Every once in a while you see something really remarkable at the SHOT Show Media Day at the Range event. In this case, the coolest thing I saw was the suppressed belt fed Browning 1919 on the far end of the range. The fact that a suppressed M1919 exists is cool enough, but how they made it happen is equally interesting.
The Browning M1919 design is the smaller version of the Ma Deuce fifty caliber machine gun still in use to this day. In both designs the barrel itself reciprocates, moving backwards to provide the initial force to send the bolt rearwards to cycle the action. Therefore the weight of the barrel is extremely important — get it too heavy or light and the whole system goes out of whack.
In this case, the barrel profile has been reduced in order to allow the gun to cycle properly. What once was a baseball bat diameter barrel is down to a more reasonable pool cue, and the weight saved has been moved to the silencer out front.
In the end, the finished product is pretty damn amazing. It works remarkably well, and despite there being a good chunk of moving metal involved it was very quiet. Impressive to say the least.
Oh, now that goes on my Christmas list this year!
A suppressed crew served automatic weapon. I think this thing wins the “world’s most fire retardant paper hat” award for the show.
That is way too cool!
Interesting idea. So, I know this is basically just an expensive toy, but if it was really to be used, what’s the tradeoff in having to lighten the barrel vs. barrel heating, warping, and general bore erosion? Was the suppressor on a quick detach mount so it could be quickly swapped to a different barrel?
I saw a few single-shots in your video. Did anybody actually rip off an extended burst?
Seems like this might work even better on a water cooled system.
Better cool the silencer too.
I was just thinking that must be one hot gun!
That was my though, too. It seems kinda cool. but can it be used like a crew served weapon.
The best thing about the suppressor would be no or minimal flash, and no dust. If it works for extended bursts, and you weren’t firing tracers, I can think of some interesting applications.
When I see stuff like this, I get a tingling sensation in my nether regions.
That is so cool…
Suppressed 45/70’s, suppressed belt fed machine-guns. I see a trend developing here, and I like it! Suppress all the things!
Not going to lie, I’m sporting a partial.
I remember a magazine article about Finnish Reflex suppressors being attached to MG34s and Maxim MGs.
The physics of attaching a suppressor to a recoil operated MG are truly astounding.
AAC had a M4-2000 attached to a M249 at a shoot years ago and burned the finish off the silencer and it just kept running. I think with a 1919 the bigger issue than heat is the recoil system like another poster mentioned. You can work around the heat with materials and design. But I freely admit to being a member of the “suppress everything” crowd!
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