Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire bullets in quick succession, appearing in several Fallout titles.

50 cal machine gun


 The 50 cal machine gun as its name implies is a machine gun chambered in the extremely powerful .50 round. Highly effective against infantry and other soft targets, materiel, lightly armored vehicles, boats, fortifications, and aircraft. Though heavy and cumbersome when used away from a mount, the advent of power armor and the creation of minigun frames for personnel use allowed this venerable weapon to be used by soldiers on foot. 

Automatic rifle


Only used by Casino Security at the Sierra Madre Casino & Resort, the Automatic rifle is a selective fire, air-cooled automatic rifle chambered for the powerful .308 caliber rounds, loaded using detachable 20 round magazines. This striker fired automatic rifle was one of the oldest and earliest light machine gun models, with a barrel screwed into the receiver, greatly limiting the ability to quickly replace barrels in the field, forcing the operator to fire carefully and more precisely than with stationary machine guns.

Automatic rifles used at the Sierra Madre were equipped with a fixed wooden buttstock and closed-type adjustable iron sights, consisting of a forward post and a rear leaf sight with 100 to 1,500 yard range graduations. 

Light machine gun


The light machine gun is a bulky weapon designed around a gas-actuated long-stroke piston system, providing reliable round extraction after each shot. The weapon fires from an open bolt, reducing the danger of rounds cooking off and firing uncontrollably after firing prolonged bursts.

For portability and ease of use, it was manufactured entirely from metal with wood used as the grip and front handguard. A barrel shroud additionally protects the operator from accidentally burning themselves on a hot barrel during barrel changes. The barrel itself can be released and quickly swapped out using the prominent latch, though since the front sight post is permanently fixed to the barrel, replacing it also means that the weapon loses accuracy due to losing its zero. While taken together it can be clunky, especially for a weaker operator, it provides excellent firepower in the field and more than makes up for its deficiencies.

Light machine gun (MG42)


An alternative design for the squad light machine gun, MG42 was made during the latter half of World War II in Nazi Germany. Designed from the start to be low cost and easy to build, the MG42 is an air-cooled, belt fed, open bolt, recoil-operated machine gun with a barrel capable of quick changes in the middle of combat. After World War II, copies of the MG42 produced in the United States and would be an semi-common sight in Appalachia. 

Light support weapon


The light support weapon is a selective fire gas-operated design with a short-stroke gas piston system located above the barrel, designed in a bullpup arrangement with a bipod, shoulder strap and rear pistol grip. The extended barrel provides an increased muzzle velocity and further stabilizes the bullet, giving a greater effective range. The layout has caused problems for operators trying to fire it while prone and was thus remanded to National Guard units across the nation. The LSW has earned itself a reputation as a reliable automatic weapon that provides excellent firepower in a very compact package. 

M60


The M60 is a gas-operated, air-cooled, belt-fed, automatic machine gun that fires from the open-bolt position. Chambered for 7.62mm rounds, its design was created using many concepts introduced during World War II, including manufacture from stamped metal sheets, a pistol grip, stock, and a semi-bullpup design, where most of the weapon's action occupies the stock. It is easily distinguished by its distinctive barrel shroud and barrel with integrated front post (a source of issues for gun crews, as replacing the barrel removes the calibration). It saw extensive use by the United States and allies in the latter half of the 20th century as a result. 

Bren gun


The Bren is a Czech .303 caliber machine gun that was employed by the British and her commonwealths on the eve of World War II. It carried into the wasteland where it is a proficient choice of firepower, but not an exceptional one.

Browning auto rifle


The M1918 Browning automatic rifle, more commonly known as the BAR, was developed by John Browning in 1917 for the American Expeditionary Forces. Mass production of the BAR came to a halt when superior rifles with less recoil were produced. The BAR was mass produced from 1917 to 1950, with a supposed 100,000 made during this period of time. During its service, the Browning automatic rifle was used as a support weapon for pinning enemy soldiers with the high powered 30.06 rifle rounds. 

Chauchat


The standard machine gun for the French during World War I, the Chauchat has seen better days in the wasteland. They are exceedingly rare, and those that are found don't even work.

M249 SAW


The M249 squad automatic weapon, chambered in 7.62mm, was adopted as a squad level machine gun, vastly increasing the firepower available to individual squads.

Heavy machine gun


This heavy machine gun fires its ammunition at a very rapid rate, however its accuracy is poor.

Behind the scenes

 * The assault rifle seen in Fallout 4 was referred to as "machine gun" in the Fallout 4 art book.
 * A GP machine gun based on the M60 was cut from Fallout: New Vegas.