POTD: Austrian Armed Forces with the Uberschweres Maschinengewehr M2

Eric B
by Eric B

Welcome to TFB’s own Photo Of The Day. As the name says, this page is dedicated to rare and unique pictures which are updated daily.

Today, we get a closer look at the heavy weapons of the Austrian Armed Forces, or the Bundesheer in Austrian.

In Austrian service the M2 is designated the Überschweres Maschinengewehr M2, abbreviated üsMG M2. You’re welcome to try pronouncing that a few times. Note the üsMG M2 perforated barrel shroud.

The Austrian Jägertruppe seen in this photos are providing fire superiority and are a huge help to succeed in battle.

Machine guns such as the 7.62 mm MG74 and the 12.7 mm heavy MG M2 provide the necessary “firepower”. Before anyone complains, yes 12.7mm is the .50 BMG. They have a pretty nice optic on this system, which includes a tripod.

Below you can see the Steyr AUG and the Machine Gun 74 (Maschinengewehr 74 or MG74) mounted on a tripod in the dense forest.

Moving the bipod and a heavy system like the M2 is a bit of a pain.

All photos by KK

Eric B
Eric B

Ex-Arctic Ranger. Competitive practical shooter and hunter with a European focus. Always ready to increase my collection of modern semi-automatics, optics, thermals and suppressors. TCCC Certified. Occasionaly seen in a 6x6 Bug Out Vehicle, always with a big smile.

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  • Jono102 Jono102 on Apr 08, 2020

    The perforated barrel shroud is part of their Blank firing kit for the M2 and not a standard barrel shroud. In the images you can see the crimped blue tipped blank rounds on the belt and expended ones beside the gun.

    • See 1 previous
    • Gueffel Gueffel on Apr 15, 2020

      @Martin Grønsdal Blue ones are our blanks, nothing leaves the barrel (or shouldn't). When I was serving the ammo was blue and plastic (the whole thing) but still had the same BFA. But yeah, blue ammo in Austria = Blanks and these are our üsMG BFAs.

  • Brains and Looks Brains and Looks on Apr 09, 2020

    Why do these pictures all look like they were taken with a camera from 1925 and then recolored using Photoshop?

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