Cutting a machine gun barrel
Seems like this subject comes up every year or so and I thought it was time to dedicate a thread to this subject.
My opinion: MYTH.
In regards to a hot barrel being easier to cut, I don't buy it. When I was an Army Ranger, I spent two years carrying a M60 machine gun and often shot her till her barrels glowed red (we had two barrels per gun). The Army may do dumb things, but they don't buy guns that go soft :).
Ok, here is what what Daniel M. Furuya wrote in Black Belt mag years ago:
Quote:
There is a World War II training film showing Magoroku Kanemoto, a famous cutter, slicing through a machine-gun barrel. Even today, some smiths make swords which are known to cut through a rifle barrel and shave glass. Hokkesaburo Nobutsugu, whose son is still making swords today, was well known for this.
I have heard that there was such a film made for the Marines, but the barrel was made out of wood. Now, if this was a WW2 training film, how the heck did Magoroku Kanemoto get involved in this project? Did he hop on a boat to California? Or was this film a Japanese propaganda film. HAS ANYONE EVEN SEEN IT?
Re: Cutting a machine gun barrel
I pity your plight with the M-60, the most 'jammingest and heaviest things around, IMHO.
They are fun to shoot, however.
The hot barrel makes the steel soft and warps it because of expansion; cooling it quickly can destroy it immediatly- ruining the temper (as everyone knows). That is true...however thats not going to happen just firing rounds through it.One has other problems to worry about other than if someone is going to cut your barrel with a sword- rounds heating up and firing by themselves for instance.
It is concievable to me that if one was using a 30 pound maul hammer with the barrel propped flat on a log, and the thing was heated almost to the point of becoming liquid it would be easier to cut. Otherwise I totally disagree and think it's all hogwash.
I've also seen WWII Paratrooper training films, where they stated if the soldier ever ended up in South Pacific Shark Infested water to "Move your legs and arms about rapidly and make lots of noise" to "scare off" the sharks.
Ummm....right...
"I'm not faster than the lion, but I am faster than the guy next to me!"
-Russ
Quote:
Originally posted by John Lindsey
Seems like this subject comes up every year or so and I thought it was time to dedicate a thread to this subject.
My opinion: MYTH.
In regards to a hot barrel being easier to cut, I don't buy it. When I was an Army Ranger, I spent two years carrying a M60 machine gun and often shot her till her barrels glowed red (we had two barrels per gun). The Army may do dumb things, but they don't buy guns that go soft :).
Ok, here is what what Daniel M. Furuya wrote in Black Belt mag years ago:
I have heard that there was such a film made for the Marines, but the barrel was made out of wood. Now, if this was a WW2 training film, how the heck did Magoroku Kanemoto get involved in this project? Did he hop on a boat to California? Or was this film a Japanese propaganda film. HAS ANYONE EVEN SEEN IT?
Here's what I've read ....
I read an article in John Grimmet's Nanka Tokenkai newsletter sometime around 1983-4. Actually, it was a letter published in the newsletter addressing the same topic, and was written by an elderly Finish or Swedish gentleman who once served in the German army during WWII (many Fins did time in any army that allowed them to fight the Soviets). This gentleman wrote saying that he himself saw the propaganda (training?) film; that it actually did exist and is not merely a legend. He further stated that the barrel of a machine gun was in fact cut into. Can't remember if he said the sword cut in two, or cut into -- that is, if the blade lodged into the barrel.
I can only imagine a few scenarios:
1. Supposed "Combat Footage": perhaps the barrel was a wooden substitution that was exchanged (film magic) just before the officer over-ran the position and proceded to enter into "Budo Legend." (Which begs the question -- what was a Japanese film crew doing there if it was suposed to be actual combat footage??)
2. Popular fare: The film might have been a "Hollywood" type of production for entertainment/morale purposes -- not an actual training event or combat footage. Something to reinforce the mettle of the troops and the morale of the civilians.
3. Training film: It might have been an actual test, but perhaps the machinegun had a water-cooled jacket surrounding the barrel like our early M2s; perhaps the blade did cut into the cooling jacket (but not through the barrel).
Like John, I've fired many an M-60 and "Ma Deuce", and know that barrels must be changed when they get hot or else you get "barrel droop" and your rounds don't hit where you aim -- or, you mess up your "head-space and timing." Anyway, even with a heat-softened barrel, the word "soft" is only relative. There is no way that a sword could cut into the steel barrel-- much less through it.
If ever I find that newsletter I'll have to transcribe the letter.
Regards,
Guy
Oh, yes ... I know that "barrel droop" is a tanker term -- but I suppose it could be applied to a machine gun.
Tankers: If you use your protection properly, you can avoid "barrel droop."
well maybe if...............
Well, you know if the blade was made out of depleted uranium...... oh never mind.:D
It's a matter if physics. If memeory serves, the watercooled guns used lite gauged steel or copper and brass for the jackets. Even if the weapon in question was a watercooled 1919 or M2 the sword would at best only cut the jacket.
:smilejapa
Re: Cutting a machine gun barrel
Quote:
Originally posted by John Lindsey
Seems like this subject comes up every year or so and I thought it was time to dedicate a thread to this subject.
My opinion: MYTH.
In regards to a hot barrel being easier to cut, I don't buy it. When I was an Army Ranger, I spent two years carrying a M60 machine gun and often shot her till her barrels glowed red (we had two barrels per gun). The Army may do dumb things, but they don't buy guns that go soft :).
Ok, here is what what Daniel M. Furuya wrote in Black Belt mag years ago:
I have heard that there was such a film made for the Marines, but the barrel was made out of wood. Now, if this was a WW2 training film, how the heck did Magoroku Kanemoto get involved in this project? Did he hop on a boat to California? Or was this film a Japanese propaganda film. HAS ANYONE EVEN SEEN IT?
You were in the 75th as well? What battalion?
Re: Cutting a machine gun barrel
Hi John
Quote:
Originally posted by John Lindsey
how the heck did Magoroku Kanemoto get involved in this project?
This one is the easiest of all to answer.
He didnt get involved in any way personally. I own a katana made by Kanemoto Magoroku. He has been dead for around 450 years.
Has anyone ever got a modern smith involved to test this supposed feat.
Maybe one of the smiths like Paul Champagne could smith a sword, and then have it tested on a genuine machine gun from WW2.