1919 A4 Forums banner

M2 Stand Up Mount

9.1K views 26 replies 13 participants last post by  Mickey1  
#1 ·
Has anyone built a free standing mount for your M2? I have seen a few for sale online rated for .30 cals. Another one was an anti aircraft version attached to an m123 mount rated for .50 cals and there is always the mk16 which I believe must be mounted. Is it possible to build a 'portable' stand up mount?
 
#4 ·
Well, I can tell you that the Real M2HB will rock an original M63 mount when fired horizontally. not "flip over" rock it but "way off target" rock it. You really need to sand bag the base to gt it solid enough to not waste a lot of ammo. A semi may not have as big an issue.
 
#10 ·
The M63 is stable shooting "up" and the buffered mount helps. but it is an area weapon then, not a sniper rifle and does expend a lot more ammo to get hits due to movement in the cradle and mount in recoil. the gun fired off the tripod with T&E is sniper rifle accurate and Trophy wife will shoot the wheels off cars and trucks with it. The Naval MK 16 cradle ( 3 legged) is great, but you need to bolt it to very heavy weighted plate or big load of sand bags to prevent the same "tipping moment" . the Moment arm of the gun on the tripod pedestal/cradle provides a LOT of torque to the base and will cause the plate, plywood or even HUMVEE to rise and move around when firing. The MK 26 naval cradle is neat, but requires the removal of the spade grip back plate and at least on my gun a re-timing of the gun. The MK 93 uses the guns spades and trigger.

We were testing a gun and flex mount for a foreign contract helo application and part of the testing required dispersion tests in 5 and 10 round bursts at 100 yds. You would lock the gun in adjusted for a 4x4 ft target at 100 yards, and fire a 5 rd burst. We tried a mount in a USGI HUMVEE first - The truck moved so much that by the third round the bullets were off the 4x4 target. Next tried a 1 ton dodge dually (photo below) with a similar result. finally had to bolt a steel frame to the concrete pad and mount the cradle and gun to get adequate results.

The gun truck below was set up for a little demo shoot for a group of "folks" . I was running the M2HB on top and letting shooters fire off about 50 rds while others guys were letting shooters fire the 249, 240 and PKM. Targets were swinging steel plates at about 150 yds. The M2HB moved the truck so much that the other gunners could not hit anything while the 50 was firing - again - moment arm of the recoil acting on the height of the tuck over the axles. We had to trade off shooting time.


I have found that the MK 93 cradle with the Short riser used in a 50 tripod is a good compromise between laying in the dirt and being able to hit stuff with out extended bursts of expensive 50 BMG. No pic of that yet.


Image
Image


Image


Image


Image
 
#26 ·
The M63 is stable shooting "up" and the buffered mount helps. but it is an area weapon then, not a sniper rifle and does expend a lot more ammo to get hits due to movement in the cradle and mount in recoil. the gun fired off the tripod with T&E is sniper rifle accurate and Trophy wife will shoot the wheels off cars and trucks with it. The Naval MK 16 cradle ( 3 legged) is great, but you need to bolt it to very heavy weighted plate or big load of sand bags to prevent the same "tipping moment" . the Moment arm of the gun on the tripod pedestal/cradle provides a LOT of torque to the base and will cause the plate, plywood or even HUMVEE to rise and move around when firing. The MK 26 naval cradle is neat, but requires the removal of the spade grip back plate and at least on my gun a re-timing of the gun. The MK 93 uses the guns spades and trigger.

We were testing a gun and flex mount for a foreign contract helo application and part of the testing required dispersion tests in 5 and 10 round bursts at 100 yds. You would lock the gun in adjusted for a 4x4 ft target at 100 yards, and fire a 5 rd burst. We tried a mount in a USGI HUMVEE first - The truck moved so much that by the third round the bullets were off the 4x4 target. Next tried a 1 ton dodge dually (photo below) with a similar result. finally had to bolt a steel frame to the concrete pad and mount the cradle and gun to get adequate results.

The gun truck below was set up for a little demo shoot for a group of "folks" . I was running the M2HB on top and letting shooters fire off about 50 rds while others guys were letting shooters fire the 249, 240 and PKM. Targets were swinging steel plates at about 150 yds. The M2HB moved the truck so much that the other gunners could not hit anything while the 50 was firing - again - moment arm of the recoil acting on the height of the tuck over the axles. We had to trade off shooting time.


I have found that the MK 93 cradle with the Short riser used in a 50 tripod is a good compromise between laying in the dirt and being able to hit stuff with out extended bursts of expensive 50 BMG. No pic of that yet.


View attachment 110047 View attachment 110050

View attachment 110048

View attachment 110049

View attachment 110051
Is that GMV enclosure setup for sale? I am interested
 
#15 ·
I have a M63AA mount and the original M3 AA conversion set to make it a stand-up shooter all for sale with 2 barrels, about 980-ish rounds and some misc stuff. It's listed over on Sturm if you're interested. 1 package deal. will not separate.
 
#19 ·
Attached are a few photos of one of the mounts we built for MG shoots around 2004-5. We needed a number of these, so we tried to build 6 of them on the cheap. I believe we purchased some of the pintle's from Kurt. We also used some from Sarco. You might still be able to find the legs online. If not, they sell the material for the legs at some steel yards. The support tabs can be easily made in your garage or made by a job shop. For the weekend shoots we would attach the base to a 4X5 piece of plywood and place the ammo on the plywood and the base was as steady it being mounted on a hard deck.
I have more photo if you are interested. Message me or post your email addy and I send them.
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
 
#20 ·
I'm a big fan of the MK16 tripods for standup M2's. I run a single M2 on the Mk16, with the large to small pintle adapter with arm for the T&E, then a MK93 on that. You can lock it completely down and shoot long distances accurately or leave it free for strafing. I also use it for twin m2's and the M134. I use 2x2" steel for a base, They are very stable and typically don't typically require any sandbagging (I do with the twins). The key is getting the rear legs wide enough apart so they don't tip when shooting at steeper angles. The other nice part is they are stable enough (without the 2x2 base) to use as a display mount.