Here’s why the MG42 is basically immortal

The MG3 and its latest version, the H&K MG5, come from the MG42, which is the infamous portable machine gun that started it all. This weapon was so well made that to this very day, the modern German Armed forces are still using what is essentially the same friggin machine gun they used all the way back in World War II. That’s a pretty big feat. The weapon’s mechanics have remained largely unchanged for the last seven decades, which shows just how well-engineered this weapon system was in the first place.

Even the major military powers that aren’t using the MG3 or the MG 5 are still using weapons that borrow heavily from the underlying design — that’s how influential the MG42 has been.

I mean, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

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Written and edited by Chris Cappy. Video editing and co-produced by Rebecca Rosen.

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