Image credit
- Title
- File:M2 Browning, Musée de l'Armée.jpg
- Author
- Rama(attribution required)
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 3.0
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M2_Browning,_Musée_de_l'Armée.jpg
How Muzzle energy is calculated
E = ½ · m · v²
Not calculated: m has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Muzzle velocity is calculated
no sourced velocity for this pairing
Not calculated: muzzle velocity has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Loaded mass is calculated
m_loaded = m_empty + m_magazine + n · m_cartridge
Not calculated: m_magazine has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- One magazine, filled to the stated capacity. Spare magazines, optics, slings and lights are the owner’s, not the arm’s.
2 of 4 inputs link to their source.
How Free recoil is calculated
E_recoil = ½ · m_firearm · v_recoil²
Not calculated: v_recoil has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Propellant gas momentum is excluded: ARMAG does not record charge weights (SPEC.md §14). This is therefore a lower bound on the real free recoil, consistent between entries but smaller than a figure that includes the gas term.
- Free recoil: the arm is unrestrained. Stock design, muzzle devices, stance and shooter mass are not modelled, because none of them is a property of the arm.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Capacity is calculated
as published for the primary chambering
Inputs
- capacity100verifiedsourceBelt-fed from M2 or M9 links. Capacity is a property of the ammunition box, not of the gun.
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
Derived figures
Computed from the sourced values above. Open ƒ on any figure for the formula, its inputs, and the assumptions it makes.
How Momentum is calculated
p = m · v
Not calculated: m has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Sectional density is calculated
SD = mass(gr) / (7000 · diameter(in)²)
Not calculated: mass has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Reported in the conventional lb/in² so it is directly comparable with published figures.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Power factor is calculated
PF = mass(gr) · velocity(fps) / 1000
Not calculated: mass has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- A competition classification defined by the IPSC and USPSA rulebooks, stated in their units. It describes a scoring category, not an effect.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Magazine dump is calculated
t = (n − 1) / (rpm / 60)
Not calculated: rpm has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Cyclic rate held for the whole magazine, no stoppages, trigger held down. A theoretical figure for comparing mechanisms, not a measured one.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sight error at 1 mm is calculated
θ = atan(misalignment / sight radius)
Not calculated: sight radius has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Shows what a stated aiming error costs. The misalignment is the reader’s figure; the site does not claim how well anyone aims.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
Specifications
Every row here is generated from the schema, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table — and the same rows, read the same way, are what the comparison shows.
Identity
- Type
- Machine gun
- Action
- Self-loading
- Fire modes
- Fully automatic
- Operating system
- Short recoil
- Feed
- Designed in
- United States
- Produced in
- Introduced
- 1933
- Production
- 1921–present
Dimensions and mass
- Mass, empty
- 38 kg83.78 lbsource
Gun only. The article gives 58 kg with tripod and traverse-and-elevation mechanism, and 28 kg for the lighter aircraft AN/M2.
- Magazine, empty
- not recorded
- Length
- 1,654 mm65.12 insource
The AN/M2 aircraft version is 1,429 mm.
- Length, folded
- not recorded
- Width
- not recorded
- Height
- not recorded
- Barrel length
- 1,143 mm45.00 insource
The AN/M2 barrel is 910 mm.
Sights and rifling
- Sight radius
- not recorded
- Sight height over bore
- not recorded
- Rifling twist
- not recorded
- Twist direction
- not recorded
- Grooves
- not recorded
- Sight graduation
- not recorded
Chamberings
- .50 BMGprimary100 rounds
Scale
A to-scale outline against family siblings. The dimensions are sourced; the shape is a representative outline for the type, and says so.
- M2 Browning1,654 mm65.12 inheight not recorded
Representative outline — the dimensions are sourced, the shape is not. Overall length, and barrel length where recorded, are drawn from this entry's own figures; the profile is a generic one for the firearm type and says nothing about this arm's actual contours. M2 Browning records no height, so its outline is drawn at the type's proportion — that height is part of the shape, not a measurement.
Detail
Browning’s last design, drawn in 1918 and in continuous production since 1921 — the longest service life of anything on this site. Pershing had asked for a heavy machine gun after seeing German anti-tank rifles, Browning scaled up his .30 calibre M1917 water-cooled gun, and the result has outlived every vehicle, aircraft and doctrine it was designed around.
It is short-recoil operated: barrel and bolt travel back locked together, a breech lock is cammed down out of the bolt, and an accelerator lever throws the bolt rearwards while the barrel stops. What made the design last is that almost every part is adjustable. Headspace and timing are set by the crew with a gauge, the gun can be converted between left and right feed in the field, and the same receiver has been fitted to tripods, aircraft, ships and vehicle mounts for a century.
The 2010 M2A1 finally removed the headspace-and-timing procedure with a fixed-headspace quick-change barrel, which is the only substantial change to the mechanism since 1933.
The capacity below is an ammunition-box count rather than a magazine, and the derived magazine-dump figure inherits that: it describes how long a box lasts, not a property of the gun.
References
This entry's own bibliography. Every citation key on this page resolves into this list.
- M2 Browning · Wikipedia · 1372170779 · read 2026-08-31 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Last verified 2026-08-31 · review status: agent-populated