now
8:25 you understand the German soldiers
8:27 concern about it. They adapted their
8:29 tactics to counter American heavy
8:31 machine gun positions, shifting from
8:32 direct assaults to taking them out with
8:34 snipers, tanks, or indirect fire with
8:36 mortars and artillery. And to add on top
8:39 of that, the Germans never had anything
8:41 like it. Their heavy machine gun of the
8:44 war was the MG42 or the MG34 when
8:46 mounted on the Lefett tripod, which was
8:48 considered the heavy machine gun
8:49 configuration. And while the Lefet
8:51 tripod was really ingenious and gave
8:54 German machine guns extreme accuracy and
8:56 greater range, the 8 mm Mouser round
8:58 they were firing had nowhere near the
9:01 punch the 50BMG had. The closest thing
9:03 to the M2 the Germans had was their 13
9:06 mm heavy machine gun, but it was used
9:07 only on fighter aircraft. The Germans
9:10 did plan to use captured M2s mounted on
9:12 hubot as anti-aircraft weapons when they
9:14 had to surface to charge batteries. And
9:17 they even produced copies of 50 BMG
9:18 rounds for this purpose, which shows
9:20 they respected it, although actual use
9:23 occurred only in rare cases. Now, before
9:24 we get into some terrifying
9:26 modifications of the M2 machine gun,
9:28 let's take a look at the different round
9:30 types they are shooting. The standard
9:32 one was ball full metal jacket with some
9:34 serious destructive force, of course,
9:36 but there are also specialized exotic
9:38 variants making it even more effective.
9:40 Firstly, we have several versions of
9:41 armor-piercing rounds that could
9:43 penetrate around an inch of hardened
9:45 steel. Then we have incendury rounds
9:47 designed to ignite flammable material
9:49 which is quite effective when you shoot
9:51 at enemy aircraft for example. So on top
9:53 of its fuel leaking upon hit, it could
9:55 also be easily ignited. There are
9:57 armor-piercing incenduries combining
9:58 both functions of the two rounds
10:00 previously mentioned. Armor-piercing
10:02 incendury tracer, as the name suggests,
10:04 adds a tracer element for spotting hits,
10:06 which again is useful for anti-aircraft
10:08 fire or for adjusting your fire at
10:10 longer range, as you'd see where the
10:12 rounds are landing because the 50 BMG
10:14 rounds are effective even at longer
10:17 ranges of over 2 km. Belts for M2 are
10:18 usually loaded with a combination of
10:20 rounds with a tracer every fifth round
10:22 for standard ground use, while aircraft
10:24 would load a combination of armor
10:26 piercing, incenduries, and tracers for
10:27 dog fights or ground attacks, depending
10:30 on for what job they needed it. After
10:31 World War II, some fancy interesting
10:33 rounds were developed, like the Ralphos
10:35 multi-purpose round. This one combined
10:37 everything in one cartridge with an
10:39 armor-piercing tungsten core, plus a
10:41 small explosive and incendury charge
10:43 that also creates fragmentation. It
10:45 behaves like a 20 mm cannon shell but in
10:49 a 50BMG package. Then there's the SLAP,
10:51 short for saboted light armor
10:52 penetrator, which works similarly to
10:54 much larger armor-piercing discarding
10:56 Sabbath rounds that tanks are firing. It
10:58 has a small subcaliber penetrator made
11:00 from very dense material, usually
11:02 tungsten, and has much better armor
11:04 penetration while being quite effective
11:06 against light armored vehicles or
11:08 helicopters. However, these are usually
11:10 used in sniper rifles as it is not a
11:12 cheap round to fire in full auto. Oh,
11:14 and yeah, while we mentioned sniper
11:17 rifles, the 50BMG cartridge impressed
11:19 the American military so much that they
11:21 built a sniper rifle around it. The most
11:23 famous example is Carlos Hathcock, the
11:25 legendary sniper from the Vietnam War,
11:27 who experimented with an M2 machine gun
11:29 by mounting a telescopic sight on it for
11:31 engaging targets with single shots at
11:33 long range where standard smaller
11:34 caliber sniper rifles weren't so
11:36 effective. He even scored confirmed
11:39 kills this way with a scoped M2. This
11:40 inspired and later led to creation of
11:43 the M82 Barrett, the so-called
11:45 anti-materials sniper rifle chambered in
11:47 50 BMG that became famous in the
11:50 American army. This video about the 50
11:52 wouldn't be complete without something
11:54 called the Quad 50. When one heavy
11:56 machine gun is not enough, well, you
11:57 just take four of them and mount them on
11:59 a single platform and point it at
12:01 anything you'd wish to cease to exist.
12:04 This is the M45 Max and quad mount.
12:05 Originally created for mobile defense
12:08 against low-flying aircraft, 50 BMG was
12:10 good for shooting the aircraft down, but
12:12 the problem was its low rate of fire and
12:13 the short time window the gunner had to
12:16 hit a fastmoving target. So it was
12:18 multiplied by four and now every second
12:20 about 40 rounds were fired. Germans had
12:22 similar but even more powerful concept
12:25 with their quad 20 mm anti-aircraft
12:26 cannons, but it was a much heavier
12:28 system specifically for anti-aircraft
12:30 roll while quad 50 was much simpler and
12:33 versatile. electrically operated turret
12:35 could quickly traverse it all around and
12:37 up to 90° upward to quickly get a target
12:39 in sight. It could be positioned on the
12:41 ground on its own or mounted on
12:42 vehicles. And it wasn't long before
12:45 someone turned the Quad 50 on ground
12:46 targets, especially later in the war
12:48 when the Allies gained the upper hand in
12:50 air control, so they didn't have to
12:51 worry much about the Luftvafer. They
12:53 were used for infantry support as well,
12:55 and the effect of 450s firing at a
12:57 single spot is just devastating. This
13:00 Quad50 lived even after the war and saw
13:02 combat in the Korean and Vietnam wars as
13:04 well. It was even creatively mounted on
13:07 trucks to protect convoys from ambushes.
13:09 As for the 50 caliber gunners from the
13:10 Second World War to this day, they have
13:13 serious firepower in their hands. But
13:14 that came with the cost that the enemy
13:16 would do anything to get rid of them as
13:18 soon as possible. So, they'd pretty
13:20 quickly attract the attention of their
13:22 opponents with their distinctive firing
13:24 sound, smoke, and muzzle flashes. I
13:26 don't know why, but for too long,
13:28 earlier 50 caliber gunners on vehicles
13:30 and tanks didn't have shields to protect
13:32 them from enemy small arms fire. They
13:34 were standardized far later in the
13:36 Vietnam War, and even Humvees in more
13:37 modern wars didn't have shields until
13:40 horrible losses from snipers or urban
13:41 combat happened. when they began making
13:43 turrets and later introduced remote
13:46 weapon stations like CRWS that solved
13:48 this problem. Now, instead of sticking
13:50 your head and upper body out to fire the
13:52 machine gun, the gunner fires with
13:54 joystick and camera from the safety of
13:56 his vehicle and uses advanced tech like
13:58 a laser rangefinder, night vision,
13:59 thermal views, and so on. They are even
14:02 made to work not just with 50s, but also
14:04 other machine guns or automatic grenade
14:06 launchers. As for the M2 Browning, it's
14:08 fascinating how far it got from a weapon
14:10 that wasn't looking so promising at
14:12 first. So far, in fact, that it is still
14:14 very much used to this day with only
14:15 minor changes and improvements to it and
14:17 the same core design from over a century
14:20 ago. The most visible recent change was
14:23 the M2A1 configuration with improved
14:25 barrel change system, flash suppressor,
14:26 and a manual safety, but other than
14:28 that, it's more or less the same weapon.
14:31 I said this about the MG42, how
14:33 fascinating it is that such an old
14:35 design is still used today in a
14:36 modernized version. But when I did
14:38 research for Mardus, I realized that
14:40 it's even older, literally coming from
14:42 the First World War, and it still
14:44 remains a very useful platform and
14:46 caliber with no retirement on the
