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Super-marine Spitfire .303 Cal MG

J

jayteepee_1999

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Attached is pictures of a .303 M2 Browning MG that WAS fitted to a Spitfire a/c that was downed in the early years of WWII. Dredged up Unfortunately it was still loaded therefore destroyed. I have shown this picture and it may be of interest to people.
 

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thats a great find shame it had to be destroyed thanx for sharing the pics jayteepee

regards lee
 
Spitfire

Err..I think you will find that is a British built .303 inch Browning, not a .30 Cal M2.

Regards
TonyE
 
TonyE said:
Err..I think you will find that is a British built .303 inch Browning, not a .30 Cal M2.

Regards
TonyE
Click to expand...

I agree it was chiefly built by BSA in the UK, but did it not have the designate of M2?

30 cal and 303, I take it in general this is not the same?

Please can you give full description for our viewers
 
I always thought the M2 was the designation for the .50 cal used in the Mustang and later Marks of Spitfire. As Tony says in early Spitfires the .303 MG would have been British built versions. The Spitfire only adoped the .50 cal in a few variants from about early 1944.

John
 
All good info. Seems there is little of this on the net that I can find, but I am sure the more feeds this site gets the better the information on the 568,100 BSA Machine Guns made during WWII.
 
.303 Browning

The American M2 .30 calibre Browning had been demonstarted to British Air Ministry personnel by Colt in 1930 and this gun became the Colt MG40 which was the basis for the British version of the Browning.

The BSA manufactured gun differed considerably from the American version in a number of ways, the most significant being that the British gun fired from an open bolt, whilst the original Browning fired from a closed bolt. This was necessary because the British .303 ammunition, loaded with cordite, was liable to detonate if left in a hot chamber. The US .30-06, loaded with nitro cellulose powder did not suffer this problem.

Certainly the .30-06 and the .303 cartridge are not generally the same. Apart from the type of propellant used, the .30 is a rimless round whilst the .303 is rimmed and this necessitated considerable change to the feed stops and boltway cams.

At the end of the day, the British BSA built Browning was a different animal to the US original.

Regards
TonyE
 
There are actually 3 Browning mgs in US service that were M2's. The .50 cal. M2HB, the .50 cal. ANM2 for aircraft, and the .30 cal ANM2. Dolf Goldsmith has published some good books on the Browning mgs, His second book was on Brownings in service out side the US. If it is as well written as the first it would be an intresting read for those intrested in mgs.:tinysmile_twink_t2:
 
Dolf Goldsmith

Thanks. I know Dolf well and have his books. As ever, the Browning ones are excellent.

Regards
TonyE
 
nice find !!

Because of the growing see anemones i would guess its a gun from a fighter which was downed in the sea or in a salt water lake maybe in the channel !
Am i right about that ??

wbr David
 
Tony, I had the first book back when I had my semi auto 1919a4, unfortunatly I let it go with that money pit of a gun. It has always fasinated me how well things made of iron are preserved in the sea.
 
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