M73 machine gun
The M73 and M219 were 7.62 mm NATO calibre machine
guns designed for tank use. They were basically 'simplified'
M1919 Browning machine guns to save space in the cramped interiors
of armored vehicles but using more modern 'Push Through' links.
It was used on the M48 Patton and M60 Patton MBT series (including
the M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle), and on the M551 Sheridan
light tank.
Design and Development
Designed primarily as a coaxial machine gun by the Rock Island
Arsenal and produced by General Electric, the M73 was developed
as a replacement for the M1919A4E1, M1919A5, and M37 machine
guns that continued to serve in the immediate post-WWII environment.
The Machine Gun, 7.62-MM, M73 was officially adopted in 1959.
It is an air-cooled, recoil operated machine gun, but also
using cartridge gasses to boost recoil. Though designed as
a simplified alternative to the M1919 series, was of almost
identical weight. The weapon was fitted with a quick-change
barrel, pull-chain charging assembly, and could be made to
feed from the left or the right hand side (though the left-hand
feed was more common).[1]
An attempt to make the M73 useful as a flexible infantry
gun saw the weapon fitted with sights and a pistol grip trigger
as the Machine Gun, 7.62-MM, M73C. Equally unpopular, very
few of these weapons were produced. Sources claim that it
saw limited use in Vietnam.
The M73 suffered from numerous malfunctions and was prone
to jamming. An improved M73E1 was eventually developed in
1970 with a simplified ejection system, being type classified
as the Machine Gun, 7.62-MM, M73A1. In 1977, it was decided
that this weapon was sufficiently different from its predecessor
and was redesignated Machine Gun, 7.62-MM, M219. These weapons
were eventually replaced by the M60E2 and M240 machine gun,
and vehicles still in service using the M73 series were refitted
with these weapons.
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