My dad was an m60 man in Vietnam 70-71. He said it was supposed to be a 2-man thing, but it ended up being him alone the whole time, carrying his own ammo. He would wrap 1000 rounds around his torso instead of the required 500. Despite that, his main complaint was that they wouldn’t give him the handgun that the support guy was supposed to carry.
Yeah the gunner gets 500 the support hold 1000 . I was the ammo guy , my buddy Singleton was the M249 gunner Thank your dad and family for your sacrifices
I carried an M60E3 in the Marines in Desert Storm. It works fine, was easy to handle with the foregrip and lighter barrel on the E3. I had no problems, but it had to be maintained well. Sand is rough on any weapon. Dust storms were my biggest enemy.
The M60 in the first version I was associated with was temperamental. This was more to do with the modifications that we made. The ammunition could be an issue. When I started on the gun team we carried about 1400 rounds always in cans. Links would rust. However since the assault belt was about 150 to 200 rounds as long you cleaned the belt it wasn’t an issue. The unit had come back from Dak To. So all the rifleman carried a bandolier of 100 rounds. After about 300 rounds the gun was so hot the rounds cooked off. This could be a problem if you ran the gun like this you could burn up the barrel. So the 3 or 4 times I would fire off 2 or 3 cans. Stop and wait. If you fire this gun standing the accuracy could be limited. And once you started the opposition would target you. I started on the M60 about my 3D month. And for most of my time I was a gunner and never saw anything that resembles the movies. The gun weighs about 27 pounds. And I weigh 145. So I always fired it prone. I saw one guy firing it kneeling and he was hit in the head
Yep, The ones laying down heat are targeted most, thats why you dont stand up or move out of cover. Some people learn the hard way that they are a target, some people dont get the chance to learn at all.
I've seen a few of these videos and some others by other RU-vidrs, how come Australia always gets a mention when using a weapons system when so many others use it too?
Ya i like the M60 better than the M240B. The 60 is lighter weight, and easier to bring into action. I think the M240 was better suited as a stationary weapon on vehicles and air craft.
I was an M60 gunner in the 82nd Airborne - gunner and weapons squad leader. I went to a small course on m60 MG leadership taught by former Viet Nam vet green berets and - I shit you not - a former German WW2 infantry soldier.
When I first entered the Army I was a Pig gunner. I loved the wepon. I guess it was probably because it was the first machine gun I was exposed to. When the 249 came out I thought it was a waste, basically an overbuilt M16. When the 240B came out I thought it was a boat anchor and a pale imitation. One of my earliest and fondest memories was (during a training mission) rushing accross a field of waste hight grass at about 2am with my AG and ammo bearer firing the 60 and lighting up the whole field with the muzzle flash it made s strobe light effect. Still give me goose bumps.
The Australian SAS used the M60 as a weapon for four man patrols. Two men would carry M16A1 rifles with underslung M203s, and the other two were armed with L1A1 rifles. The M60 receiver would be carried by one man, the barrel by the radio telephone operator, the tripod carried by a third man, and the ammo carried by the last man. The gun would be assembled for ambushes and similar situations where heavy fire was required. This arrangement gave the four man patrol significant firepower, allowing them to punch well above their weight. Two four man patrols could defeat battalions of VC, with minimal fire support from artillery or aircraft.
Fun fact: The Danish army recently replaced their version of the MG3 with a modernized version of the M60, the M60E6, under the imaginative name of LMG M/60
And the M60e6 beat H&K's MG to win the bid! I just wish US Ordinance had got hold of the M60 earlier to improve it, maybe they'd have beat the M240 for US MG contract
I was a fan of the M60 Machine Gun having served from 1981-2001. My primary MOS was 8541 (Marine Scout Sniper) but I also held secondary MOS's (0311-Infantryman as all Marines do), (0311-Machine Gunner and scored 98% at range qualifying), (0331-Mortarman able to launch at any given moment as well as calling in air strikes. I was at the top of my game and took it seriously because when the shit hit the fan it was going to be me versus them, and I had too damn many people depending on me to fail. WAR IS HELL if one it forced into it, I was not, had I been I was well trained, capable, and ready to do what I had to do, and the M-60 Machine Gun was a weapon I would want if confronted with a potential overrun of forces. It's a true weapon of WAR produced to clear any forward front and have a couple of times cooked the barrel "red-hot". Changing the barrel is said to be quick and easy but can be a venture to do so if people's lives depend on it. Change if you can but cook it if you have too and save as many lives as possible.
I was an M-60 Machine Gunner in the Marine Corps in the 1980's. I'm a combat veteran. This awesome weapon always worked perfectly and was the greatest weapon in our platoon! It saved lives of Marines and took many lives of the enemy. Everyone loves to hear the thump of this amazing weapon!
I used the M60 in the Australian army. I hated it! It was heavy, unreliable, and very inaccurate compared to say the Bren. It was full of design flaws such as breaking stuff if you closed the feed cover in the wrong position. Many movable parts had to be wired in place. Nah!
Loved the M60, although the SLR was my fave. Always remember an instructor (a Vietnam vet) commenting during an exercise how he loved the sound of a well crewed M60. Mad my day
Yeah, agree, saw a , 50. cal used for , practice, every 7th round tracer, it is never explained, I'am talking about used, on "Tripod", for ship security.
@@charletonzimmerman4205 Ah ship security? Makes sense. Heavy Machine Guns will sink little water craft in seconds, even reach out further than anyone else.
I was the designated “pig” gunner on my team, I resented it, mostly because I hated to clean it. However, when push came to shove, you could reach out and touch someone. One of the best trivia questions is: how many left handed M-60 gunners were there? None after the first burst!
I carried the M60 nickname "the pig" my first 3 years in the Army, I was assigned to the 82nd Abn. And I loved her, you take care of her and she performed flawlessly. Of course their were malfunctions at times, like any weapon system, but if you knew your shit, you could get her up and running. She was great machine gun and yes humping the spare barrel and tripod with the TE (true machine gunners know what that is) and the pintel as ammo bearer was a pain in the ass.
Having fired the M60 in the early 80’s and the British GPMG I can say out of the 2 the GPMG is by far the better weapon a little heavier with a better rate of fire and less prone the stoppages. Im also a British Army veteran that’s how I got to fire the M60.
I carried an M-60 in the early 1980's. I liked it a lot, it has a reasonable rate of fire so your BCL was not overly heavy. The weapon was heavy but could be easily shouldered. The M240B that replaced it was heavier, barrel heavy making it difficult to shoulder and the higher rate of fire meant more rounds in the BCL.
I carried "The Pig" in Nicaragua when I was fighting with the Contra rebels. If I kept WD-40 on the links and kept it clean it ran well. But it was a bit temperamental. nice to have when you needed it though.
In 06 I transitioned from active to the NG and was assigned to a weapons squad. The unit I was assigned still fielded the M60. So I got to fire it a few times and humped it around during field training. Absolutely loved the pig. I will say I wish that FN could afford fewer politicians. The gun was an absolute blast to shoot and far less painful humping it around for miles compared to the M240. Still go with the 240 for a mounted application.
The most accurate depiction of M60 in it’s GPMG role, was in Forrest Gump, imo (alongside We were Soldiers of course). From a guy serving ammunition, to it being called the Pig, a very accurate portrayal. However, I remember the first time I vividly saw an M60 was watching William Dafoe as Sgt Elias, carrying the M60 in Platoon
The SAW was not the replacement for the M60. It was an, "upgrade" of sorts for the automatic rifleman in each team/squad. During raids I was usually tasked to take my SAW up with the support fire as inevitably as the command to fire you'd hear, "kachunk, FUCK" from the pigs but the 2 SAWs would rip. The 60's I got to use just seemed old and the tolerances were off.
Either the gunner did not maintain and lubricate it properly or the feeder pawls were worn. They did not get the intermediate level maintenance they needed as the weapons got older.
@@scottmurphy650 This was up at 2nd bat so all weapons were getting heavy and regular use. The façade were beaten up but the inner workings were as well kept as the soldiers could. Maintenance couldn't/wouldn't get us new guns so they Frankensteined them.
Beachmaster Unit One, Bravo Team. I was the machine gunner with the M60, everyone else in the team had M-16's with Mark 203 grenade launchers. I thank the good Lord above I had never had to use it lethally, but I did fire and train with it for many days.
@@HollywoodMarine0351 I was thinking about Taps the other day. I remembered Tom Cruise was in the movie but I forgot about the weapon he was using at the end.
The door gunner scene really happened and was taken verbatim from a book written by a journalist covering the war. Michael Herr, Many of the lines in the movie were from his book, 'Dispatches'. The combat scenes, dialogue as well as the boot camp scenes were from a book called "The Shortimers", Written by Gustav Hasford
Ahhh, Hamburger Hill! Loved that film, it offered an atmosphere the movies of the big four Vietnam War films didn't have; absolute grittiness and the feeling of achieving something that doesn't mean anymore.
I shot the M-60 in boot camp in 93. The instructor told us these were temperamental and would sometimes keep firing after releasing the trigger. They gave us 50 rounds and after my third burst, it kept firing so I just held on until my little belt was done. Good times.
I was 11HE9 infantry. The TOW was our primary weapon on our vehicles. The M60 was our secondary weapon. I often carried it. Loved the M60. Great machine-gun.
Oh side note to this. During ww2, the marines found the need for a portable light machinegun so great, they actually invented their own. salvating parts from a Browning Automatic Rifle, and an M1 garand, they converted an AN/M2 machinegun take off an aircraft, to create a belt fed light machinegun with a rate of fire in the 1200-1350 range. This light machinegun named the M2 stinger, was used by the 28th Marines. with 6 of them being in service till the end of the war. in some ways this might be looked at as the grandfather of the m60.
Served as a Gunnersmate in the U.S. Coast Guard from 97-2017 and we switched from the M60 to M240's around 2005/2006. M240 is a better gun overall though it is heavier than the M60.
@@Backonos It's possbile, I only know what I've read of it and sounds like it's got a number of improvements in regards to reliability and it's even lighter than older variants. It could definitely be better as an infantry weapon. The M240 is bigger and heavier than even the original M60 but it is more reliable. If the E6 can be close enough in reliability while being lighter and more compact it would likely be a better alternative to the 240 but it MIGHT not be better than the M249 SAW which is basically a smaller, lighter M240 that fires 5.56mm instead of 7.62mm. An MG crew could carry a good bit more ammo for the same weight, it's a bit easier logistically as it's the same ammo as the infantry rifles (though linked with a tracer every 5rds). But if you NEED that 7.62mm punch and you're carrying the gun (i.e. it's not mounted in a vehicle or emplacement) then the E6 would probably be preferable.
I was a 60 gunner while in the US Army, while stationed with 13th MP Co. (94-96) Vicenza, Italy, attached to 3/325 ABCT. I loved my 60! I took care of her, and she took care of me. One of the saddest days in my Army career was trading in my M-60 for a normal M16A2 with a M203 attachment, when I made my E-5 and became a team leader. BTW...I never had an AG.
Ya people complain about the 60 either did not do or did not know how to properly maintain it. I saw some hard used 60s that should have been sent back to depot for rebuild. Those that had a million rounds thru them were more likely to have problems, but thats not the weapons fault. In good condition, the M60 is reliable.
Carried the 60, spare barrel, TnE, a 1000 rounds plus my ruck a few times on "movements to daylight" in the Light Infantry. The VA "No your back pain isn't service related"!
The biggest drawback of the M60 is it could only be fired right-handed. A lefty like myself always was a little off target the first few burst and I never really felt comfortable firing it.
@@cortex8239 what does 'D' mean? That poster told someone with experience to read up! But none of the "experts" know your username. Are you from the hills?
The 60 was a comfortable to fire, when you fired it prone with bipod it would actually hop away from you, every so often having to pull it back into your shoulder. At basic in the late eighties they took us to the range to fire it for the first time. Every one was holding it wrong in prone, trying to fire it like a regular rifle. Told my battle buddy to watch me. My turn, all the instructor said was show me how this works. I fed and chambered the weapon grabbed the stock with my left hand pulling the 60 into my shoulder, rested my cheek on my hand and when the first target popped up aimed low and walked a four round burst right through it. When I was finished the instructor asked what I though about it? I simply said "I loved it" and he replied "that's great because your going to be carrying one for a long time". That's how I became a hog gunner. My battle buddy was worse then everyone else and when I asked him why he didn't do what I showed him, he said " I don't want to carry that heavy SOB! little did he know he was going to be my AG and carry extra ammo, spare barrel, and tripod. He never really forgave me
One of the cool things that you can do with “the pig” is what is called “Plunging Fire”. It’s a way to hit targets that you can’t hit with direct fire by firing up in an arc and have the bullets “rain” down on the target. Once you get the hang of it, it is a pretty cool way to zap bad guys.
I joined the army in 2000 and always loved the M60 as a kid.. When I reached bragg after basic every Bivouac I'd request to carry the M60.. only got to do it once before we switched fully to the SAW.. The saw is Lighter and better accuracy and better fireing rate.. my new love lol... the 60 is a classic though lml
I got my hands on an M60 as a Pineland guerrilla fighter for the Robin Sage SFG training program for Fort Bragg. I walked into a wall of hot lead and 2 flashbang grenade blasts as I was attempting to capture an enemy held bridge. I was KIA.
I had the opportunity to fire a Maremont M60 in the early 90's. I found it a bit heavy but still a pleasurable and manageable weapon to shoot. Between the M60 and the German MG34, I'd have a tough choosing which one I liked better. I have much respect for all those who have served in our military. For all these great patiots, I would like to say THANK YOU!
The problem with the M 60 it was not designed for durability. While great when used in Vietnam but the same gun 10 years later was too beat up to be reliable as such they had to be replaced with the 249.
Although not my favorite machinegun the "Pig" does have a special place in my heart. It was the first machinegun I ever fired while going through USAIC basic in 1989. Great job on another video Johnny!👍
Although poorly designed a new and well maintained and operated one will not betray its user. But as it goes through its life cycle its poorly designed elements become problems if broken parts are not replaced in timely manner or sometimes the entire gun should be replaced which the government failed to do so making its reputation of a pig and being unreliable. The same thing happened with the M92 pistols. It took to M60E6 to simplify its design elements and make it more reliable even under non-regular maintenance. It sits in the middle weight wise between PKM and FN MAG/MG3, while being closer to PKM in its role. Although not requiring as much maintenance as Stoner LMG it needs a disciplined and professional unit to get the best performance from it.
I used the M60 extensively during my service. To me, the "Commando" sound effect is closest to what it sounds like to the gunner. We NEVER carried ammo around our necks as not only does it destroy personal camoflage, but it is prone to catching on vegetation & getting dirty (jamming & damaging the gun). We carried 200 round belts in ammo pouches on our webbing and would usually carry 1000 rounds between the gun crew, with another 2000 distributed among the rest of the squad/section. Spare barrel & cleaning kit were carried by #2. Technically you are supposed to change out the barrel after 500 rounds, but I once put 2000 rounds through a single barrel without mishap during an intense fire-fight. It is extremely effective in defensive positions and mounting it on a tripod with a C2 sight makes it even deadlier. Many gunners would name their gun, scratching the name on the feed mechanism cover. Mine was called "Black Death".
Thanks for adding this very insightful and useful! When did you serve? I imagine the ammo around the neck thing was done away with for those exact reasons you listed but it definitely was a thing for awhile just google M60 Vietnam and you will find countless period photos of this taking place. Thank you for your service and I hope you are having a peaceful retirement.
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq Wether or not ammo was carried around the neck would depend on the level of professionalism of the unit you were in. We also avoided placing oil bottles & other objects in our helmet/hat bands as they make excellent aiming marks for snipers & marksmen.
As a former USMC machine gunner, the M60 was an excellent gun except the Echo-3 version didn't have a heat shield to protect your hands from getting burnt if you had to move quickly while under fire. The barrel would get VERY hot if the weapon was shot like it was in the movies...hot enough to light a cigarette...or have a cook-off round explode in the chamber. But I liked it.
I remember blasting waves of enemy soldiers in MW3 survival when I purchased the M60 LMG. The funniest thing I notice in the box magazine that it was a actual cardboard box full of the bullets it needed LOL
Aviation M60s are still comon. I liked the M60 very much and never had any problems with it. Changing a barrel is very easy and quick if you kick the bi pod the barrel pops right out. Simple maintenence with keep it running. A c rat can attached to the feed port helps prevent jamming. Its always recommended to wear the asbestos oven mit when changing or handling a hot barrel.
I was a M-60 gunner for two years in the 25th ID. Yes it was temperamental but if you learned your weapon and took care of it it was very reliable. You had to know what parts you could oil and what parts you could not. Always carried aluminum foil for removing carbon from the firing pin. Humping the pig was never fun, in my unit we were not allowed to use slings, we were told they were noisy in the field and made the soldier lazy. When my arms got tired I balanced it on my M-16 ammo pouches on my LBE.
We would take the firing pin and the gas piston u der the barrel and turn them on wire wheels ran on bench grinders. A little bit of LSA and they ran like lightening.
It was known as "The pig" due to it being damn heavy, but was well liked when needed for spraying down ammo although it couldn't remove the barrel without removing the Bi-pod along with the Barrel, and a shorter service life for the gun itself, as well as the prone to breakdown lead to a different gun taking it's role in the GPMG category, the FN-MAG, known in USA as the M240, and replaced by a gun as equally as unreliable as the M60 in the Squad Automatic Weapon role (Or SAW for short) led to the FN-Minimi's adoption in the US known simply as the M249
Missed opportunity for the Wayne's World 2 clip when discussing firing in bursts. "And on the left & right of the stage are the M60 machine gun nests. Now these babies tend to heat up so fire in 3 round bursts."
Appreciate your comments about the Vietnam War's portrayal in movies. If I could recommend one that flies under the radar, 84 Charlie Mopic is far and away the best Vietnam war film I have ever seen.
6:30 In that scene in Forrest Gump Lieutenant Dan doesn't call for a retreat until his m60 gunner gets blown up and I always figured it's cuz he didn't have his big guns anymore
Miss the pig! Treat it right and it'll always be there for you! I can see why most guys hated it but I'm 6'3 200lbs. I never had a problem with it. Yeah that 1st road March was a bitch but tell you what, once I got my mitts on that thing didn't no one ever take it away.
I liked the M60. Fired both the carry and Huey mount (different sightand butterfly grips). The spare barrel had a waterproof carry bag with sling and a large asbestos glove to change out those hot barrels. Just my two cents, nice video.
I wasn’t impressed due to the rate of fire, barrel change, and instances of a runaway gun with both M60 and M60E3. The M240 (aka, FN MAG), although much heavier was a improvement on those issues including accuracy.
Remember getting to my first unit and my new First Sergeant looked me over and said "You're a big MFr. you look like a 60 gunner to me." Learned to hate that gun.
