[elcid1970]

The M73 coax machine gun SUCKED! Recoil operated cycling works with the M2 .50 cal, not with that box with a barrel attached! Solenoid trigger don’t cut it, either.

Wasn’t until they came up with a conventional gas operated coax gun that could be detached & fired handheld or ground mount that we had something decent. This was late 1970’s.

[bravo whiskey]

219 wasn’t much better. If you could keep it working during tank gunnery you never cleaned it because than it might not work.

[archy]

Wasn’t until they came up with a conventional gas operated coax gun that could be detached & fired handheld or ground mount that we had something decent. This was late 1970’s

The Marines played with a modified M60, crossed with some parts and components from the M60D helicopter door gun, and tried that for a co-ax for a while. No soap: the M60 was designed from the beginning to have its barrel slid forward for removal and change, and reworks that instead slid the receiver to the rear weren't very adaptable to the limited space inside some USMC amphibious craft.

We tried modifications from more than a dozen NATO countries, including the French AAT52 and the German MG42/MG3. We finally got the Belgian-designed MAG, aka the M240, and it works.