Browning Machine Guns

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This site is dedicated to the belt-fed machine guns of John Moses Browning. The information here is primarily related to the .30 caliber weapons. There is some information on the .50 caliber guns, primarily in the WWII Aircraft Gunnery section. Click on the button to the left of each site description to go to that page. To return to this page, look for the "BACK" button (shown at right) on that site's main page. Please contact me if you find errors or dead links. I catch what I can, but still I miss a lot. I count on you for feedback. Thanks to all who have had input here through contributions of photos, information or feedback. This is truly a group effort.

This page was last updated on June 12, 2009

6/12/2009 Added a new Research site containing
technical articles by Charlie Brown.
6/12/2009 Updated the Bolt Latch Location site.
4/25/2009 Added a new Maxim Site
3/10/2009 Added a new Ammo Box Site
3/3/2009 Added AKs to Kalashnikov Site
3/3/2009 Added a new site for identification of Soviet/Ex-Soviet Oil Bottles
9/14/2008 Added info to Clinometer Site

THE BROWNING MACHINE GUN: The many models of .30 caliber Brownings from 1895 on.

THE MAXIM MACHINEGUN: The design that started it all. A look at the Maxim and Vickers MGs.

M37 TANK MG: The last and the best of the USGI .30 caliber air-cooled Brownings.

FREE BROWNING MANUALS: Free manuals in Adobe Acrobat format.

FN BROWNINGS: The remarkable Browning machine guns of Fabrique Nationale in Herstal, Belgium.

MOUNTS: Ground and vehicle mounts for .30 caliber Brownings (and a couple .50 cal.).

THE SHORT BARRELED 1919: The 1919A2, Colt MG38BT, and recent 1919A4 conversions.

COMMERCIAL BROWNING 1917: The Colt manufactured Commercial 1917

ORIGINAL BROWNING ENGRAVING: Original engraving from C&R weapons & demills.

STEAM CHESTS: Photos and drawings of steam chests.

WW2 AIRCRAFT GUNNERY: The .50 caliber M2 in turrets and flexible gunnery.

MALFUNCTIONS & ACCIDENTS: MG accidents - text and photos from TM9-2210.

BACK PLATE IDENTIFICATION: Photos of the many back plates to be found on BMG .30s.

AMMO BOXES-1: Wood & metal ammo boxes from WW1& WW2.

AMMO BOXES-2: Metal ammo box identification from WW2 to the present.

ANM2 SPADE GRIPS: Spade grip design & function. Photos and dimensioned drawings.

CLINOMETER: Description and use of the fire control instrument.

SPADE GRIP BUILD SITE: A tutorial on building your own spade grips.

LINKER BUILD SITE: A tutorial on building an ammo linker.

TRANSIT CASE BUILD SITE: A tutorial on building a 1919 transit case.

M2 TRIPOD BUILD/RESOURCE SITE: Photos & dimensioned drawings

LINK CHUTE BUILD SITE: Photos & drawings

TECHNICAL ARTICLES: Charlie Brown's articles on the Browning 1919. Articles include barrel and jacket development, bottom plate identification, markings, etc. More articles will be added as Charlie's research continues.

COLT MG38B WATER-COOLED: In U.S. .30 cal. W-Cs, this is as good as it gets.

M2 .50 Cal. PARTS GROUP BLOWUPS: From an M2 armorer's manual

TM9-1205 update insert No. 1: The Complete 4 page CHANGES No. 1.

TM 9-1005-121-25: I took the parts blowups and added the parts list to the page so I wouldn't have to leaf back and forth through the manual to find names of parts.

CARTRIDGE STOP PHOTOS: for .308, 30-06, and 8mm cartridges.

ISRAELI M2 TRIPOD: A G.I. issue M2 (Evans, 1943) from Israel.

BOLT LATCH (safety bar): Photo and dimensions for placement of 1919 bolt latch.

RIVET BUCKING BLOCK: Photo and dimensions.

REPLICA BROWNINGS: From our friends across the sea.

BROWNING IMAGES: Photos, posters, and movie stills featuring the 1919.

LINE DRAWINGS: Technical line drawings of Brownings and other belt-feds.

CARTOONS: Bill Mauldin, etc

KALASHNIKOV: The milled receiver Russian Kalashnikov AK47.