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:
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?
John Lindsey
Oderint, dum metuant-Let them hate, so long as they fear.