The M1919 was an air-cooled development of the standard U.S. machine gun of World War I, the Browning M1917, as designed by John M. Browning. The weapon originally fired the .30-06 M1 or M2 rifle cartridge from woven cloth belts feeding from from left to right.
Loading was accomplished by opening the top cover, lifting the extractor, inserting the new belt of ammunition into the gun's feed tray, then the extractor was lowered over the first round in the belt, the cover was closed and latched, and the cocking handle was pulled back and released inserting the first round into the barrel's chamber.
When the rear of the trigger is pivoted upwards by the operator, the front of the trigger tips downwards engaging the sear, and the sear, in turn, releases the firing pin allowing it to strike the primer of the cartridge in the chamber.
As an infantry weapon, it was usually crew operated by 2 soldiers: the gunner, who carried the weapon and some spare parts; and the assistant gunner, who carried the tripod and ammunition and when in action fed the ammunition belts into the gun to ensure smooth entry of each round in the belt, decreasing the chance of the weapon jamming.
The original idea was to allow the gun to be more easily packed for transport, and featured a light barrel and bipod when first introduced as the M1919A1. Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that the gun was too heavy to be easily moved, while at the same time too light for sustained fire. This led to the M1919A2, which included a heavier barrel and tripod, and could be continuously fired for longer durations.
The M1919A4 weighed about 31 pounds (14 kg), and usually was mounted on a tripod (for infantry use), or from a fixed mount. It saw wide use in World War II. The gun was mounted on such vehicles as: jeeps, tanks, and ships.
The A5 was an adaptation of the A4 with a forward mounting point to allow it to be mounted in cupolas in tanks and armored cars. This, along with the M37, was the most common secondary armament during WWII.
Another version of the M1919A4, the M1919A6, was an attempt to make the weapon easier to carry by reducing its weight and to make use of a bipod, but it turned out to be heavier at 32 lbs (15 kg) and was considered "substitute standard". With its bipod and stock, it actually weighed more than the A4 by itself, but less than the A4 with its tripod. It was still used extensively, however, by allied troops during World War II and the Korean War. The main differences were a folding bipod mounted on the front of the gun, a sheet-metal buttstock that was attached to the pistol-grip firing handle, a carrying handle, and a tapered barrel weighing 4 lbs (1.8 kg) instead of 7 lbs (3.2 kg) returning the weapon to an A1-like state.
The Model 1919 was heavily re-worked to become the .30 caliber M2 aircraft machine gun. Key to aircraft use was weight. Unnecessary metal was removed from its components and, with the cooling effect of air rushing past the barrel from the plane's speed, the designers made the barrel thinner and hence lighter. As a result, the M2 weighed 2/3 that of the 1919A4 and the lightened mechanism gave it a higher rate of fire — pertinent to use where the target might be in range and in the line of sight for barely a second.
Variants
- M1919
- M1919A1
- M1919A2
- M1919A3
- M1919A4/A4E1
- M1919A5
- M1919A6
- M2
- M37
- Mk 21 Mod 0/1
