MG 42

Germany's stamped-steel general-purpose machine gun: the MG 34 background, Werner Gruner and the Großfuß works, the roller lock, muzzle booster and two-stage feed, the barrel change and the rate of fire set source by source, the Lafette, identification by codes and markings, stripping and care from the 1943 US handbook and the maker's MG 3 manual, the MG 1, MG 3, M53, MG 42/59 and MG 74, and US law.

Firearms

MG 42 · Deep Dive

MG 42

No wartime American source found calls it "Hitler's buzzsaw", its published rates of fire run from 1,050 to 1,600 rounds a minute, and the US Army's own copy failed because its receiver was lengthened for .30-06 without moving the bolt's lugs.

Germany's stamped-steel general-purpose machine gun: the MG 34 background, Werner Gruner and the Großfuß works, the roller lock, muzzle booster and two-stage feed, the barrel change and the rate of fire set source by source, the Lafette, identification by codes and markings, stripping and care from the 1943 US handbook and the maker's MG 3 manual, the MG 1, MG 3, M53, MG 42/59 and MG 74, and US law.

Photo: Men of the 2nd Sherwood Foresters firing a captured German MG42 machine gun, Tunisia, 27 April 1943. NA2355 by Sgt Frederick Wackett, No. 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit · Public domain

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    Volumes

    1. Vol 1 From the MG 34 to the MG 42: The Single Machine Gun, Remade in Sheet Steel Why the Wehrmacht wanted a second general-purpose gun, who designed it, what is documented about where the roller lock came from, and how the Allies first met it in 1943
    2. Vol 2 Making It: Stampings, Five Factories, Uncertain Numbers and the American Copy That Failed Who built the MG 42, what pressed-steel construction meant in practice, how many were made according to whom, the barrels still being made for the Soviets in 1946, and why Saginaw could not copy it
    3. Vol 3 How It Works: Two Rollers, a Gas Trap and a Two-Stroke Feed The parts and their names, the cycle of operation from the 1943 US analysis, the muzzle booster, the firing-pin interlock, the belt feed, trigger and safety, and why the MG 42 is roller-locked while the G3 is only roller-delayed
    4. Vol 4 In Service: The Barrel Change, the Rate of Fire, the 'Buzzsaw', and the Gun on Its Tripod How the barrel was changed and how often, every published rate of fire set side by side, what the Germans said the rate was for, the nicknames checked against the wartime record, and the Lafette, the sight and the muzzle brake of the heavy-gun role
    5. Vol 5 Identification: Telling an MG 42 From Its Relatives, and Reading Its Markings The 1943 identification list, the MG 34 beside it, the post-war guns that look almost the same, maker codes and what is and is not known about them, and the cautions a buyer or collector needs
    6. Vol 6 Field Strip, Detail Strip, Maintenance and Stoppages Which German manuals exist and why this volume cannot quote them, the 1943 US stripping sequence for the MG 42, the maker's sequence for the MG 3, cleaning and lubrication, the kit the gun carried, immediate action, and what wears
    7. Vol 7 After 1945: MG 1, MG 3, Šarac, MG 42/59, MG 74, and the Rifles the Roller Fed Captured guns in other hands, the West German rebuild in 7.62 mm, the Yugoslav and Austrian and Italian guns, users worldwide as far as they are documented, and the two lines of descent, belt feed to the M60 and rollers to the G3, linked rather than retold
    8. Vol 8 Owning One in the United States Why transferable MG 42s exist and what they sell for, curio-and-relic status, dewats and display guns, the receiver as the regulated part, semi-automatic look-alikes treated only as products, and Michigan