M2 Weapons Storage Racks and Cabinets

 

 M2HB .50 Cal Machine Gun storage. SecureIt Tactical racks allow for storage of up to 4 receivers and 8 barrels in a 15" x 36" footprint.
Weapons are held inplace using SecureIt Pat Pending saddle system.

Learn More: SecureIt saddle system

This system is designed to store all infantry rifles, machine guns, shoulder launch weapons and 60mm-81mm martars.
Competing systems require unique brackets for each weapon system. This makes reconfiguring racks difficust and expensive.

Model 72 Tactical rack 4 M2s storage with 2 900lb shelves for associated gear

Model 84 Tactical Rack in this configuratoin: M249SAW, M240B M2HB MK19 with 12 M4 above.

About the M2HB

The Browning .50 caliber machine gun has been used extensively as a vehicle weapon and for aircraft armament by the United States from the 1920s to the present day. It was heavily used during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, as well as during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s. It is the primary heavy machine gun of NATO countries, and has been used by many other countries as well. With the exception of the .45 ACP M1911 pistol, the M2 has been in use longer than any other small arm in U.S. inventory.
The M2HB is currently manufactured in the United States by General Dynamics and US Ordnance for use by the United States government, and for US Foreign Allies via FMS sales. FN Herstal has manufactured the M2 machine gun since the 1930s. US Ordnance developed their M2 Quick Change Barrel system after years of experience manufacturing machine guns for the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Foreign Allies.


A variant without a water jacket, but with a thicker-walled, air-cooled barrel superseded the M2 (air-cooled barrels had already been used on variants for use on aircraft, but these quickly overheated in ground use). This new variant was then designated the M2 HB (HB for Heavy Barrel). The added mass and surface area of the new barrel compensated, somewhat, for the loss of water-cooling, while reducing bulk and weight (the M2 weighed 121 lb (55 kg), with water, whereas the M2 HB weighs 84 lb). Due to the long procedure for changing the barrel, an improved system was developed called QCB (quick change barrel). A lightweight version, weighing a mere 60 lb (27 kg) was also developed.


The Browning M2 is an air-cooled, belt-fed machine gun. The M2 fires from a closed bolt, operated on the short recoil principle. The M2 fires the .50 BMG cartridge, which offers long range, accuracy and good stopping power.
The M2 is a scaled-up version of John Browning's M1917 .30 caliber machine gun (even using the same timing gauges).


Twin M2HB .50 caliber machine gun during a Pre-aimed Calibration Fire (PACFIRE) exercise.
The M2 has varying cyclic rates of fire, depending upon the model. The M2HB (heavy barrel) air-cooled ground gun has a cyclic rate of 450-575 rounds per minute.[10] The early M2 water-cooled AA guns had a cyclic rate of around 450–600 rpm.[11] The AN/M2 aircraft gun has a cyclic rate of 750–850 rpm; this increases to 1,200 rpm or more for AN/M3 aircraft guns fitted with electric or mechanical feed boost mechanisms. These maximum rates of fire are generally not achieved in use, as sustained fire at that rate will wear out the bore within a few thousand rounds, necessitating replacement. For the M2HB, slow fire is less than 40 rounds per minute and rapid fire more than 40 rounds per minute.

The M2 has a maximum range of 7.4 kilometers (4.55 miles), with a maximum effective range of 1.8 kilometers (1.2 miles) when fired from the M3 tripod. In its ground-portable, crew-served role as the M2HB, the gun itself weighs in at a hefty 84 pounds (38 kg), and the assembled M3 tripod another 44 pounds (20 kg). In this configuration, the V-shaped "butterfly" trigger is located at the very rear of the weapon, with a "spade handle" hand-grip on either side of it and the bolt release the center. The spade handles are gripped and the butterfly trigger is depressed with one or both thumbs. Recently new rear buffer assemblies have used squeeze triggers mounted to the hand grips, doing away with the butterfly triggers.

A U.S. Marine mans a .50 caliber machine gun as part of a security force during an exercise
When the bolt release is locked down by the bolt latch release lock on the buffer tube sleeve, the gun functions in fully automatic mode. Conversely, the bolt release can be unlocked into the up position resulting in single-shot firing (the gunner must press the bolt latch release to send the bolt forward). Unlike virtually all other modern machine guns, it has no safety (although a sliding safety switch has recently been fielded to USMC armorers for installation on their weapons). Troops in the field have been known to add an improvised safety measure against accidental firing by slipping an expended shell casing under the butterfly trigger.
Because the M2 was intentionally designed to be fit into many configurations, it can be adapted to feed from the left or right side of the weapon by exchanging the belt-holding pawls, and the front and rear cartridge stops (3-piece set to include link stripper), then reversing the bolt switch. The operator must also convert the top-cover belt feed slide assembly from left to right hand feed as well as the spring and plunger in the feed arm. This will take a well trained individual less than 2 minutes to perform.
The charging assembly may be changed from left to right hand charge. A right hand charging handle spring, lock wire and a little know how are all that are required to accomplish this. The weapon can be battle ready and easily interchanged if the weapon is fitted with a retracting slide assembly on both sides of the weapon system to eliminate the need to have the weapon taken in to accomplish this task.

Ammunition
There are several different types of ammunition used in the M2HB and AN aircraft guns. From World War II through the Vietnam War, the big Browning was used with standard ball, armor-piercing (AP), armor-piercing incendiary (API), and armor-piercing incendiary tracer (APIT) rounds. All .50 ammunition designated "armor-piercing" was required to completely perforate 0.875" (22.2 mm) of hardened steel armor plate at a distance of 100 yards (91 m), and 0.75" (19 mm) at 547 yards (500 m).[15] The API and APIT rounds left a flash, report, and smoke on contact, useful in detecting strikes on enemy targets; they were primarily intended to incapacitate thin-skinned and lightly armored vehicles and aircraft, while igniting their fuel tanks.
Current ammunition types include: M33 Ball (706.7 grain) for personnel and light material targets, M17 tracer, M8 API (622.5 grain), M20 API-T (619 grain), and M962 SLAP-T. The latter ammunition along with the M903 SLAP (Saboted Light Armor Penetrator) round can perforate 1.34 in (34 mm) of HHA (high hard armor, or face-hardened steel plate) at 500 meters, 0.91 in (23 mm) at 1,200 meters, and 0.75 in (19 mm) at 1,500 meters. This is achieved by using a .30-inch-diameter (7.6 mm) tungsten penetrator. The SLAP-T adds a tracer charge to the base of the ammunition. This ammunition was type classified in 1993.
When firing blanks, a large blank-firing adapter (BFA) must be used to keep the gas pressure high enough to allow the action to cycle. The adapter is very distinctive, attaching to the muzzle with three rods extending back to the base. The BFA can often be seen on M2s during peacetime operations.