John Moses Browning’s weapons have stood the test of time, from the Hi-Power and 1911 Pistol to the M2 Browing maching gun, they’ve served militaries worldwide for many years. In June the US Army started to upgrade the venerable their 1930’s eta M2 .50 caliber heavy machine guns to the imporved M2A1. They’ll be upgrading 1,700 M2’s this year and 3,600 more in 2012. The M2A1 variant allows the machine gun user to swap out the barrel without having to adjust the timing or headspacing.
From Army.mil
Bonner said this is the first major change to the M2 weapon system since the machine gun was fielded in the 1930s.
This fiscal year, the Small Arms Repair Facility expects to overhaul 1,700 M2 machine guns. An additional 3,600 are planned for fiscal year 2012 and the program is slated to continue for several more years.
“This is a lot of good work for the small arms facility,” said Bonner. “This work is going to last for several years.”
Approval for the conversion program included a pilot overhaul and conversion in February and March. In June, the first of the 1,700 weapons for fiscal year 11 were inducted.
[Source: www.Army.mil]
