M2 Browning: The .50 Caliber Machine Gun That Is Irreplaceable

Meet the M2 Browning: It’s a great machine gun, but it’s very heavy. And the U.S. Special Operations Command is looking for something lighter. It would be hard to fill the shoes of what many soldiers and marines call the “Ma-Deuce,” if it were to be replaced. Very few people survive a hit from the .50 caliber round fired by the M2 Browning Machine Gun. You’ve seen it in World War II movies, Vietnam flicks, and on the nightly news. There is hardly a combat unit in the U.S. military that doesn’t use the M2.

What’s the Problem With the M2?

But this gun weighs more than 80 pounds. The ammunition weighs a lot too. It’s usually attached to a tank, vehicle, or airplane. On the ground, troops will emplace the M2 Browning first, usually in a fortified position. And there it stays, because at that weight, it’s not very mobile. But it’s still the most important weapon in an infantry unit. The M2 shoots a heavy round that is almost 6-inches long, and about an inch in diameter, so you could imagine the damage it can do.

It was introduced at the end of World War I and came into broader service in 1933 – one of the oldest weapons in the infantry arsenal. It can hit a target at around 8,000 meters and can fire at a rate of 600 rounds per minute.

Replacements for the M2 Are Cropping Up

Despite all the advantages of the M2 Browning, the U.S. Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) began looking for something more manageable to transport. MARSOC operators were one of the first SOF units interested in adopting the SIG Sauer 338 machine gun system or the General Dynamics Light Weight Medium Machine Gun. The Regular Army and infantry units of the Marine Corps are also interested in the Sig Sauer 338 to replace the M240B 7.62mm machine gun too. U.S. Special Operations Command, prodded by the testing of MARSOC, finally went ahead and ordered the SIG Sauer 338 for the entire special operation community in January of 2020.

There are drawbacks to the SIG. The good news is that it weighs only 21 pounds, which is even lighter than the M240B, but its maximum effective range is only 2,000 meters compared to the 8,000 meters of the Ma-Deuce.

Let’s Keep the M2 Browning Anyway

As an infantry guy, I don’t want the M2 Browning to go away. It’s too powerful and too versatile to retire, despite the weight. The same goes for the M240B. In fact, the M240B is my favorite weapon in the Army. I’ve never fired the SIG 338, but it looks great, and I can see why the SOF community is excited about it. I bet regular Army and Marine units will eventually go with the SIG 338 too because the M240B is on the chopping block. But as for the M2, it’s a big military in dangerous times, so someone somewhere is always going to need it.

1945’s new Defense and National Security Editor, Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer.