informations about Browning M2

[Pascal]

Hello


We found it in an airport, near paris and perharps it was used in a plane.


I have this document , but nothing about the strange item between the barrel and the body and for now, I can't remove the barrel.

May someone can give me any informations about this kind of Browning Gun ?

 

[25thapril]

Hello Pascal It is an aircraft .50 cal not sure if it was wing mounted or flexible as it has no back plate. The barrel should just screw out but you may have to remove the barrel shroud first to get a good grip, the shrouds on my 50 have a grub screw at the reciever end that you will have to remove first. If that fails you can try bouncing the barrel up and down on a piece of hard wood and it may slide out backwards with the bolt , barrel extension and oil buffer It is hard to tell sometimes if these weapons have a round in the chamber so please take your time and have a very good look to check
please let me know how you go with it
Regards Daryl

 

[BMG50]

Hi Pascal you have an .50cal M2 with a aircraft jacket fitted with or part of an edge-water adaptor, this allowed the gun to be turret mounted on a multiple mount ie a M45 or M33 or even a M2A1 torra torra anti aircraft mount usually made for the water-cooled fifty. Not sure if this arrangement was used in aircraft ie side gunner in a Flying Fortress etc. A lot of fifty cals fitted with aircraft jackets were used for ground use during the war, jeeps, trucks and boats etc.
You need to remove the edge-water adaptor (the oiled part in the photo) and then the air cooled barrel shroud (there may be a screw in the trunion holding the shroud in place). You should the be able to unscrew the barrel out. You can also remove the barrel with the shroud in place by undoing the barrel bushing at the muzzle end held by two screws, this was the common way of removing the barrel with the shroud on. The problem you face is that the gun is rusted up and there is not much to grip on. You really need a war time manual about the adaptor, TM 9-1225 is a good one also the book Hard Rain. The modern one you have is OK as the basic stripping and loading of the gun hasn't changed since it was first invented.

 

[Pascal]

Thank you, BMG and 25thApril. Now, I'm sure I must remove the edge-water adaptator, then, the the air cooled barrel and the barrel.

I tried again today to remove the edge-water adaptor , but I failed.

I'll try again tomorrow or friday, perharps it will be easily if I harm it with a blowtorch.

 

[Pascal]

Hello

Some news about this item.

Now, I can remove the bolt group, barrel extension group and barrel buffer body.

The next step is to remove the air cooled barrel and clean all the parts.

About the gun, a friend tell me there is no aim item, no handle on the backplate, so it is possible it was fixed on a plane (in the wings ?). Not sure...


@+
Pascal


PS : May an administrator move this thread in "restoration and preservation" topic ?

 

[25thapril]

Well done Pascal I am quite sure your gun was wing mounted as there is no sight on top of the reciever it just has the cover plate fitted and the back plate in the pic has no handles or trigger parts plus finding it near an airfeild helps Look for the grub screw where the threads are on the barrel jacket Regards Daryl

 

[Pascal]

Some pictures.

 

[Pascal]

And these items, some hours (days) later

 

[Gspragge]

I had a manual listed here

1940 Ground M2 50 cal if you need the manual let me know. 1940.

 

[Pascal]

Hi Gspragge

Thank you, I have this document (I found it with emule) : "Browning Machine Gun Caliber 50 Hb, m2.pdf" and it has 246 pages.

Here it is


If you have a better technical document, yes, please send me.