50 Caliber Meat Chopper 

How effective do you think the quad 50s were and do you think it was right they were used against infantry? Welcome back! If you are new here make sure to hit subscribe to expand your knowledge on Military History and join the growing Premier History Community!

I had a M2 .50 on my humvee in Iraq. It was manufactured by General Motors in 1943. Few modern weapons have had staying power like that.

My father worked for General Motors during WW2 and made the M2. I was always mad he didn’t bring one home one piece at a time.

My Grandfather operated the M-16 Gunbucket (quad .50 on half-track) in conjunction with M-15 and other M-16's in 5th Armored DIV, 387th AAA (SP) in WW2. They were used against enemy aircraft and also very effective in The Huertgen Forrest when fighting German Infantry&Armor. His unit was also effective at the Bulge and ' chopped' things up in the hedgerows. He never talked about WW2, I had to hear about it after his death from the surviving vets of his Company. Awesome guys!

I once worked with a couple Korea vets who talked glowingly about the quad 50. Late in the war, the lines were relatively stable in mountainous country. The crews were trained to look for muzzle flashed on the opposite mountain, then cut loose with lethal fire laced with tracers. Very effective.

I met a janitor at the local college who was a gunner on one of those in Korean War. He said it would pile the enemy up and then knock the top layers off for more. Savage.

My father was in an armored anti-aircraft unit during WWII which used Quad-50's mounted on Greyhound armored cars. He was at Remagen in March, 1945, and I'm proud to say that the photo of the Quad-50 with the Ludendorff Bridge in the background in this video, is of his vehicle! He recognized the soldier manning the guns.

My Dad was with the US 318th Infantry in Germany during WWII. One of his major battles was taking the city of Kassel. The Germans had a group of 88s that were making life hell for the Americans, but they had a company of half tracks mounting quad 50s. The group of half tracks opened up on the 88s, reducing everything to so much scrap metal.

Ma-duece is a terrifying weapon. One 50 cal is horrifically lethal, but 4?!?

It was used against Chinese human wave attacks in Korea too.

The M2 .50 was the Best MG by a country mile !!! It did it all on Land, Air & Sea and still is !!!! Semper Fi

Vulcan gunner here (16R), my boss had nothing but great things to say about the quad 50.

My dad crewed the M-16 halftrack (M3 variant) during the Korean War. Due to the barrel’s heating up during night combat they only utilized 2 of the 50 caliber MGs at a time. Said they would turn red hot and would have to alternate.

The M2 rate of fire was adjusted to max for aircraft use just because! My dad went to Vietnam in 1966 and he had a NCO who fought in Korea. He told them stories about combat in Korea. One battle was defense of a ridge line in the winter. There were two lines of defense intrenched in front of the mainline. This battalion had 2 M16s and they were spaced apart barrels traversed to be level at 200 yards. The Sgt was attached to a gun crew and said that morning they charged us and the battle began with bugles screaming yelling hundreds of men charging at any given time without stopping. Only one out of four had a weapon. Most only had a grenade and were told to pick up a gun from the dead. The first line of defense were guys with Garands and BARs. The second line had M1919s and it wasn't long before the first line retreated then the second with some leaving the guns in place. He said the half track had three feet of brass and links all about and they stopped changing cans and were linking the belts together to keep firing. As panic set in and the barrels were getting hot and receivers and barrels started to glow. He said they knew that the guns were failing. Out in the field the PLA had formed a ramp 6-7' high. It was made of heads, torsos, arms legs, chunks, piss shit guts hats clothing and blood all mixed together. The smell of blood was in the air along with fuel powder chemical odor piss shit all mixed together. He was saying I'll never forget that as he was talking. When it all seemed lost USN Panther jets dropped napalm stopping their advance and ending the battle. He said without air power they would have been overrun. The Chinese would reach the top of the ramp they formed and explode without stopping. Pure madness to witness. I have listened to Forward Observers describe catching Chinese with artillery and killing thousands of them as they watched from a safe elevated position. Colonel Weber described catching a column of Chinese marching down the road 6 abreast opening up on them with a quad .50 and after some time passed some of his men stopped firing because of what they were witnessing, they just kept marching forward.

It is war, absolutely. The quad 50 keeps a position from being over run.

Great ground defense weapon. We had both quad 50's and twin 40's on our fire base perimiter defense in Nam.

Read that in the battle of the bulge one of these turned back an entire German tank column who thought the hail of fire was from a US tank batallion that was waiting for them around the bend, but it was only a single meat chopper and 2 bazookas at the GI roadblock.

I don't remember the name of the book but I do remember a story in the book. It was about a WW2 tank maintenance battalion that was moving around behind our lines. They were being harrassed by a german sniper that was somewhere in the forest on the other side of the road. They didn't have the manpower to go after the sniper they only knew he must be up in the trees. After some time on the radio I think it was they still had no relief. Finally a halftrack came down the road which they cautiously flagged down. They told them of their plight , suddenly the small turret of the the quad 50's turned toward the woods and opened up. It ripped up all the tops of the trees where they had told them of, cleared it right out. The crew replied, "that outta do it!" Then continued on their way down the road. They went over there and found the sniper dead.

My father was a US Navy pilot in the Pacific during WW2, and he absolutely loved the M2 .50 cal guns on his plane. Those rounds were so powerful that they could penetrate most wooden, earthen, or even brick fortifications, and still blow a human body into pieces. The Marines for whom he flew close air support loved them also. The M2 is a big reason why so many more of our guys survived, while their guys (Japanese) died. ABSOLUTELY it was correct to use against infantry.

Bombs and artillery are used on infantry, so I have no problem with a .50 being used on them. Dillon has a quad mount of M134D minguns. It is gloriously insane.

The Browning 50 cal is a superb weapon which is why it has been in service for so long. You're have to be behind some serious armour or reinforced concrete to be safe from this gun.

Great home defense weapon!😊

My father was trained on the 40MM Bofers AA unit under Patton in NC prior to deployment to Europe in 1942--however, as his convoy left NY for England on the Queen Mary, his National guard force unit was redirected to Australia and wound up in Port Morsby, New Guiney--and they unpacked and first fired their new quad mount .50's onboard ship en-route to same. I went to Vietnam in 1967 and we were still using the "meat chopper" there!

We still had these in my unit when i got out of the Army in 2020. The fact that the "ma duece" is still in use after a century is a testament to its effectiveness & reliability.

The .50 BMG was supposed to be only used for equipment. Like water canteens, uniforms, belts, backpacks, buttons, etc.

Quad .50 for home defense 👍

I saw the quad 50 used in Vietnam! Very effective!

We had a quad in service in South Viet Nam. I have to say it BEAT EVERYTHING down!! One time we used one to burn out an entire valley! After the smoke, fires and other general damage settled down the NVA never came at us from that sector again. This was in the I Corp, a step over the border between north and south Vietnams.

To be on the receiving end of this amount of firepower must have been truly horrendous.

During the Battle of the Bulge a battalion of green German soldiers charged over open ground attacking a US position that had a quad .50 cal mounted on a half track. It was worse that the charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimea war. Almost the entire German unit was wiped out, mowned down on the snow covered field. Audie Murphy won a MOH single-handly defending his position shooting a Ma Deuce from atop a burning tank destroyer. He cut down dozens of Germans while calling artillery fire upon his own position. The GI's used them in Korea, along with the 40mm AA guns mounted on tank chassis, to great effect against massive Chinese human wave attacks.

Two quad .50's were landed at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. While not used in the AA role, they did sterling service as anti-personnel weapons, carving up Viet Minh human wave attacks. The method was to use two barrels one after the other, and keeping the other two barrels in reserve. In the defence of Eliane 2, the Viet Minh threw two regiments at the hillock, comprising of nearly 4000 troops, taking close to 50% losses estimated, largely from advancing through converging .50 cal fire. Once on the position, the guns were firing onto the defences, as Eliane 2 had the remnants of a stone church on it, with a sizeable basement that the defenders sheltered in.

"The crowd mower". That's awesome!

One of your clips shows the Sherman firing its coax which you state was a .50. The coax was .30. The .50 on the Sherman was on a mount on top of the tank. Otherwise this is an excellent clip

I flew Hueys for the 1st Cav out of Bong Son in early 67. Sometime that spring we were tasked to go north and operate out of Quang Nhai (at the southern end of I Corp), for a couple of weeks. There was one hill, that was very prominent in that AO, that had a Quad 50 on top of it. We loved flying missions near that bad boy.

My dad served as crewman on the halftrack mounted quad .50s at the outbreak of the Korean war. After the war truce they were sold to the newly formed Israely army and replaced in my dad's unit with the double barreled 40mm bofors mouned on the old Chaffee tank chassis.

Saw one fire before Covid at West Point ky. Unbelievable, the ground was shaking

In 1970 while serving with the paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne Division I had a first sergeant tell me a story about a gun truck he oversaw during the Korean war. He watched a Chinese infinitary division overrun a ROK division and they they saw the gun truck and tried to attack it. When he told me they killed over 5,000 Chinese troops, I found it difficult to believe but I watched him review the event in his mind's eye and then he exclaimed "there had to be over 5,000 dead because they only stopped attacking because they couldn't climb over the piles of their own dead." He further clarified the attack by saying "they were screaming like "smashed cats," and finally as he reflected, he said their were arms and legs flying everywhere as the bullets tore their bodies apart. I had no reason to disbelieve that story as he was one of the most honest and forthright people I have ever known. I thank God that we had people like him at that time in our military history.

When it comes to the .50 cal, I often think of the P-47 Thunderbolt which carried eight as its main armament. As an enemy pilot, or just a simple locomotive driver during WW2. Could you imagine being on the receiving end of such monstrous firepower!

The ma-deuce is a beast! Its longevity says it all!

The m2 is a classic but that 20mm Vulcan Cannon is an absolute monster.

The twin .50 with a 37mmautocannon was very common in Europe until the end of the war. Very common on the same vehicles as mounts

My ex (late) grandfather in law served on a halftrack crew in WW2 that had a quad 50. He said it was extremely effective against any target you engaged. According to everyone in the family grandpa never spoke of his time over there but he told me a few things while at deer camp the last year he went up with us. Just he and I sitting on the tailgate of the truck, sipping coffee with blackberry brandy in it. As soon as the other guys started coming back in from the morning hunt he stopped talking about his experiences. I felt honored that he was telling me his experiences but couldn't understand why me other than I too was in the Army. Little did I know at the time that his advice for combat ops from 1944/45 still proved effective in 2005.

my fathers cousin was in the 36th Armored Infantry Division attached to 3rd Armored ww2 ,,his service picture shows an AA on his sleeve and another shows hin in front of his 1/2 track. I'm not sure if he was a gunner ,loader or what as he was KIA near the wars end but reading some of the books and hearing the men talk the quad 4 was very effective,,not just for aircraft but also for soldiers in thick cover or behind vehicles,buildings and such,,it penetrated very well. Come to think of it he may have been on a flak gun ..I'm just not sure...I think they used flak guns on more than aircraft too

My cousin was in Korea and was the reloader on a quad 50 gun mounted on a White Half Track,they usually did suppression fire for advancing Army or Marines. He told me that on 2 occasions they were part of a convoy going thru a wide valley and at night waves of chinese would pour out of the treeline several rows deep and about a quarter long the rifle companies were having trouble stopping the massed attacks and asked for air strikes,none could be sent so somebody ordered 6 half tracks to deployd on the roaf and open up all the quad 50s on the chinese,He said after about an hour and shifting positions 3 times they finally stopped the attacks..he says they counted around 2,000 dead or dying chinese after the shooting stopped..he said it was terrifying because it seemed that no matter how much lead they threw at the wall of chinese running at them,it seemed there were unlimited targets that showed no signs of stopping

It was probably responsible for a lot of hearing loss to soldiers without hearing protection.

There is(was) a quad 50 sitting outside the Buffalo Bill Museum in Le Claire, IA, back in the 70’s. Had a picture of me in it, but was lost over time. Sitting in it, I can only think how quickly the gunner went deaf from 4 Ma Deuces going off at once only inches from his ears. Still, glad it was ours!🇺🇸

And don't forget the M45's most famous use.... on the bow of the Smokers 'Hellfire' gunboat in the movie Waterworld.

Just when you thought you were already aware of every horrific thing that happened during WW2, this video drops. It got that name for a reason. Looks neat on the half tracks.

Troops in Vietnam used the quad 50 mount on trucks to escort convoys. The VC learned quickly to not attack those convoys.

I'm happy I found this Channel. I love the photos and video of the soldiers

My father, who commanded an infantry company during the Battle of Okinawa, seldom spoke of his war experiences. He did, however, one time his fondness for the work accomplished by the Quad 50.

The Greek Air Force had one of these outside the gate of the special weapons site I served at in the mid 70’s. Saw it in use but it was one impressive weapon.

My father served in a mobile anti-aircraft unit during WWII, and they did use it against troops and vehicles, including at the river crossings to keep the enemy's heads down on the other side of the river. They had a very good record against aircraft as well, but likely mostly with the 40 mm guns.

My dad was part of the crew of a Half-Track in WWII, Battle of the Bulge, 11th Armored Division, 575th AAA. He was trained to identify aircraft by their silhouette. By the time the Bulge started in Dec 1944 the Luftwaffe was much diminished and they frequently use their 0.50 cals as anti-personnel weapons. War is war.

My father was in a light anti-aircraft unit during WW2 in Europe. His unit consisted of several half tracks with quad .50 mounts and range finding equipment. Interestingly, his job was maintaining and manning the mechanical range computer that linked to the quads when the unit was stationary defending an airfield. When used that way the computer took control of the movement of the mount to direct it against enemy aircraft.

Great video…thank you!

I have always been a fan of the 50 cal but that quad arrangement is awesome..... as a good old clay shooting friend would say 'get as much lead in the air as possible'

Officer: "The .50 caliber is to be used against vehicles and equipment." Gunner: "I did use it against equipment, sir. The enemy's web gear. I couldn't help it if he was wearing it at the time!"

The quad 50 is a fuck around and find out weapon system!

In the Persian Gulf while stationed aboard a destroyer and a sonartech…which wasn’t powered up in the gulf, I was a .50 cal gunner. Headspace and timing. That is a wicked weapon and a joy to fire. 😀

When I enlisted in the USN in 1968, my first ship was USS Okinawa, LPH 3. She had (If I remember correctly) two twin 5"x38 gun turrets, and about 8-10 quad 50 mounts. scattered around. While I was onboard in 1969, the quads were replaced with 8 Sea Sparrow launchers.

Fired these a lot in the Navy. Hauling one on your shoulder required padding. Bad ass gun.

My first exposure to the Quad Mounted 50 Cal. Was in the Atoll Attack scene in the movie Waterworld. Meat chopper indeed !!! 😃👍

"What's that cousin's name?" "Chuck" "Hey Chuck".........Dennis Hopper WATERWORLD

Extremely effective. All is fair in Love and War

My time in the service allowed me to work w/ this weapon a lot. As far as implimentation goes. We had it "Drilled" into us that our M2s were for vehicle & Anti material destruction not personnel. We joked 'bout going after personnel equipment carried by troops. Not sure but there was some UN treaty issue reguarding use against troops. Ballistically, a .50 BMG round can past an inch or so w/o touching a body & still deliver a devastating wound by sheer Atomsphereric pressure.

I was in a class at Cape May and the instructor held up a .50 round and said it was generally considered poor military ethics to use such a thing against a human being. Guess he didn't get out much.

The quads were absolutely devastating

5:15 Yes, the quad 50 cal was effective, but not nearly as effective as the German quad 20mm auto-cannon (2 cm Flakvierling 38 which had more range, penetration and explosive ammo.

I was in the USAF , stationed at Camp Casey Korea from 1977-1980. I was in a Tactical Air Control Party (TACP), attached to the Army for close air support. We spent a lot of time in the field, but like the Army, lots of time in between. We would hop in a jeep, (MRC-108) and go explore the country side, to become familiar with the terrain. I went up to the South Korean air defense post, near the DMZ a lot. Several quad 50 sites! I would trade can of starter fluid for the engine, to let me sit and aim it around! Sometimes, take them a case of C-rations!!😏

There is only one rule in war. Make sure the only people to bleed are the enemy. Use what is needed to accomplish that task.

the quad mount is what NASA used for their very long range camera system in tracking the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle launches. i used to work with a pipefitter who manned one in Korea on a half-track (M16). he didnt have any feelings towards either way

Kraut mower ! perfect

Used mainly in Korea, especially against the Chinese .

A bit of trivia here for you. While serving with the paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne Division in 1970, I was sent to a battalion armorers course and learned how to service, disassemble and reassemble all weapons used by the battalion. One of those was the M2 50 Cal Machine Gun. I learned they were manufactured by many companies during WWII including Singer Sewing Machine Company, Coca-Cola, and Kluge Machine and Gear Company as well.

The very first M-16, our quad-50 mounted on an M-3 halftrack..

What would be wrong about using it against infantry? You're not there to play games with them.

I saw them used in Vietnam, they were awesome. They were scary to watch, but sure put a stop to trouble. Can't imagine what it would be like to see it firing towards you.

One M 50 is REAL loud, but I can't imagine the noise of four of those monters. And the P 47 Thunderbolt had EIGHT!

Only the victors get to decide who was "right."

watched a veterans interview from Korea , he talked about being hit with wave after wave of hundreds of Chinese soldiers and how they would just charge the American lines and get mowed down by the hundreds by the quad 50cal turrets

You were SUPPOSED to fire at equipment. You can ALWAYS say that you were shooting at his canteen...

Very effective Weapons system to be used as needed.

My dad fought in Korea and while I was reading a book to try and track his time there I read about 4 of those half track mounted 50's fought off 13 battalions of Chinese over a two day period at one point they had to turn one around because they were surrounded it said they fired over a million rounds but what they did about the barrels over heating was they had asbestos gloves and they would change the barrels out this was in the battle of Christmas hill or hill 1220 also called outpost queen it was in the book Christmas in July.

Back in 1970 I was getting my parent's new Mercury Cougar serviced at the dealer. A young mechanic rode with me to check something out. He said he had recently come back from Viet Nam. I asked what he did over there and he said he operated a quad 50. I asked if there was much anti-aircraft action there and he said no, but they used them against infantry. I was a naive 18 year-old and said, "You used 50 cal against people?" He went quiet for the rest of the ride.

I would Love to have Quad 50s, that would be awesome but very costly.🤩

The predaseor of the quad mini gun, still awesome 😎👍

As an Air Defender, we were taught that it was a war crime to use the Quad 50s against troops, but it was okay to use it against armor. So, if the troops were wearing helmets, that meant we were okay because they were armored.

I gotta get one of these !

My late uncle manned one in Europe WWII. RIP UNK. ❤🙏😪🦅

We always had security gun trucks, mostly quad 50s, on convoy in Nam. As the last vehicle, wrecker, in the convoy I was really glad they were behind me.

I saw (and felt) one of these fired from a half track while standing about 10 feet away. There was a guy standing on the hood and when the gunner opened up the half track shook so violently that the guy on the hood almost fell off. I think that the electric drive system for the swing and azimuth used spinning flywheels cause you could hear them whirring away and they would slow down when the gunner moved the mount. This was at the Knob Creek Gun Range military gun show and machine gun shoot many years ago. I don’t go anymore because it has gotten so big that you just about have to camp out there in order to attend. I just watch the videos.

Ma Duce. Was able to fire one @ ROTC Advanced Camp. In the Southwest Pacific Area of Operations, aircraft maintainers put four on each side of the nose of a B-25 bomber. Add in others & the Top Turret firing forwards, fourteen M2 .50 cal machine guns plus ‘Skip bombing’ made quick work of Japanese shipping.

They were used to surround multistory buildings, shoot out the bottom floor and collapse the structure on the German infantry. Having a remote control that was wire operated it allowed the operator to fire the weapon while not sitting on the weapon. The individual barrels could be bore sighted. Cross wires were placed on the barrels for sighting. all the barrels could be canted toward a pinpoint down range. The barrels could be locked onto a target. Enemy daylight positions could be fired upon at night. The weapon could be placed behind a berm created by a bulldozer. 4 fifty caliber guns.

Now all we need is a quad mini gun set-up lol

My high school principal was a Marine in Vietnam. He said they used the quad 50s to cut down foliage

My unit in Viet Nam was Dusters Quad 50’s and infrared/white light searchlights We did convoy security, sweeps and blocking operations and base camp and FSB security We operated the 25th the 9th and once airlifted a searchlight out to a fire base in the Plain of Reeds to work with both the 9th Inf artillery a couple of air cushion vehicles with the brown water Navy The Duster Quad searchlights unit could turn a battle to our favor or end one quickly

I remember watching that movie waterworld featuring that quad 50 m2 which has devastating effect!

I don't think anyone has overlooked the M2, contrary to what Premier history said.

The MG-42/MG-3 is the best light machine gun ever produced. The M-2 is the best GP gun loved firing it in the Cavalry.