
The M240B is a belt-fed general purpose machine gun used by the United States military. It is the US version of the FN MAG, which has been one of the most widely used machine guns in the world. The M240B fires the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge from disintegrating metal-link belts. It features a quick-change barrel, a bipod, and a fixed stock. The M240B replaced the M60 machine gun as the US standard medium machine gun. It is used as an infantry support weapon, coaxial vehicle gun, and helicopter door gun.
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The M240 is the U.S. military designation for the Belgian-designed FN MAG (Mitrailleuse d'Appui General), a belt-fed, gas-operated, air-cooled general purpose machine gun chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO. Widely considered one of the finest GPMGs ever built, the M240 is renowned for its exceptional reliability under adverse conditions, robust construction, and sustained fire capability. It fires from an open bolt at a cyclic rate of 650 to 950 rounds per minute with an effective range exceeding 1,100 meters with the tripod mount. The M240 is deployed in multiple configurations including the M240B infantry variant with a buttstock and bipod, the M240C coaxial tank version, and the M240D helicopter door gun. The weapon traces its lineage to the original FN MAG designed by Ernest Vervier in the 1950s.
The M60E4, also designated as the Mk 43 Mod 0, is the final and most refined version of the M60 general-purpose machine gun. It fires the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge from a disintegrating-link belt feed. The M60E4 features a redesigned bipod attached to the receiver rather than the barrel, a shorter barrel with a new flash suppressor, and improved handguards. The weapon weighs less than its predecessors and has a collapsible buttstock on some variants. It uses a long-stroke gas piston system with a rotating bolt head.
The M60 is an American 7.62×51mm NATO general-purpose machine gun. Known as 'The Pig', it served as the primary U.S. squad-level machine gun from the Vietnam War through the Gulf War, where it gained a mixed reputation for firepower and reliability issues.