The FN MAG is a machine gun 7.62mm caliber in the category of GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun) that is a crew-served weapon designed to fill the roles of light (LMG) and medium (MMG) machine guns and are generally in 7.62mm caliber.
Country users: More than 80 countries in the world
Description
The FN MAG is a machine gun 7.62mm caliber in the category of GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun) that is a crew-served weapon designed to fill the roles of light (LMG) and medium (MMG) machine guns and are generally in 7.62mm caliber.
The Belgian company FN Herstal is the original designer and manufacturer of the FN MAG® designed in the early 1950's for the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge that was also being developed with FN Herstal participation. The FN MAG® is an automatic, air-cooled belt-fed weapon firing from an open bolt. It is gas-operated (MAG was an acronym for Mitrailleuse à Gaz – gas-operated machine gun – although now often translated as Mitrailleuse d'Appui Général which is closer to the English term GPMG). With the introduction of LMGs such as the FN MINIMI®, the FN MAG® is mostly used in the MMG role fired from tripods and mountings on vehicles, helicopters, ships, and boat. Many armies still use it dismounted from the bipod. With over 200,000 units manufactured and adopted by over 90 countries with all types of terrain and climate, the FN MAG® is the unbeatable reference in terms of accuracy and reliability. It has been given many customer designations such as MAG58, L7A1 GPMG, Ksp 58, C6, and M240.
FN MAG 7.62mm Caliber variants:
Coaxial Mounted
Pintle Mounted
Infantry model on remotely operated weapon station
Technical Data
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Design
The Machine Gun 7.62mm FN MAG has a hammer forged barrel that is chrome plated for longer life. It is a quick-change type (a barrel change takes less than 6 seconds) with a carrying handle allowing a hot barrel to be changed and to be carried. The muzzle is fitted with a highly effective slotted flash suppressor. The barrel also includes a gas regulator allowing the user to set the rate of fire for optimum reliability and accuracy according to the conditions.
The exceptionally strong receiver of the FN MAG is made of machined steel plates riveted together. The feed cover has an integrated MIL-STD 1913 (Picatinny) rail. The FN MAG® also features a fixed polymer buttstock that allows easy NBC decontamination (it can be retrofitted to earlier versions with a wooden buttstock) pistol grip and folding bipod. The sights are composed of a blade foresight and a rear sight with range adjustment from 200 to 1,800 meters. All zeroing is done on the front sight, allowing several barrels to be zeroed for the same weapon.
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Ammunition and feeding
The Machine Gun 7.62mm FN MAG® feeds belts of 7.62x51mm ammunition. It can be fitted with a link and case collector. Most weapons use the M13 disintegrating link, although by using a specific feed tray and parts in the feed cover the non-disintegrating DM1 links (50 round strips that can be joined) can be fed. As standard, the FN MAG® feeds from the left, however, a specific feed tray and feed cover allow coaxial and pintle weapons to be configured to feed on the right. Ammunition types supplied by FN Herstal that are commonly used include SS77/1 Ball, L78 Tracer, P80/1 Armor Piercing, and blank.
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Key Features
The Machine Gun 7.62mm FN MAG® can be fitted with a day or night optical sights mounted on the rail on the feed cover. Forward side rails can be added to attach accessories such as lasers or lights.
The model delivered to France has a quick detach bipod to rapidly reconfigure the weapon between mounted and ground role versions.
A variety of tripods are available, FN Herstal offers the 360° light tripod which has a buffered cradle and can be set up with the bore axis at different heights from 300mm to 600mm. The weapon can traverse 360° which can be limited to a sector by traverse locks. The elevation range is between -30° and +15°.
The Infantry version can be fitted to the FN Herstal deFNnder® remotely operated weapon station. A variety of coaxial and pintle-mounted versions are available for airborne, land and sea applications.
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