defects of infantry weapons of world war two.?

Question

need defects of guns for the us infantry for my school project ASAP

Answer 1

There's the oft quoted 8th shot "Ping" of the M1 Garand clip ejecting. It is an Urban myth though, as in the middle of a battle you wont hear it at all.

The M1 Carbines cartridge was considered a poor manstopper, though it was a Replacement for Pistols, so when used as a Rifle of course it wasnt as good.

2.36" Rocket launcher(Bazooka) became too light by the end of WW2 to reliably take out Panther, Tiger tanks.

M3 Greasegun jammed, cocking handle broke.
M3A1 Greasegun still Jammed.

M1903A4 Sniper Rifle suffered from very inadequate optics, and no real attempt to insure most accurate M1903A3's as the base weapon. Theres not much difference between a $20.00 K Mart scope & the M82 used then, both suck.

M1919A6 Light Machine gun weighed 32 pounds, Nnithing more than a M1919A4 with stock & Bipod added. White Cloth instead of disintegrating metal link belts were used for most of the war.

M1918A2 BAR, Lack of quick change Barrel

M3 37mm Anti-tank Gun- Useless before being fielded.

M1 57mm Anti-tank Gun- Obsolete within months of adoption

Answer 2

The M1903 springfield was an excellent weapon, it had a great deal of power and accuracy, but it was a bolt-action weapon, which seriously hurt it's rate of fire. It is almost identical to the German Mauser 98, except that the german rifle uses a 7.9mm round as opposed to 30-06 (7.62mm)

The M1 Garand service rifle was extremely accurate, semi-automatic, but it fired an 8 round clip that couldn't be pulled out of the gun. You had to eject all of the rounds before you could remove it and reload (wether you fired them or ran the bolt manually was up to you. Also, it was heavy, weighing in at nearly 13 pounds (doesn't sound like a lot, but carry a ten pound weight around for a few hours and see if it gets heavy). The M1 service rifle is the worlds first true assault rifle.

The M1 Carbine used a 7.62mm round, but it was more like a long barrelled pistol than a rifle. It had better range than a .45 automatic, but not nearly the power. It served it's purpose by providing a little more firepower to those that already had a heavy load (machine gun and mortar crews) or for those that needed to move fast and light (scouts or runners). It was later modified with a folding stock (M1A1) and then to have full-auto capability (M1A2), as well as being able to accept several varieties of scopes (M1A3). This weapon was also given to drivers of trucks and jeeps, who didn't really have room to keep a full rifle, but wanted a little more firepower than a pistol offered, although they would carry one of these also.

M1/M1928 Thompson sub-machine gun fired a powerful .45 ACP pistol round, had an excellent rate of fire, but was wildly innacurate. The M1928 fitted a 50 round drum which greatly increased the weight, while the M1 had a 30 round box magazine, which reduced the weight, but also reduced the rate of fire, as you had to reload more often.

The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) was intended as a squad automatic weapon, and was excellent as far as it went. It only had a 20 round magazine, so it's firepower was limited, and it was heavy, something like 15+pounds. With that being said, it was an excellent weapon, and is actually still produced today as a hunting rifle by the Browning Firearms Company.

M1911 Colt automatic pistol fired a powerful .45 caliber round, but it could only carry seven rounds in the magazine, plus one in the chamber. This pistol, adopted in 1911, was such an effective weapon, that it served in the military continuously from 1911 until the mid-1980's when the military adopted the Barretta 92F (designated the M9) 9mm pistol.

The German Schweres MG42 set the standard for machine gun design for the next 60 years. It's rate of fire was so high that it was said that if you mounted it on a tripod, level to the ground and loaded a 100 round belt, you could fire the 100th round before the first one hit the ground. Again, this weapon was wildly innacurate, but that was made up for by the rate of fire. It also required at least two operators and had to fire from a tripod. Because it fired so fast, you had to have a mountain of ammunition behind you to supply it.

The Browning M2 .50cal machine gun is the epitome of machine gun design, although it is technically considered a crew served indstead of an infantry weapon. Developed in the 1890's by John Browning (founder of Browning Firearms), this weapon is still in use today, and the design has changed little. It has been used in nearly every role imaginable, and was mounted on nearly every aircraft during WWII, and nearly every vehicle since WWI. Major drawback: weight. The gun, with tripod weighs in at nearly 150 pounds, so infantrymen humping this thing is not really feaseable (although it can be done, requires a minumum of six people: one to carry the receiver, one to carry the barrel, one to carry the tripod and at least three people to carry the ammunition)

While there is no such thing as the perfect weapon, these were the right weapons at the right time. Everything has their flaws, and the trick is to maximize their strengths while minimizing their weaknesses.

BTW- The eigth shot ping for the garand was useful-harmful for small actions or skirmishes. I know a Marine from Korea who sae this to effect several times, and would even keep a couple of empty clips on hand. He would fire off a couple of rounds, then bounce an empty off of his helmet. The Koreans did recognize the sound and when they would pop up to return fire, the Marines would start picking them off.

Answer 3

MG42 wildly inaccurate? Have you fired this weapon?