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Osprey's new Weapon series provides a highly-detailed yet affordable overview of the development, use, and impact of small arms throughout history-from the sword to the machine gun. In this volume, Gordon Rottman examines this history of the longest serving weapon in the U.S. military's small arms inventory. Thoroughly researched and illustrated with rare photographs and original artwork by Johnny Shumate, the book takes readers from the origins of the “fifty” on the battlefields of World War I (1914-1918) to its use in the war on terror today. Rottman provides lists of the companies that manufactured the Browning and analyzes the variants that have arisen over the years since it first entered service in 1933. He also provides descriptions and photos of how it was used on aircraft, ships, riverboats, tanks, Humvees, and by ground forces. A cutaway illustration from Alan Gilliland details the parts of the weapon and a final chapter dispels myths told about it.
Many books have been written about the M-2 machine gun, but this is the perfect one for me. It does not bog down the reader with too many technical details, yet you get a good mix of history of this machine gun, what it does and why it has been in service for over 90 years. As author Rottman says "There are a few who can say they were wounded by a .50 cal, those hit seldom say much more".Browning began the design based on the experiences of WW1 where the Army wanted something that packed a greater punch with more range than the .30 caliber weapons (7.62mm). It took awhile to get the right mix of rounds per minute, range, reliability, ammunition size. Early versions were water cooled, but later the air cooled weapons were perfected to a degree that production ceased. The measure of the success of this weapon is found in the longevity of service, the fact that despite all of the advances of technology and experiments to improve the M-2, nothing has been good enough to replace the "Ma-Deuce". Many nations other than the US use it and rightly so.The book has many B&W (some color) photos of the M-2 in service - with the Air Force, Navy, Army from WW2 to the present. Ground mounts are discussed along with the different types of shells, casings, bullets. The much hated M-85 is reviewed (used on the M-60 series of tanks). Three of the pages are given to full color drawings of the M-2 in use on a B-17 and on a Navy Swift Boat during the Vietnam War. The author covers the loading, firing and clearing processes. I would have liked have some text covering how to field strip the .50 cal and see a photo or two of the basic part groups. There is a 3-D cut away of the water cooled version; I would think that space would be better served with a cut away of the more common air cooled version. That's about the only minor complaint I had on this book.This is a very well written, concise book for those of us who have used the M-2HB but do not want tons of highly technical weapon information. The author admits his bias for the M-2, which I share. The M-2 does exactly what it was designed to do - provide heavier firepower than a rifle caliber machine gun at a greater range. That means it's too heavy to drag around for the grunts, but it's the perfect weapon on tanks (why waste a main gun round on an armored car when you can take it out with the M-2), trucks, Humvees, choppers. Highly recommended reading.
