Light Mount- 3000 + meters Heavy Mount- 4000 meters
Rate of Fire:
1300 to 1400 RPM
Fire:
Automatic only
Vol:
800 m/s
The MG42 was meant as a more efficient replacement to the expensive and hard to produce MG34. The designers at Mauser were confident in the stamped metal technique used for the MP40, and decided that this extremely efficient and cost effective technique should be employed to its fullest on their new machinegun.
Working with captured Polish and Czechoslovakian weapons Mauser was able to come up with the MG39/41, which after further testing became the MG42. The new weapon was light, very reliable, and provided devastating firepower.
The MG42 was marginally lighter, fired faster, had an easy to remove barrel (as simple as the MG34), and most importantly, was much more cost effective and easy to produce than the MG34. The MG42 was used on all fronts, and was used in great numbers. If allied troops mentioned their biggest fears the MG42 would be at the top of the list.
Because of the extremely high rounds per minute rating of the MG42, its gunners were trained to fire in short one second bursts so as to increase accuracy and lower the amount of rounds used.
The MG42 is still used today, with minor modifications, and is also nearly identical to the current M60 used by the American armed forces. Its original conversion to the M60 was simply done by the welding of the MG42s receiver into the FG42s frame. Although the M60 is not considered by all to be the premier weapon of current times, it is still being used to quite an extent by American forces, and proves itself a reliable, if not terribly accurate weapon.
Most historians agree that the MG42 has one of the best designs for any machinegun ever made.
