MG 131 machine gun

Infobox Weapon|is_ranged=yes


caption=Maschinengewehr 131
name=MG 131
type=Heavy machine gun
origin=flagcountry|Nazi Germany
era= WW2
platform= Tripod, Aircraft
target= Personnel, light-armored vehicles, aircraft
design_date=1938
production_date= 1940 – 1945
manufacturer= Rheinmetall-Borsig
service= 1940 – 1945
used_by=Germany
wars= World War II
spec_type= Fully-automatic machine gun
caliber= 13 mm
part_length= 1,140 mm (44⅞ in)
cartridge= 13 mm
feed= Belt-fed
action= Recoil-operated; short recoil
rate=900 round/min
velocity= 750 m/s
weight= 16.6 kg (36.6 lbs.)
length= 1.17 m
variants=
number=
range=1,800 m (2,200 yd)

The MG 131 (shortened from German: "Maschinengewehr" 131, or "Machine gun 131") was a 13 mm machine gun developed in 1938 by Rheinmetall-Borsig and produced from 1940 to 1945. The MG 131 was designed for use at fixed or flexible, single or twin mountings in Luftwaffe aircraft during World War II, and could be considered to be the Luftwaffe's rough equivalent of the M2 Browning machine gun.

It was installed in the Messerschmitt Bf 109, Me 410 Hornisse, Fw 190, Ju 88, He 177 Greif bomber, and many other aircraft.

The MG 131 fired electrically primed ammunition in order to sustain a high rate of fire when shooting through the propeller disc of a single-engined fighter. A pair of MG 131 machine guns was used as cowl armament on later models of the Bf 109G (which originally required one blister or Beule on each side of the fuselage, flanking the upper rear end of the engine, to house the larger breech of the new gun) and the Fw 190.

Technical data

*Weight : 16.6 kg
*Length : 1.17 m
*Muzzle velocity : ~ 750 m/s
*Rate of fire : ~ 900 rounds per minute

:*13 mm APT 710 m/s, projectile mass 38.5 g, muzzle energy 9700 joules:*13 mm API 710 m/s, projectile mass 38 g, muzzle energy 9580 joules:*13 mm HEI-t with 1.4 g PETN + 0.3 g thermite 750 m/s, projectile mass 34 g, muzzle energy 9560 joules

ee also

*List of firearms
*List of common WW2 weapons

External links

* [http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Bilder/Bordwaffen/Mg131.jpgImage]
*http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Waffen/Bilderseiten/bordwaffen-R.htm
*http://prodocs.netfirms.com/
*http://library.thinkquest.org/C006001/armament/mg131.html
*http://www.geocities.com/Augusta/8172/panzerfaust5.htm#mg131