Browning M37
Overview
M37
A M37 coaxial machine gun with the lengthened charging handle clearly visible.
Source: www.browningmgs.com -
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United States - Rock Island Arsenal
Description
Introduction
The M37 is a post WW2 vehicle machine gun of US origin. The design is based on the Browning M1919, but features a number of alterations that make it more suitable as a coaxial machine gun.
Design
The M37 is very similar to the M1919. It is a belt fed air cooled machine gun optimized for vehicle use. The main difference is the ability for left and right hand feeding. It is solenoid fired. Alternatively, a pistol grip and trigger are located on the rear of the receiver. The charging handle has been extended rearwards for use in confined spaces.
Firepower
The M37 fires the .30-06 Springfield round from belts that are usually 250 rounds long. The cyclic rate of fire is rather low at 400 to 550 rpm. Effective range is about 1 km. A number of M37 were converted to 7.62x51mm NATO and are known as M37E1.
Users
The M37 was adopted by the United States in 1955. It was mostly used on the M48 and M60 Patton main battle tanks. The M37C was used in limited numbers, mostly on XM1/E1 mount on OH-13 and OH-23 helicopter gunships. A number of M37 was converted to 7.62x51mm NATO as interim solution until adoption of the M73 vehicle machine gun.
