M60.

[Music] accuracy is overrated in the chaos of combat you might not know where the enemy is but with enough firepower you can always make them keep their heads down the m60 a classic post-war American machine gun known for its service in Vietnam and its role in action cinema so what prompted the development of a new machine gun what problems did this design face what makes it perfect for on-screen action the end of world war ii was relief for a world weary of conflict but to call what followed peace wouldn't be entirely accurate warfare had entered a nuclear age and the tactics and equipment used at the start of the war were now woefully inadequate the greatest lessons from war are taught by the opposition and the Americans look to the tactics and captured equipment of the Germans to better understand their own shortcomings [Music] German squads consisted of 10 men one squad leader five rifleman one SMG user for close range support and a three-man machine gun crew the bolt-action k9 tak rifles carried by most of the squad were arguably out of date but that didn't really matter as their job was to protect the mg carry extra ammunition in spare barrels and flush the enemy into its fire everything hinged on the machine gun fortunately Germany had a pretty good one at the start of the war they used the mg34 a belt-fed design that was light enough to be carried by a single soldier but nonetheless capable of sustained automatic fire it was supplemented by the later and more famous mg42 design simpler cheaper easier to manufacture and with an astonishingly high rate of fire that earned it the nickname Hitler's buzzsaw comparatively the American automatic rifleman was issued with the m1918 bar firing at about half the rate from measly 20 round box magazines it was this difference in suppressive firepower a post-war America sort of remedy and so work began on a new machine gun designed by committee and not shy of taking elements from German designs early prototypes fused the semi bullpup configuration of the FG 42 with the feed system of the fearsome mg 42 originally designed to fire the Springfield 3006 cartridge the pending standardization of the shorter more modern NATO round led to prototypes being adapted for this new caliber tested revised and realized during the 1950's fending off foreign competitions such as the Belgian FN mag the new machine gun was finally adopted in 1957 designated the m60 one standout trait is the weapons versatility with a vehicle mounted on tripod or prone with bipod it remains effective even when fired standing from the shoulder compared to the bar an M 19 1986 it was a dream the perfect compromise between sustained fire and portability by now the situation in Vietnam was getting worse prompting America to take escalating action in order to contain the irresistible spread of communism American soldiers deployed for combat than the m60 s first real performance test Vietnam was a taxing environment and firing thousands upon thousands of rounds will quickly identify any flaws in a design some parts were surprisingly fragile requiring expedient repair in the field and without diligent maintenance stoppages and failures would become frequent and so the weapon earns rather a mixed reputation becoming affectionately known as the pig it was big it was heavy a pain to carry with a voracious appetite for ammunition but when things got hairy its ability to lay down suppressive fire was very welcome indeed alongside the new m16 the m60 became a familiar sight in war photography its large size and impressive looking ammunition belts particularly distinctive public attitude to the war was rapidly souring however and the rising counterculture of the late sixties clamored for its end as America's will to fight evaporated the Communists redoubled their ferocity prompting an American withdraw and leading to the fall of Saigon this wasn't like World War two no heroes nor a noble goal Vietnam was an impotent mess a foreign war with pointless involvement pockmarked with atrocity the war was over and America was hurt it was around this time that new Hollywood was emerging a shift away from safe studio led projects to a more artistic and daring direction films like The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now were a far cry from your typical war movie there was no glory in their depiction of war but despite the surrounding tragedy there is a vein of black humor that flows through these depictions of Vietnam not to mention a killer soundtrack by the 1980s the counter cultural hangover was slowly giving way to a new wave of optimism and we saw the re-emergence of a proud American identity reckless untamed and free the m60 was the logical choice for a chaotic force like Rambo strongly reminiscent of Vietnam and an embodiment of America's struggle sling an ammo belt over your shoulder and enter the jungle there's something about the m60 that screams out a reckless fire from the hip perhaps it's because the weapon is quite well suited to it more so than most machine guns at least American doctrine has long favored a walking fire concept the ability to move while still suppressing the enemy and like the Thompson and bar before it the m60 was made with this in mind there is also the fact that it's just plain cool for a while the m60 was the king of action movie firepower at least until it was usurped by the minigun a vent for all the misgivings and frustrations pent up over the last decade the action genre was a Vietnam do-over a chance to reinvent the hero where the good guys win by shooting all the bad guys until they die the machine gun cobbled together from World War two have led an exciting life but it would be a relatively short one wear and tear took its toll on too many parts and as inventory aged reliability plummeted later design variants attempted to address these issues the m60 III and later efore brought performance up to a more acceptable grade but it was already starting to be replaced belgian rival the FN mag now performed the m60 in testing significantly firing over three times as many rounds on average before stoppage or failure and so the mag was adopted by the US as the m240 in 1977 replacing the m60 in vehicle-mounted roles in 1982 the FN minimi was adopted as the m249 saw displacing the m60 s infantry role in 1995 the m240 Bravo stepped in to fill the demand for an infantry character medium machine gun relegating the m60 to limited use it might have been homegrown but when faced with plainly better alternatives good enough isn't nearly good enough still it might have been a mid-century stopgap a mishmash of wartime design and a mascot of an unpopular war but the pig still performed its duty a beastly birth a drudged a hub some love it others hated it but the m60 never failed an impression an imperfect hero not without flaw but a hero nonetheless the m16 get some get some get some thank you very much for watching and until next time farewell

Channel: Ahoy

Views: 2,433,928

Rating: 4.9536786 out of 5

Keywords: xboxahoy, m60, m60 machine gun, rambo gun, rambo, machine gun, gmpg, lmg, vietnam, vietnam war, nam, black ops, vietcong

Id: OTh4f7ye1IQ

Length: 10min 5sec (605 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 17 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Marrriottt]

Next up: Rocket Launcher.

My body is ready.

[u/hanj82]

Ahoy seems to be upping his uploading speed. I am very happy.

[u/Gizortnik]

As a reminder, his firing animations come from World Of Guns, which is the only game he doesn't credit for some reason.

[u/waka789]

Sees new ahoy video

Stops what he was doing

Starts watching

Finishes

Realizes In meeting

Boss asks him what he was doing

Says wife sent him message

Boss asks what

She had a baby

Asks babies name

His name is M60

[u/porksoda11]

Never seen this channel before, and now I'm subscribed. Well off to binge some of these later I guess!

[u/captainchaosofthesea]

In Vietnam, once an M60 gunner started shooting, the enemy would focus their fire on him. The lifespan of an M60 gunner, once a firefight started, was 7-9 seconds. The amount of balls one had to have to carry a 26 pound gun around only to be shot in less than 10 seconds is immense. If you're interested in a first hand account of a m60 gunner check out the book "Guns Up". It's a very well written book.

[u/Skunk73]

Having carried the M60 in an infantry outfit, I can honestly say "fuck that thing".

I was the smallest guy in my squad, but the most proficient guy with the M60, so I got stuck with it. I was overjoyed when our unit finally got the SAW, and then we ended up being re-MOSed to 19K less than a year later.

[u/Just_Kos]

Bob Ross = Bob Ross of Painting

Hickok45 = Bob Ross of Guns

Ahoy = Bob Ross of video game centric gun documentaries

[u/peksu76]

Congrats, you win the karma lottery.