M247 Machine Gun

## M247 General Purpose Machine Gun

Covenant

* Hunter Shade Cannon

Long-Range

* UNSC
	+ M393 Designated Marksman Rifle
	+ SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle
* Covenant
	+ Particle Carbine
	+ Focus Rifle
* Forerunner
	+ Sentinel Sniper Beam
	+ Sentinel Light Rifle

The **M247 General Purpose Machine Gun**, also known as the **Machine Gun** or **M247**, is a multipurpose heavy automatic weapon utilized by the UNSC.

## Overview & Background

A lighter variant of the M247H Heavy Machine Gun, the M247 GPMG is a highly versatile Machine Gun that has a wide variety of military applications. While typically used in conjunction with a stationary tripod mount or incorporated into a vehicular arsenal, man-portable variants of the M247 are also widely used by ground troops Squad Automatic Weapons, providing heavy fire support in large-scale engagements. These variants typically require two individuals to carry and operate in combat, with only SPARTAN II's and a select number of Marines trained in the operation of heavy weaponry (typically above the rank of Sergeant) being strong enough to individually accommodate the machine gun's weight.

The M247 fires powerful 7.62x51mm FMJ rounds, which offers unparalleled ballistic power against armored, unarmored, and even shielded targets. Combined with a 100-round box magazine and a high rate of fire, the M247 is the UNSC's most lethal handheld automatic firearm, capable of rapidly eliminating large infantry contingents, stationary defenses and even vehicles, both light and heavy alike. However, the M247 suffers from a number of design flaws which curb its dominating presence on the battlefield. The weapon's size and weight makes it cumbersome to operate in combat, with simple actions like reloading becoming time-consuming affairs. It takes several seconds of sustained fire for the M247 to achieve its maximum fire rate, the latter which directly contributing to its heavy ammunition consumption, which can render the weapon useless if not provided with a constant supply. The weapon's below average accuracy reduces the weapon's effectiveness from close to medium ranges.

As part of OPERATION: RED FLAG, the UNSC Pillar of Autumn was equipped with a number of M247 Machine Guns, originally to provide heavy fire support during the hijacking of a Covenant ship to be later used for the infiltration of the Covenant Capital. However, with the invasion of Reach and the crash-landing of the Autumn onto Installation 04, the M247 only saw use during the Flood Outbreak upon the ring, where it's high rate of fire and effectiveness against unarmored targets allowed the dwindling UNSC forces to better combat the Flood hordes (if only by a small margin).

## Gameplay Information

### Advantages

* The Machine Gun is highly efficient at eliminating unshielded enemies, capable of killing them in just a few shots. This makes it especially lethal against Brutes and various Flood Forms.
* The Machine Gun has a large magazine capacity, allowing it to eliminate groups of enemies (especially Flood hordes) without having to reload.
* Extremely high rates of fire, once it is fully triggered, makes this weapon one of the best crowd control tools in the game.

### Disadvantages

* Despite being considerably more powerful than other weapons, the Machine Gun still has reduced effectiveness against energy shields.
* The Machine Gun has an initially low rate of fire, which slowly increases as the weapon fires.
* The Machine Gun takes a long time to reload, meaning it should only be done when outside of combat.
* The Machine Gun has considerably low accuracy, and thus shouldn't be used against anything beyond Mid-range.
* The Machine Gun has one of the longest Melee duration in the game.

## Trivia

* The M247 Machine Gun originally appeared as a stationary turret in Halo 2.