Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomcat
I always thought that a Medium machine gun was a 30cal and a 50 cal was a Heavy machine gun.
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The M1919 and the M1917 both originally fired the 30.06 cartridge. The M1919 was classified as a light machine gun whereas the water-cooled M1917 was considered a heavy. The classification was due to the role the weapons were intended to play, with the M1917 placed in a static position, requiring sustained firing capability and the lighter, air cooled M1919 being more mobile and less able to fire a prodigous amount of ammo before the barrel got too overheated.