M-2 Heavy Machine-gun, aka the “Ma Deuce”

Far too many people think the M-2 Heavy Machine-gun is the end-all, be-all of skin job fighting. The reality is the M-2 is generally the WORST weapon you can select; It’s far too much firepower, and requires far more maintenance than the average survivor can accomplish. However, under two select set of circumstances, it can be highly effective: One, a massed skin job horde directly in your escape path (for these purposes, “horde” is defined as greater, preferably far greater, than 700 targets), and the other being an attack by hostile human survivors.
Against a horde, one short burst (5 to 7 rounds) will provide more than sufficient firepower to thin out the crowd (with only 5 rounds, you can be rest assured in excess of 200 dead skin jobs, and up to 1,000 more disabled ones).
Against hostile humans, the M-2 is useful main for disabling fire; Aiming for the engine to force them to stop. Humans caught between the gun and the target will not survive; They will EXPLODE (as will most of your skin jobs).
Originally the M-2 was designed as a water-cooled weap; A variant without a water jacket, but with a thicker-walled, air-cooled barrel superseded it (air-cooled barrels had already been used on variants for use on aircraft, but these quickly overheated in ground use). This new variant was then designated the M-2 HB (“HB” for “Heavy Barrel”). Due to the long procedure for changing the barrel, an improved system was developed called QCB (quick change barrel). A lightweight version, weighing 24 lb (11 kg) less- A mere 60 lb (27 kg)- Was also developed.

General Information:
The M-2 is 61½ inches long, weighs 84 pounds, with a maximum range of 4 miles (effective range 1 mile) and can burn through approximately 500 rounds per minute. It fires the .50-caliber BMG (“.50-caliber” means the diameter of the shot is ½ inch around), is recoil-operated (the recoil of the gun’s discharge causes the breach to open, which re-loads the gun) and has a muzzle velocity of approximately 2,500 ft/s. It is belt fed, meaning as long as you connect belts together, it will continue firing- Whether or not this is a good idea.


Accessories for the M-2:

M-3: Fixed position mounting of the M-2 Machine-gun. The inclusion of the Transit and Elevation (T&E) gear fixes the gun in a general area (at 100 yards it has about 100 yards play). The gear can also be repositioned in about 5 seconds. The Transit link can be set onto the transit bar without be locked down, allowing greater flexibility (at least left to right).
	M-3: Fixed Position Tripod.
M31c: This assembly allows the gun to be mounted onto a vehicle. Either the M-2 or the M-240 can be mounted with the proper carriage. (An M-2 could be mounted directly on a standard pintle, but ammo feed will be an issue.)
	M31c Vehicle Mount.
M36 Ring Mount: Allows the weapon to be mounted to the top of a vehicle, such as the 2½ ton truck, HUMVEE, etc, and could be mounted to a fixed-position, such as a bunker (though this would be a waste of the mount, as it exposes the gunner). As a general rule, the M36 is not an ideal mount.
	M36 Ring Mount.
T&E Gear: Restricts the gun’s up, down, left, and right movement, increasing accuracy by sacrificing flexibility. For the purposes intended here, the T&E gear should be set to about 100 feet beyond the gunner (or his vehicle) but with the transit bar unlocked (allowing maximum flexibility in l/r movement, but restricting u/d movement, which is the generally ideal range of flexibility for use against a skin job horde).
	Transit and Elevation (T&E) Gear.
M45 “Quadmount”: The multiple machine gun mount, often called a quadmount, was developed by the W. L. MAXON Company at the request of the U.S. Army for light anti-aircraft weapons. The turret was tested successfully and immediately adopted by the U.S. Army. The turret was originally equipped with two M-2 .5Ø cal. machine guns but quickly redesigned to mount 4 guns because of the availability of the gun. The gun mount was designed for anti-aircraft applications with a capability of a high rate of concentrated fire. The quadmount was towed behind a M-352½ ton trucks (including the M-3 Halftrack variant). In the half-track installation the mount was lifted from the trailer and placed on mounting rings. For the 2½ ton truck installation the M2Ø trailer was lifted as one unit and secured to the back of the truck. The armored pod covers the legs of the gunner. The two handles in the center of the quadmount articulate to traverse and elevate the gun and house the firing triggers. Rotating the handles forward depresses the guns, while rotating back elevates them. Pushing the left handle forward rotates the quadmount clockwise looking down while pushing the right handle forward rotates the quadmount counter-clockwise looking downward. The gun sight is located at the top of the mount. Four 2ØØ round ammunition chests are mounted next to each .5Ø cal. machine gun. Quadmounts were used in
	An M-45 on an M-2Ø trailer. both the Pacific and European theaters. As enemy aircraft became less plentiful near the end of the war, the quadmount evolved into an anti-personnel weapon. In Europe when enemy snipers were hidden in trees, it was not unusual to pull up a half-track and quadmount to counter the threat. Instead of firing at the suspected location of the snipers, the quadmount gunner would aim at the base of the trees and fire. The high concentration of projectiles would literally mow down the trees taking out the snipers along with others at the same time. In the Pacific theater, the quadmount was effective against “dug-in” Japanese positions because of its high rate and concentration of fire. It was affectionately nicknamed the “meat chopper”.
T95 Tree Mount: The chain went around the trunk and when tightened pulled the toothed saddle tight against the tree. This tree mount used a yoke to mount the gun. The T96 tree mount used the head of an M3 tripod for the platform and accepted a standard M3/M3 pintle; Whether they will accept a current M83 Carriage is another matter.
	T95 Tree Mount