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M85 heavy machine gun
The M85 was a 1959 American recoil-operated belt-fed .50 calibre heavy machine gun designed by AAI and intended primarily to be mounted on vehicles. Designed to replace the venerable Browning M2 with a smaller and lighter weapon, it was employed on the M60 version of the Patton tank in the commander's cupola mini-turret, and mounted on the LVTP-7 amphibious APC.
The M85 features a rate-reducing system which can be disabled, allowing it to be fired slowly at ground targets or rapidly when used as an anti-aircraft weapon. Although it succeeded in being lighter and smaller than the M2, the M85, much like the M73 machine gun, was both overcomplicated and unreliable, and was compared extremely unfavourably to its predecessor. An infantry version with spade grips, the M85C, was also trialled, but due to reliability issues was not adopted at all.
It was replaced with the Browning M2 on the LVTP during the upgrade to the improved AAVP-7A1 and deleted entirely from late-production M60A3 tanks along with the commander's cupola, due to fears of the commander being gruesomely bisected if a heavy weapon struck the cupola and knocked it off the vehicle while he was stood up inside it. The most obvious way to distinguish the M85 from the Browning M2 in a vehicle installation is the M85's very distinctive flowerbud-like flash hider.
Specifications
1959-1980s
Type: Heavy machine gun
Caliber: .50 BMG
Weight: 65lb (29.5 kg)
Length: 54.5in (1,384mm)
Capacity: Belt fed (M15 link)
Fire Modes: Selectable full auto, 400-500 rpm and 800-950 rpm
The M85 heavy machine gun and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illustrious Corpses (Cadaveri eccellenti) | Mounted on Italian M60 tank | 1976 | ||
| Heartbreak Ridge | US Marines | Mounted on LVTP-7 | 1986 | |
| April Captains (Capitães de Abril) | Portuguese soldiers | Mounted in M60 tanks | 2000 | |
| Black Hawk Down | UN soldiers | Mounted in M60A1 tanks | 2001 | |
| The Tiger and the Snow | US Army soldier | Mounted on M60A1 tanks | 2005 |
Video Games
| Game Title | Appears as | Mods | Notation | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steel Beasts | Mounted on M60A3 Patton tank | 2000 | ||
| World in Conflict | Mounted on M60A3 Patton tank | 2007 |
Anime
| Title | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magical Witch Punie-chan | Peter | M85, mounted on helicpoter, "So only test scores measure the worth of a human being? At best I'm 0 points. Yup." (E3.A) | 2006-2008 |
| Witches | M85C, mounted on tanks"Esmeralda" (Omake 4) | ||
| Lupin the 3rd vs. Detective Conan: The Movie | JSDF | M85C, appears to actually be an off-model Browning M2 with a Mk 19 flash hider | 2013 |