M60 machine gun
general-purpose light machine gun
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.
It was adopted in 1960 and issued to units later that year. It has served with every branch of the U.S. military and still serves with the armed forces of other nations. Its manufacture and continued upgrade for military and commercial purchase continues into the 21st century, although it has been replaced or supplemented in most roles by other designs, such as the M240 machine gun in U.S. service.
Overview
The M60 is a belt-fed machine gun that fires the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge (similar to .308 Winchester), which is commonly used in larger rifles, such as the M14. The gun's weight and the amount of ammunition it can consume when firing make it difficult for a single soldier to carry and operate, so it is generally used as a crew-served weapon, operated by a team of two or three individuals. The team consists of the gunner, the assistant gunner (AG), and the ammunition bearer. The gunner carries the weapon and between 200 and 1,000 rounds of ammunition depending on strength and stamina. The assistant carries a spare barrel and extra ammunition and reloads and spots targets for the gunner.
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This entry incorporates text from “M60 machine gun” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.