on MG42 rate of fire?

[arshak]

Hi everybody
a simple question on MG42: this weapon is famed for the high rate of fire, around 1200 rounds per minute. as this has to be the rate of fire when tripod mounted, I would like to know if somebody might tell something about an expectable rate of fire when in LMG mode, i.e. bipod mounted. of course it would depend on the burst etc, but what the weapon could reach in theory?
thank you in adavnce
regards
fabrizio

[Dragunov]

1200 rounds /min. theoretical

rate of fire doesn't change when used in LMG mode.

you can change the rate of fire by cutting down the recoil spring, Canadian soldiers did this with captured MG 42s in Holland so that when they fired them , their teammates wouldn't take them for German soldiers.

cheers.
dragunov

[Reb]

They tripod mounting was for use as a heavy machine gun. In both modes the quick barrel change enabled them to put out a lot of fire.

Machine guns can usually be tuned to slow them down but I'm not clear on whether this was possilbe in the MG 42. From what Dragonov says there is at least one way to slow 'em down!

cheers
Reb

[Dragunov]

oh yeah, if it's a gas operated MG, you can ajust the gas flow, which affects the rate of fire. i guess. but if you put it too high, it'll blow up or smash itself to bits (like a G43 ) or something. don't try it at home!

the MG42 worked by roller-delayed blowback, so i don't think you can ajust the RoF, without changing the system.

[timmy872]

if its anything like other GPMGs then it fires slow when cold and speeds up as it gets hotter.
if the 1200rpm was "average" speed you could have expected as low 900 cold 1400 hot. unless it states some where (or some one knows!) if the listed speeds are hot or cold???

[arshak]

thanks for the replies. another issue: how the theorical rate of fire is calculated? I mean, as it would be practically impossible to fire the weapon continously for a minute (due to overheating etc...), is a matter of taking an average number of bullets fired in a second and then multiply it or what?

[Reb]

Theoretical rate of fire is how fast it can really shoot if everything's perfect - and barrels don't melt. Assumes sustained fire (which almost never occurs) rather than bursts. In the heavy mode, on a tripod, with rapid barrel changes, you can get pretty close to this rate over long periods.

Practical rate of fire is how fast you can actually fire it without screwing it up. Assumes bursts of fire.

cheers
Reb

[Hans Knospler]

1200 rounds per minute = 20 rounds per second

[Reb]

Welcome! I started studying this stuff at a very young age myself. You are fortunate that we are in the golden age of available info - I used to haunt the libraries and bookstores and come up with very little - now? Its like a sip from a firehose.

Be sure to avail yourself of the search facility to research specifics and there is plenty of lovely data at Feldgrau.com.

cheers
Reb

[Steve Wilcox]

Hi everybody
a simple question on MG42: this weapon is famed for the high rate of fire, around 1200 rounds per minute. as this has to be the rate of fire when tripod mounted, I would like to know if somebody might tell something about an expectable rate of fire when in LMG mode, i.e. bipod mounted. of course it would depend on the burst etc, but what the weapon could reach in theory?
thank you in adavnce
regards
fabrizio

I don't know about in theory, but the Handbook on German Military Forces (pages 314-315) says a practical rate of fire for the MG42 when used as an LMG was 250 rpm (100-120 rpm for the MG34). My copy is in storage, so I got the page numbers from Google Book Search.

If it's of interest, when used in the HMG role they say a practical rate of fire was 500 rpm for the MG42 and 300 rpm for the MG34. A book I don't have (the 1940 Handbook of the German Army) is referred to in one I do have, Osprey's World War II Infantry Tactics, Company and Battalion by Dr Stephen Bull, where they say that "The 1940 Handbook of the German Army suggests that a common rate of fire was about 300 to 350 rounds per minute." Page 20. This being a 1940 publication it would of course cover only the MG34.

[Reb]

Steve

The Germans used longer bursts than most. (I was taught to think "ham and eggs" to calculate burst length ) Their assumption was barrel changes WOULD happen and they prepared for that.

I doubt anyone ever blazed away at theoretical rate of fire - but the faster that rate was the more lead you get in the air per burst hence the race (at least with Germans [and later Russians]) for high rates.

I'm unaware of any allied armies that did routine barrel changes - so they had to be very careful with Bren, BAR, Browning and Degtaryov.

That said I have seen a demo of sustained fire (GPMG) at nearly the theoretical rate including barrel changes - post war however. GPMG seems to me to be a sort of Germanic upgrade to Bren.

cheers
Reb

[Snaffleman]

One website claimed it can fire up to 1,800RPM, Is this possible or does it have to be adjusted to do so?

[phylo_roadking]

I didn't think the BAR had a high enough rate of fire to overheat the barrel significantly, but I know the Bren could definitely warp its barrel offline, that was a problem in Burma and the Far East when facing Japanese frontal "banzai" attacks and they had to pour it on as fast as they could change out mags.

[Dragunov]

I didn't think the BAR had a high enough rate of fire to overheat the barrel significantly

and keep in mind all those mag changes you'd have to do with 20rd cap.

One website claimed it can fire up to 1,800RPM, Is this possible or does it have to be adjusted to do so?

IIRC (apparently not, 10 mins of searching proved nothing...) the MG45 aka MG42v could... but then again, i'm probably wrong.