The M60 is a family of American general-purpose machine guns. It is a gas-operated, air-cooled, belt-fed, automatic machine gun that fires from the open-bolt position and is chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO (similar to .308 Winchester), which is commonly used in larger rifles, such as the M14.
It has a cyclic rate of fire of around 500–650 rounds per minute (RPM). Ammunition is usually fed into the weapon from a 100 or 250-round disintegrating, metallic split-link belt.
It was adopted in 1957 by the U.S. military and issued to units beginning in 1959.
It is generally used as a crew-served weapon and operated by a gunner, an assistant gunner, and an ammunition bearer.
Many U.S. units used the M60 during the Vietnam War as a squad automatic weapon.
There it received the nickname "The Pig" due to its bulky size and appetite for ammunition.
It has been replaced or supplemented in most roles by other designs, most notably the M240 machine gun in U.S. service.
The design drew on many common concepts in firearms manufacture of the period, such as stamped sheet metal construction, belt feed (a modified mechanism for belt feed from the MG 42 with a single pawl), quick barrel replacement, a pistol grip and stock, and a semi bullpup design similar to the FG 42 (much of the action occupies the weapon's stock).
The M60's operating system of an operating rod turning a rotating bolt was inspired by the FG 42, which was based on the much earlier Lewis Gun.
The M60 was even constructed with a secondary assisting firing pin spring that is used in the FG 42 in semi-automatic mode even though it is actually unnecessary in the M60, which operates only in full automatic mode.
The M60's gas operation is unique, and drew on technical advances of the period, particularly the White "gas expansion and cutoff" principle also exploited by the M14 rifle. The M60's gas system was simpler than other gas systems and easier to clean.
The M60 was designed for mass production, like the MG 42 it was based on.
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