M60 Machine Gun - In the Movies

My dad was an m60 man in Vietnam 70-71. He said it was supposed to be a 2-man thing, but it ended up being him alone the whole time, carrying his own ammo. He would wrap 1000 rounds around his torso instead of the required 500. Despite that, his main complaint was that they wouldn’t give him the handgun that the support guy was supposed to carry.

I carried an M60E3 in the Marines in Desert Storm. It works fine, was easy to handle with the foregrip and lighter barrel on the E3. I had no problems, but it had to be maintained well. Sand is rough on any weapon. Dust storms were my biggest enemy.

Pretty sure Hot Shots part deux has easily the most accurate depiction of an M60 machine gun ever to grace the silver screen.

I was a M60 gunner, 23 lbs of fun, God I love that weapon

The M60 in the first version I was associated with was temperamental. This was more to do with the modifications that we made. The ammunition could be an issue. When I started on the gun team we carried about 1400 rounds always in cans. Links would rust. However since the assault belt was about 150 to 200 rounds as long you cleaned the belt it wasn’t an issue. The unit had come back from Dak To. So all the rifleman carried a bandolier of 100 rounds. After about 300 rounds the gun was so hot the rounds cooked off. This could be a problem if you ran the gun like this you could burn up the barrel. So the 3 or 4 times I would fire off 2 or 3 cans. Stop and wait. If you fire this gun standing the accuracy could be limited. And once you started the opposition would target you. I started on the M60 about my 3D month. And for most of my time I was a gunner and never saw anything that resembles the movies. The gun weighs about 27 pounds. And I weigh 145. So I always fired it prone. I saw one guy firing it kneeling and he was hit in the head

M60 was a pretty good gun. But compared to it’s contemporaries (MAG, PKM) it was underwhelming. Still the M60 is a good design.

I was an M60 gunner in the 82nd Airborne - gunner and weapons squad leader. I went to a small course on m60 MG leadership taught by former Viet Nam vet green berets and - I shit you not - a former German WW2 infantry soldier.

I used the M60 in the Australian army. I hated it! It was heavy, unreliable, and very inaccurate compared to say the Bren. It was full of design flaws such as breaking stuff if you closed the feed cover in the wrong position. Many movable parts had to be wired in place. Nah!

The Australian SAS used the M60 as a weapon for four man patrols. Two men would carry M16A1 rifles with underslung M203s, and the other two were armed with L1A1 rifles. The M60 receiver would be carried by one man, the barrel by the radio telephone operator, the tripod carried by a third man, and the ammo carried by the last man. The gun would be assembled for ambushes and similar situations where heavy fire was required. This arrangement gave the four man patrol significant firepower, allowing them to punch well above their weight. Two four man patrols could defeat battalions of VC, with minimal fire support from artillery or aircraft.

Fun fact: The Danish army recently replaced their version of the MG3 with a modernized version of the M60, the M60E6, under the imaginative name of LMG M/60

I’m really enjoying these more and more with each new episode

I was a 60 gunner. Loved it. loved it more than the M240. I had no issues with the ones issued to me

I was the designated “pig” gunner on my team, I resented it, mostly because I hated to clean it. However, when push came to shove, you could reach out and touch someone. One of the best trivia questions is: how many left handed M-60 gunners were there? None after the first burst!

When I first entered the Army I was a Pig gunner. I loved the wepon. I guess it was probably because it was the first machine gun I was exposed to. When the 249 came out I thought it was a waste, basically an overbuilt M16. When the 240B came out I thought it was a boat anchor and a pale imitation. One of my earliest and fondest memories was (during a training mission) rushing accross a field of waste hight grass at about 2am with my AG and ammo bearer firing the 60 and lighting up the whole field with the muzzle flash it made s strobe light effect. Still give me goose bumps.

"God damn it, Elias, don't mess with my pig". 👍

I was a fan of the M60 Machine Gun having served from 1981-2001. My primary MOS was 8541 (Marine Scout Sniper) but I also held secondary MOS's (0311-Infantryman as all Marines do), (0311-Machine Gunner and scored 98% at range qualifying), (0331-Mortarman able to launch at any given moment as well as calling in air strikes. I was at the top of my game and took it seriously because when the shit hit the fan it was going to be me versus them, and I had too damn many people depending on me to fail. WAR IS HELL if one it forced into it, I was not, had I been I was well trained, capable, and ready to do what I had to do, and the M-60 Machine Gun was a weapon I would want if confronted with a potential overrun of forces. It's a true weapon of WAR produced to clear any forward front and have a couple of times cooked the barrel "red-hot". Changing the barrel is said to be quick and easy but can be a venture to do so if people's lives depend on it. Change if you can but cook it if you have too and save as many lives as possible.

Another idea for your Weapons Comparison video: The American 50.Cal HMG vs The Russian DSHK-41 HMG (Dushka) M-16 vs AK-47.

Having fired the M60 in the early 80’s and the British GPMG I can say out of the 2 the GPMG is by far the better weapon a little heavier with a better rate of fire and less prone the stoppages. Im also a British Army veteran that’s how I got to fire the M60.

I was an M-60 Machine Gunner in the Marine Corps in the 1980's. I'm a combat veteran. This awesome weapon always worked perfectly and was the greatest weapon in our platoon! It saved lives of Marines and took many lives of the enemy. Everyone loves to hear the thump of this amazing weapon!

2:06 Did you laugh?