Free Republic

You must have seen a movie in which the protagonists empties their entire magazine through automatic fire and hits the target every single time. And if you’re a fan of video games, you must have played at least one first-person shooter that made you believe that automatic weapons essentially turn you into a god of war. Unfortunately, that’s the literal opposite of what the truth is, as automatic firearms aren’t used like that in real-life combat, and here’s why. Automatic fire is inaccurate In real life, if they have the option to choose their rate of fire, professionals like to...

During World War II, American G.I.s called the German MG42 machine gun “Hitler’s buzz saw” because of the way it cut down troops in swaths. The Soviet Red Army called it “the linoleum ripper” because of the unique tearing sound it made—a result of its extremely high rate of fire. The Germans called the MG42 Hitlersäge or “Hitler’s bone saw”—and built infantry tactics around squads of men armed with the weapon. Many military historians argue that the Maschinengewehr 42 was the best general-purpose machine gun ever. It fired up to 1,800 rounds per minute in some versions. That’s nearly twice...

CHARLESTON (AP) -- Hundreds of machine gun owners plan to meet at a remote, abandoned strip-mine site near Shinnston this weekend to shoot their weapons. ''We call it 'Thunder in the Hills,' '' said Frank Watson, the event's promoter. ''Basically, it's a chance for machine gun owners to spend three days shooting lead and shooting the bull.'' Billed as a ''shoot and show,'' the event is open to owners of all types of automatic firearms. Military buffs will get a chance to see everything from the British-made Lewis gun of World War I to the M-60 now used by the...