Years ago as a kid I was a marker at the local firing range One sunny afternoon a gentleman brought out a Uzi & a MG-42 Made mincemeat out of my target I was safe in the bunker I’ll never forget the sound & all the wood splinters fly in the air Totally obliterated the target Very impressive.

7:57 one of my relatives was a squad leader on a MG42 team. Killed in Russia. My relatives back then thought he was more of a target as he had the binoculars and was more visible than the other team members because he was shot in the head and died instantly. Buried out there in the anonymous silent landscape.

In the year 5000 AD the MG42 will still be the best gun of all time. Historical brilliance of the highest class.

The testament to this Brilliant weapon is the fact that She is still in use by many countries,only with some tiny adjustments and dedignstion to MG3. I had the previledge of firing this "Docil" Beast during my Military service in my country Army.1987/1989. What a real Nightmare for the ones on the opposite side. Its all so fast that when they hear the noise,its already game over. Brilliant weapon.

German engineering was top-notch. What a piece of kit Awesome

The machine-gunner @8:30 has the thousand yard stare to end them all. Even if such men survived the war, nothing would ever be the same for any of them. The Ostfront was a total involvement for all combatants, I believe soldiers left behind the biggest part of themselves there forever.

I spoke with many Wehrmacht veterans of the Eastern front. They loved the mg34. It was steady and very reliable with an easy barrel change Drop the hot barrel into a mud puddle install the cold one and fire. When another change was needed they said "Grab it, shake the mud off a quick wipe and in it goes.". They also talked about a very important weapon, their spade/shovel They all sharpened the edges to use in defense of Russians attacking in swarms

German engineering at its best, MG-42 is a Engineering master piece. Great doc!

The MG 42 remains an unrivaled weapon to this day. The firing frequency of 1,500 rounds per minute, the ease of use and the perfect functionality have been unattainable to this day. With the bipod and open sliding sights, the effective combat distance was 800-1000. m whereby the open sliding sight could be adjusted to a distance of 200 to 2000 m. By mounting the MG 42 on an infantry mount, it was possible to fight the enemy effectively up to 3500 m. The MG 42 had a total length of 1230 cm and a weight of 11.5 kg unloaded, the sight length was 430 mm. It was an air-cooled recoil loader with a short recoil barrel and recoil amplification by muzzle gas pressure. Closure type: support roller closure. The initial velocity of the 7.92 cal cartridges was 820m/s, a muzzle energy of 4000j. Combat distance with bipod 800-1000 m and infantry mount 3000-35000 m. Maximum firing range 4000 m. Rate of fire: 1500 rounds per minute, approximately 25 rounds per second. Barrel life 3500-4000 shots (8000 with hard chrome barrel). Approximately 400,000 MG 42s were produced. The MG 42 could be used as a light MG on a bipod, as a heavy MG on a mount and for anti-aircraft defense on a tripod. It demonstrated high reliability, even in poor weather conditions, while still maintaining good shooting accuracy. The barrel could be replaced within seconds using a simple flap on the right side, which was necessary because of the intense heat generated during prolonged fire, so the machine gun squads carried up to 5 replacement barrels. The MG 42 could be recognized acoustically by the short, intense rattling of its fire bursts. the sounds of the individual shots merged into one another. It was therefore also called Electric MG. The weapon was officially introduced by the Army Weapons Office on October 11, 1943 and, with around 400,000 machine guns produced, formed the backbone of the German infantry in terms of weapons technology. Thanks to the sheet metal stamping process, it could be produced cost-effectively, easily and quickly. The design of the MG 42 came from Werner Gruner, who worked at the Johannes Großfuss metal and paintworks factory in Döbeln, Saxony. Gruner was not a weapons expert, but rather a specialist in series production, especially in the sheet metal stamping process. He was probably supported by specialists in the locking system. It is not known who designed the roller lock of the MG 42 and whether this design was derived from other types of locking. Kind regards, Magnus

No question about it, the best infantry personal weapon piece ever produced

My great grandfather was in ww2 and told me that he seen the MG42 cut people in half in seconds said it felt like a life time when they would shoot at you and when it stopped you had 7 seconds to get up and move forward then the shooting would start again

My grandpa was in the USAs 508 PIR 82ndA)B Div . Due to his PSTD issues , he hesitantly told me some harrowing stories , and he mentioned the "Hitler's Buzz saw " while partaking in the bloody hedgerow fighting . He told about the Germans with their Tiger Tanks , MG34+ MG42 , and the notorious 88 artillery piece .

My father got his Iron Cross with one of these. Took out the tracer rounds so not to give away his position. He said, "war is only an adventure to someone who has never been in one". Was captured by the Americans during the Battle of the Bulge aged 19. Sent to Belgium as a prisoner of war where he spent 2 years exhuming bodies.

Beautiful footage and fantastic sound! My dude, you deserve this channel to blow up! Love your content and honesty. No BS, no exaggerations, no lies, just straight up hardcore truth.

The best machine gun ever made

BTW as an owner and operator of one can add a little detail that Everyone is omitting when talking about it is that it has slight issues with case extraction which makes those impossible to reload..It basically leaves a deep indentation on their throats which prevents using those again after being fired..Which honestly sucks if you are paying for the ammo yourself and want to reduce costs by reloading it!And sometimes it loves to tear belts which also cost money!

The best machine gun in WW2, love it❤️❤️❤️👍👍👍

Für mich das beste Maschinen Gewehr seiner Zeit und darüber hinaus. Es hat viele kämpfe zu unseren Gunsten entschieden. Mein Großvater war immer begeistert von dieser Waffe. Liebe Grüße aus Deutschland. Torsten

The noise at the beginning was phenomenal

Best squad weapon of the war!

BTW- in the present guise of the MG3, there is a field provision of a ‘heavy bolt & buffer’ system which reduces the rate of fire to a very comfortable and controllable 750 rpm!

One man and that weapon felled more enemy soldiers than any infantryman in history I believe, Heinrich Severloh at Omaha Beach.

I remember watching this guy on KZfaq, who had a collection of machine guns from Japan, America & England. He said this one, was his favourite.

What an absolute engenering marvel. and well deserving of its numerous high praises. Exceptional and detailed vid.

Another feature of the MG-42 was the optional bracket and gun sight that allowed the machine gunners to stay below the body of the gun and still fire minimizing their exposure by using the periscope sight.

There are few guns that changed the way war is fought MG42 STG44 and FG42

10:00 "remember Fritz, short controlled bursts. so the ammo won't be empty to qui...whoops okay its gone"

The greatest automatic weapon of all time!

The danish military uses the converted mg 42 to 7.62mm nato standard - so the Hitler saw is still in the game and it shoots quickly indeed

Great information! Thank you for all your work, my favourite weapon of ww2

Hitlers buzzsaw is unmatched!

What can I say but it was by far the best...

Depending on the pins and bolts used, it could actually fire up to 2000 rounds/min...but 1500 was usually the average

The MG-3 is service today is used by many nations The M-60 (the pig) took many ideas from the MG-42

"Machine Gun 1942" is such a... simple name. It doesn't have the same "impact" like uniquely named weapons such as Arisaka, Thompson, Mosin Nagant, Bren, Lee Enfield (they all had official military model names but no one calls them by those). But if you were to talk about those, I'd bet "Machine Gun 1942" would strike the most fear into the hearts of soldiers. Although, its nickname is also the most terrifying.

A firearm which the US Ordnance Corps failed to adopt both during and after WA II. Instead, we got the M60!

Wow the mg -42 the other galaxy ☠️👍

You would not want to be on the receiving end of it

The weapon is a tool. Others were brave, too, but in the hands of the most disciplined soldiers, it became so deadly

I heard that the US Army would shoot this firearm before fresh recruits, so they where not freaked out hearing it used on them, in battle.

The real problem with the MG42 was was that it fired at such a high rate that it was very difficult to keep it supplied with ammo, which was a real issue, especially on the Eastern Front. The US M60, which is based upon the MG42, has a bit slower rate of fire on purpose for that specific reason.

MG42 for home defence in the US. The German word for machine gun sounds badass.

A fellow gunsmith friend of mone had a huge collection of military firearms including a 34 and a 42. I had the privilage to shoot both. He also had a Mg-3 (7.62x5) barrel for the MG-42 and we had a line on very inexpensive surplus berdan primer rounds. What a blast!! Literally! In one afternoon we burned up many thousands of rounds. It sounded like very very loud ripping canvas.❤

It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage video about successfully designed Mg 42 muchine gun ... Thank you for sharing

didn't mention telescopic sights for the high rate of fire trip-pod configuration

Good luck hiding from that monster.

I love the reenactor at 4:47. He’s dreamy.

OK, that was weird! I was already looking at the familiarities in the MG42 to the M60 and then you described the MG squad roles and it is EXACTLY what we were trained in the Australian army back in the late 70's. Guess the German WW2 infantry tactics were spot on!

They had to keep the MG-34 around as it was a "universal" machine gun which was used in vehicles co-ax mounts, and anti-aircraft etc. The 42 was great but best used as an inf support weapon and on halftrack pintel mounts.

Served in the Bundeswehr a long time ago - carrying tons of ammunition for the MG-3 was no fun.

As a Staff Sgt. in the 30th Infantry, my second cousin faced the First SS Panzers commanded by Obersturmbannfuhrer J. Peiper at the Battle of the Bulge. He said these things were called "bone saws" by GI's.

I love how every 14 year old gamer is now a weapons expert in the comments.

I think the necessary tactical response to machine gun nests with Mg was often a light anti-tank gun pushed by infantry.

It’s incredible how usually The best designs in history are done by people with experience in a complete different field

Outstanding video and presentation.

Nothing can match German engineer weapons design and knowhow.

The best un mostró mg 42 Germán 💪☠️💪👍

The fact that this thing was basically in use until recently (slightly modified and named MG3) says something about engineering

Love this video. No politics no agenda. Just details. MG3 is God like weaponry to those saying MG42 is the best of all time.

i have seen this gun Turing my time in the army 1978 i didn't fire it but i was at present when some other soldiers were training with MG 42 , its sound is really terrifies , you would never wish to be at the receiving side . soldiers used to say that the very same moment that a bullet was coming out of its barrel inside the barrel were 8 bullets that fast was that mashing gun ..

God imagine coming up against this gun

Hate to be that guy , but the one at 00:19 is an mg34, also Mauser is 7.92 mm. Sorry. I literally can’t help myself 😢

German weapons are amazing

MG 34 was still kept in use as secondary armament in afvs.

Was it callled the buzz saw cause of its sound or the fact it probably cut people in two.

Love Germany /Sweden

He went out and got input from the troops…….👍

very good video, congratulations !

I lost track a while ago of the number of videos claiming that XXX “changed everything” in WWII, when it’s obvious to anyone with even moderate knowledge of that conflict that this is not the case.

A special machine gun

Blood Red Snow is a great book about a German MG42 gunner on the eastern front against the Russians.

Keeping this thing fed must have been a logistical nightmare for the ammo carriers.. 1800 rounds is just over a minute of fire..

3:41 The image shown is from the period after 1945. It is from a brochure from the GDR era. It's about the 10th anniversary of what was VEB MKB Döbeln (state-owned company MKB Döbeln). “History of the labor movement” is written at the top left. Otherwise an interesting video. During my time in the army I was trained on the MG3 and shot it. A great weapon!

The Best weapons for the Worst Cause !!

My Uncle flew as a tail gunner in the B-17 during WW2, mostly over Europe were Germany was the only Axis force still around. He told me stories about crawling from his tail gunners position and all the bullet holes that were shot through the B-17 fuselage. And the time he put a 20mm on the Right hand side with the 50 caliber on the left, which unbalanced the gun so bad he replaced the 20 with the 50 caliber after that one mission. He flew in 28 missions and was in the 5th Army Air Corps. My Dad was Drafted in 1942 and ended up spending 2 1/2 years in the Philippines as a Medic and had a Combat promotion to Sargent while there. Following the dropping of the Atomic Bombs he was sent to Nagasaki and spent his time there treating soldiers for sexual disease from all the Japanese civilians trying to get by. Being 74 years old it makes me sick how the news and media is so self centered and never even consider what our Ancestors went through to give us all the freedoms and liberties that they all take for granted today.

In real world conditions, there were problems with the mg42. The very high rate of fire meant that the barrels heated quicker and therefore needed to be replaced more often, and the much higher rate of fire meant a corresponding higher need for ammunition. For an army increasingly facing logistical issues, sometimes faster doesn't mean better.

I know a fair amount of German language. It was known as the "Maschinengewehr Dreiundvierzig". That was what the MG-42 was. It was the main murderous machine gun used by the Wehrmacht in World War 2, especially at Omaha Beach, to rain wounding and killing bullets on Allied troops who stormed the beaches on D-Day, June 6, 1944. With a rate of fire of over 10 rounds a second - if you are an Allied soldier and you get hit with 10 bullets from that German gun in your chest, you would likely not just be down--you would be dead.

The baddest looking machine gun I ever seen!

There is a tendency for people to ask - What's the Best? The Correct answer to that is almost always - The Best at what? The MG-42 and the M1919 both had the rate of fire their services wanted them to have. The Browning design (the only true universal machine gun) when mounted as tail guns on American light attack aircraft - had a very similar rate of fire to the MG-42. In fact - some of them were taken from wrecks and used by Infantry much as the MG-42's were used - and with the same problems. The MG-42 - had a quick change barrel - but then - because it had a lighter barrel - it HAD to be changed more often than the heavier barrel on a 1919. The Barrel on the 1919 could be changed in a few minutes - so while it couldn't be done in seconds like the quick change barrels - it didn't take all that long to do. The 1919 also had a very handy little tripod it was mounted on - that was much superior to the bipod on the MG-42. The MG-42 was intentionally not as accurate as it might have been. A German MG-42 gunner explained that the 42 was intended to be like a long range shot gun. It was slightly in accurate - so that the bullets would spread out some. The Gunner would fire a short burst and the resulting volume of fire - would provide a density of fire that gave him a greater chance of getting a hit. For the Aircraft mounted 1919 - it had an airplane to carry all the ammunition it needed. Infantry had to carry all that ammunition themselves. The fact that a 42 consumed a larger amount of ammunition - meant that it needed that many more ammunition carriers to support it. A German infantry squad - was based on the machine gun and much of the squads manpower was devoted to that gun. Thus - it had a binary organization - and if the machine gun was lost - the squad was almost worthless without it. The Americans had BAR's as their squad level automatic weapons - which was an Assault Weapon. The Americans could have as many as 3 BARs per squad. This gave them a greater level of flexibility and a weapon that was a lot easier to carry into the assault. If it was thought they needed a machine gun - one could be assigned to them. Of course - all the American Riflemen had Garand's which were semi-automatic - rather than the bolt action weapons German Infantry often carried. The thing here - is that there were advantages and disadvantages to doing things different ways. All the nations of WWII - had functioning Infantry Squads - they were just organized and used differently. All the things said about the MG-42 here - were true - it just left out the disadvantages - which was chiefly that it used up ammunition incredibly fast - faster than a bunch of foot soldiers could supply it. When they ran out of Ammunition for their 42's - the Germans just fell back - as they couldn't hold without it. The Americans were not as dependent on a single point of failure. .

Mg-42 was barely used by german tankists and never replaced "older" Mg-34 in a role of a tank minigun, because Mg-34 already had articulated tank details developed specially for MG-34, had smaller phisical range of reload, repair, barrel replacement, critical inside of a tank, and it was not so vulnerable to dirt and dust unlike the same MG-34 in infantry. Despite all of this MG-42 replaced MG-34 in infantry and mechinised infantry units, as MG-42 was cheaper, had better firerate, quicker reload and barrel replacement (still needs more space then MG-34). I also hope u will see my comment. In april u had video "Faces of ww2", it begun with citate of Winston Churchill: "Every soldier has a story". It had a beutiful soundtrack. Please, send me the name of that music since this video was deleted and I do not remember music name.

had military service in germany in the nineties, was trained (among others) on the mg3, which is practically identical to mg42. a cumbersome gun, a lot of the recoil goes into the shooter, hard to keep on target. and then, one day, an officer told us recrutes that the reason for that is the weaker buffer spring nowadays employed due to geneva and nato regulations (750 rpm if I remember well). there is a "combat spring" in case of real combat and that seriously increases the rate of fire (to >1100 rpm) and affects the recoil, drastically improving its impact. and regarding the barrel change... :-\ yes, fast. and trappy. literally. the scars on my forearm are still visible. be VERY careful with your jacket sleeves...

As a kid growing up in the 60s the only people with actual experience who ever mentioned weapons always called these spandaus or something like that. Never MG42.

Very well made video .thank you

Interesting thanks for explaining!❤🇨🇦

Compare this to the primitive Bren gun, where you were forever changing it's small magazine.

Six men to fire one gun, when six men could fire 6 weapons...?

It was a game changer! Just listen to it. To this day there's nothing that portable with 2000 rounds per minute fire, it was truly impressive. Got to give the Devil his due.

WHY "Buzz Saw" Should be translated "Bone Saw" ?!

MG42 had one severe weakness, which was also inherited by it's successor MG3: If for some reason an unfired cartridge remained in the barrel, loading a firing a new belt will cause the weapon to explode with high risks for the shooter. But, I must admit, I never heard it happen during my time of duty. Personally I think it is a unprobable thing - a misfired round (e.g. caused by a broken hammer) which was not pulled out by the retractor (very unprobable), overseen by the shooter (ok, there surely were some guys around who would have been capable for this) and then reloaded badly.

I have yet to comprehend a need for such a high rate of fire. You had to have every cartridge you are shooting. I would rather have a select fire than always shooting a high rate.

What's up has KZfaq become McBeth Tube? The guy is everywhere!

*Fire-Breather!*

Bang! Bang!!

1200 rounds a minute reduced layer in the war. 42 was stamped the 34 was more expensive

Not true. De MG-42 was developed to enable cheaper and better mass-production, not because a higher rate of fire was necessary. The MG-34 was expensive to produce in comparison, and fewer could be made. Using stamped metal on the MG-42 enabled higher volumes for less money.

Only flaw was rate of fire while impressive it wasted mountains of ammo

Amazing that the US army didn’t adopt the MG42 after WW2. US soldiers that tested it said it was far easier to operate, hot barrel change could be done in under 10 sec. Weight was under 20 lbs. Only issue was it’s appetite for ammo, +/- 1200 rounds min. Political pride got in the way, now way we were going to admit the the nazis had a superior weapon. The MG60 was developed instead which was a blend of the MG34 feed system and the FG44 gas system. Took a while to get this to run in the field reliably but after many adjustments is a good squad MG. Odd that the MG60 has the nick name Pig, this is for its appetite for ammo… The later MG3 which is basically a MG42 chambered in 7.62 NATO was adopted by the West Germans and other NATO nations, the US turned it down again. I qualified for the MG60 while in the army back in the 70’s and fired the MG3 that a friend owned. The MG3 is a better platform in my opinion. Very simple to operate and reliable. And puts a lot of rounds down range.

Narrator is awesome

1800 cartridges, this is enough for 1 minute of fire MG 42 theoretical rate of fire was over 3000 rounds per minute but this didn't work in practice no one could carry all that ammo and barrels but what a weapon

I HOPE I NEVER SEE OR TOUCH 9NE OF THOSE AGAIN. I SHOT WITH KAMANDO UNIT 511, STUTTGART, 1979.