American Genius: The Strange but True Story of the M-60 Machinegun
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I carried the M-60 in the Army. They were very old but still hanging around. I loved the M-60 and the whole First Blood, Rambo, Vietnam vibe. When I was in Ranged School, I was paired up with a 60 gunner from the 82nd Airborne. I thought I knew something about the M-60. He taught me a lot more and our gun always ran. Buy the time you get to Florida phase, you kind of have a job unless you get picked for leadership. I was one of 60 guys and our gun always ran.
In 2025, I am SOT and found a Post-86 no law letter M-60 receiver. I couldn’t resist this classic. Now I have an M-60 and it inspired some research. I found out some cool stuff and I want to share.
The M-60 was adopted in 1960. I always thought it was a derivative of the MG-42. Turns out that is only half right. The real answer predates me.
In 1911 a former American soldier, Isacc Newton Lewis designed the Lewis Gun. The US Army didn’t want it but the British loved it!
It a related story, it was carried by Imperial StormTroopers long ago in a galaxy far away.
The Nazis liked it so much, they made the FG42After WW2, Americans wanted an FG-42, but wanted it belt fed. They first mounted an MG42 top cover on the side of an FG42. This was kind of crazy brilliant, the FG42 fed from a side mounted magazine.
and finally….the M60
If you watch the videos, you can clearly see the bolt and operating rod design carried through from the Lewis Gun and the FG-42. The top cover is pure MG42.
What I thought was a rip off of the Nazis turns out to be a re-patriation of the Lewis Gun with a stolen top cover. Yeah America.
