MG 42

The **MG 42** (shortened from German: *Maschinengewehr 42*, or "machine gun 42") was a  general-purpose machine gun. It was created in Nazi Germany. It began being used by the *Wehrmacht* in 1942. It was used with (and sometimes replaced) the MG 34 machine gun in the German Armed Forces. Both weapons were made and used until the end of the war.

The MG 42 was known for being reliable, simple and easy to use. However, it is best known for its very high rate of fire so the Germans called it "Hitlersäge", or "Hitler's saw". There were other automatic weapon designs with similar firepower. Some examples of these are the French Darne, the Hungarian-Gebauer, the Russian 7.62mm ShKAS and the British Vickers K machine gun. However, because the MG 42 got its ammunition from a belt and its barrel was easy to change, it could fire for longer periods of time than these weapons.

The MG 42 was used to create new weapons after Nazi Germany surrendered. The MG1 (MG 42/59) was nearly exactly the same as the MG 42. The MG1 became the MG1A3, which in turn became the MG 3. The Swiss MG 51, SIG MG 710-3, Austrian MG 74, and the Spanish 5.56mm Ameli light machine gun were all designed from the MG 42. The M60 and Belgian MAG also copied some features. The MG 42 was still used by many armed groups after the war.

## History
### Development
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During the 1930s, the German Army began using the MG 34. The MG 34 was thought to be the first general-purpose machine gun. The **MG 34S** was made as an improvement to the design.

So that these problems could be fixed, a contest was started to find a replacement for the MG 34. Three companies were asked to design this replacement. These were: Metall und Lackierwarenfabrik Johannes Großfuß AG, Rheinmetall-Borsig, and Stübgen. Großfuß AG's design turned out to be the best. Strangely, Großfuß did not make weapons. They mostly made metal lanterns. This was twice the rate of the British Vickers machine gun and American Browning. Soldiers were so terrified of the MG 42 that the United States Army made training movies to help the soldiers deal with the fear of going against the MG 42 in battle.  At such a high rate, the human ear can not easily hear the sound of a single bullet being fired. This meant that the gun made a sound similar to "rrrrp".

When the MG 42 was fired for a long amount of time, it used a lot of ammunition.

## Different types of MG 42
### MG 45 
In 1944, the Third Reich were getting short of materials. This led them to develop the **MG 45** (or **MG 42V**). It had an even higher rate of fire and was easier to make.

### T24 machine gun 
The American military tried to copy the MG 42 during the war. They thought it could be a possible replacement for the Browning Automatic Rifle and the M1919A4 for foot soldiers. Saginaw Steering Gear made a prototype and called it the **T24 machine gun**. However, it was realised that the .30-06 cartridge that the gun would fire might be too long. There was also a design problem with the prototype. These problems meant that the project was ended.

### M53 
Yugoslavia built the MG 42 at the Zavodi Crvena Zastava company as the M53 machine gun. They did this under a license. This gun still fired the 7.92 x 57mm Mauser cartridge. By doing this, the M53 was nearly an exact copy of the German MG 42. The only big difference is that the rate of fire is lower than the MG 42. Some M53s were sent to Iraq in the 1980s. They were also used a lot during both of the Gulf wars. M53 was known under nickname *Šarac*.

### MG 3 
The Beretta MG 42/59 was just the MG 42 with some small changes. This is still used by the Italian Army. The Rheinmetall MG 3 is also just the MG 42 with some changes. The MG 3 is used with the German armed forces (*Bundeswehr*).

### MG 74 
The last type of MG 42 is called the **MG 74**. It was developed in Austria. It has been the main machine gun of the Austrian Armed Forces since 1974.

## Related pages 
* MG 34
* General-purpose machine gun

## References
## Other websites
*Video of an MG 42 being fired
*A U.S. report from WWII on the MG 42