page_title: M2 Browning
section_title: M2 as a sniper rifle
hierarchical_section_title: M2 Browning / Deployment / M2 as a sniper rifle
caption_attribution_description: English: Lance Cpl. Christophe R. Bone, a motor transport mechanic with Truck Company, Headquarters Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, aims down a .50-caliber heavy machine gun sight while preparing to fire at targets as a part of training aboard Marine Corps Camp Lejeune, N.C., Sept. 1, 2011. Marines shot at target silhouettes while moving in a mine resistant ambush protected vehicle and an MRAP all terrain vehicle.
context_page_description: The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun is a heavy machine gun designed toward the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chambered for the .30-06 cartridge. The M2 uses the much larger and much more powerful .50 BMG cartridge, which was developed alongside and takes its name from the gun itself. It has been referred to as "Ma Deuce", in reference to its M2 nomenclature. The design has had many specific designations; the official US military designation for the current infantry type is Browning Machine Gun, Cal. 50, M2, HB, Flexible. It is effective against infantry, unarmored or lightly armored vehicles and boats, light fortifications, and low-flying aircraft.
  The Browning .50 caliber machine gun has been used extensively as a vehicle weapon and for aircraft armament by the United States from the 1930s to the present. It was heavily used during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Falklands War, the Soviet–Afghan War, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan in the 2000s and 2010s.
context_section_description: The M2 machine gun has also been used as a long-range sniper rifle when equipped with a telescopic sight. Soldiers during the Korean War used scoped M2s in the role of a sniper rifle, but the practice was most notably used by US Marine Corps sniper Carlos Hathcock during the Vietnam War. Using an Unertl telescopic sight and a mounting bracket of his own design, Hathcock could quickly convert the M2 into a sniper rifle, using the traversing-and-elevating (T&E) mechanism attached to the tripod. When firing semi-automatically, Hathcock hit man-size targets beyond 1,800 metres (2,000 yd)—twice the range of the standard-caliber sniper rifle of the time (a .30-06 Winchester Model 70). Hathcock set the record for the longest confirmed kill at 2,250 metres (2,460 yd), a record which stood until 2002, when it was broken in Afghanistan by Canadian Army sniper Arron Perry.
caption: USMC M2 fitted with a Leupold CQBSS variable power scope.
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