Army Reserve Marksman

Machine Gun Marksmanship

Marksmanship with machine turn back to the position’s start point
guns uses the same concepts of Shot prior to the next round in the burst
Process and Functional Elements as being fired. There is no indication of
all small arms. continuing muzzle climb from shot-
to-shot in the burst because the gun is
Stability returning back each time, rather like
We’ll start with Stability. Stabilizing an artillery piece recuperating after
the machine gun or automatic rifle to discharge. A cone of fire on a target
provide a consistent base to fire from that shows stringing up due to climb-
and maintain through the shot process ing indicates a Stability and Control
until the recoil pulse has ceased. problem from a poor position and
A firm grasp, solid cheek-to-stock poor shooting.
weld, natural point of aim on target, The real reason for using a center
at shooter-gun angle that is straight base aim is to better place the beaten
and inline to the target, all set into a zone for maximum target effect. Un-
position that naturally returns back to like training ranges which normally
target after each recoil pulse are the used two dimensional targets, targets
key concepts. Binding against the tri- in the real world have depth. Shooting
pod, or bipod legs, or mount, or other a cone of fire with a proper center base
support needs to be firm but holding hold centers the beaten zone on top
too hard can worsen the results. of the target area. Shots lower in the
A good check series is, first, check cone of fire strike in front of the target
natural point of aim by closing the eyes area. This makes it easier for the assis-
after aligning on a target and then re- this is not because of wrong claims tant gunner to locate and adjust from a
checking alignment after opening the that machine guns rise during a burst. fired burst, it places low shots directly
eyes. Make position adjustments until If a burst of shots string continuously in front of the target’s view and bet-
the sights want to remain on target. upward then Stability is very poor ter convinces them to be suppressed,
Second, repeat this procedure but as the position and hold have been plus any low shots are more likely to
inhale and exhale while keeping the compromised. Anyone claiming a ricochet up into the target area. In a
eyes closed. Finally, have an experi- machine gun climbs in recoil dur- properly-centered beaten zone, high
enced or peer coach push and release ing a burst doesn’t understand how shots will tend to be caught by target
the front sight housing several times to control a machine gun and should itself. This adds up to a more effective
with closed eyes to simulate recoil remain quiet about such matters. A placement of all shots in a burst.
pulse. In all cases, the sights will re- well-controlled cone of fire should be
main aligned on target after recheck- roughly circular and the highest shot
ing if the position is aligned and the from the burst in the cone of fire likely
hold is good. isn’t the last one fired.
When watching a good gunner, the
Aim machine gun moves rearward due to
Aim is the continuous process of ori- the recoil impulse, rocking against
enting the weapon correctly, aligning the bipod/tripod (or other) point of
the sights, aligning on the target, and support and the gunner’s position
the appropriate lead and elevation naturally allows the weapon to re-
(hold) during a target engagement.
Sight alignment works the same as Right: Aim center base helps place
all other small arms. For example, fo- the burst on target, especially when
cus on the front sight with irons. Sight firing at targets with depth. Con-
picture is best described as center trary to popular myth, it is NOT
base, or just above a 6 o’clock hold. No, because the “gun climbs in recoil.”

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 Army Reserve Marksman

four mils. The paster used at 10 me- This is doubly true with a Soldier so
ters (1,000 cm) is 4 centimeters wide, low skilled and unknowledgeable
which is 4 mils at that distance. The about machine guns that he foolishly
cone of fire must be centered just above believes that machine guns don’t need
the point of aim and no bigger than to be zeroed.
that. Any failure to accomplish this ADJUST FIRE: The assistant gun-
indicates a failure to apply a proper ner observes the location of the beaten
shot process and functional elements zone from the initial burst, giving the
with the machine gun or automatic gunner a correction as needed. Cor-
Above: The real reason for using a rifle. Good gunners can half the size rections must be bold and stated with
center base aim is to better place of that cone of fire and approach two the direction and specific amount of
the beaten zone for maximum mils in diameter. adjustment given in mils. The gunner
target effect. Unlike training ranges puts this correction on the Traverse
which normally used two dimen- Machine Gun Qualification and Elevation mechanism and fires
sional targets, targets in the real OBJECTIVES: The objective of ma- another burst. Repeat as needed. The
world have depth. chine gun marksmanship training is assistant gunner must be proficient
to produce gunners who can fire an in observing the strike of rounds and
Control accurate initial burst, adjust fire, and giving positive corrections. In a train-
Control entails all the conscious ac- develop speed. ing environment, the A-gunner must
tions of the Soldier before, during, and FIRE AN ACCURATE INITIAL give a definite adjustment in mils and
after the shot process that the Soldier BURST: Obtaining an accurate ini- the gunner must follow. This helps
specifically is in control of. The first of tial burst of fire on the target requires both learn how much adjustment ef-
which is trigger control. This includes good marksmanship and is essential fects changes at distance. Optics and
whether, when, and how to engage. to gunnery. The crew (either gunner or binoculars with a mil reticle help this
It incorporates the Soldier as a func- assistant gunner) estimates the range greatly. The assistant gunner’s profi-
tion of safety, as well as the ultimate to the target, sets the sights, and ap- ciency helps the gunner re-lay the
responsibility of firing the weapon. plies marksmanship skills to achieve machine gun back on target.
With fully-automatic weapons, an accurate initial burst of fire. DEVELOP SPEED: Speed is essen-
control as includes modulating the No, you don’t “just walk it in”. Ma- tial to good marksmanship also. Prac-
number of shots in a burst, be it three chine guns demand as much atten- ticing dry-fire and live-fire exercises
rounds for an automatic rifle, seven tion to zero as any weapon you intend increases the gunner’s speed. Novice
for a machine gun, or any other num- to hit targets with. Failure to use the gunners fumble their T&E and often
ber. This should never compromise sights and get a solid zero confirmed have to move in the wrong direction
stability or aim. Unskilled personnel at distance means that every nearly to remember what the controls do
throwing their finger off the trigger to engagement starts with a miss, wast- while proficient gunners can spin
abruptly end the burst, the so-called ing ammunition and time, and giving and move the controls of their gun
“thousand degree trigger”, may dis- the gun’s position away before having smoothly where it needs to go. This
rupt their shot process and scatter strikes to register the gun and adjust work can and should be done away
rounds away from the target area. fire from. It also means that any data from the range. Aiming and T&E exer-
The final, ultimate goal with on the bottom half of a range card is cises can be done with any mark on a
machine gun marksmanship is to useless because T&E data is depen- wall. Set at a known distance, such as
produce a centered circular cone of dent on confirming the lay of the 10 meters, makes it easy to scale aim-
fire of the correct number of rounds machine gun is correct, which you ing marks into mil-sized increments.
wanted. This should be no bigger than can’t do if the zero is so far off that Remember, one mil is one thousandth
you’re unable to regularly hit known the distance to the target. 10 meters is
distance targets with the first burst. 1,000 centimeters, so one mil is one
centimeter at that distance.
Left: Machine gun trigger control APPLY GUNNERY: The 10 meter
must cause no additional move- and Transition qualification courses
ment to the gun, just like every test basic machine gun proficiency
other type of weapon. A good concerning marksmanship. The 10
gunner can modulate the trigger to meter target uses a series of pasters
fire an exact number of rounds in a representing target areas, NOT indi-
burst on demand while retaining a vidual targets or silhouettes. These
good circular cone of fire. target areas are a simple way to learn

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 Army Reserve Marksman

correctly. Specifically, they screwed

up the trigger control portion of the
Control functional element. Likewise,
they should be stopped after the time
limit expires, even if ammunition
remains. In both cases, put salt and
pepper on those rounds, pal, because
you just ate them. Failing to cease
fire after firing the correct number of
bursts or after time expires should re-
Above: Gunnery requires learn- sult in a penalty to the score. Realize
ing to fire an accurate initial burst, many units don’t enforce this because
adjust fire, and develop speed in Above: A good gunner can produce most Soldiers don’t bother to read
doing it. a centered, circular cone of fire no and understand this standard. Doing
larger than four mils. The pasters it correctly is more difficult but that
engaging an area beyond a single, on 10 meter target are four centime- is how these courses are intended.
fixed target, demanding the gunner ters wide, which is four mils at that Again, each paster is the same width
traverse and/or search across an area, distance. as an E-type silhouette less than 122
thus moving the grazing fires or beat- meters away. Merely hitting it is not
en zones across a frontage. entire target area, and then traverse the challenge.
The pasters are NOT individual and/or search to the adjoining target Likewise, each target engagement
targets. The individual and groups of area as represented by the next paster, during the transition course is limited
pasters represent a target area that the and fire a single burst there, repeating to two bursts. If the target is not hit af-
cone of fire should fit inside of. until done. ter two bursts, it is lost and should not
Merely hitting the paster is NOT That means for pasters 5 and 6, be engaged for another burst EVEN
the only goal. At 10 meters, a 4 cm which has five pasters in it, the gun- IF AMMUNITION AND TIME RE-
paster is 4 mils wide. An E-type sil- ner or automatic rifleman should fire MAIN. These courses are far too easy
houette target 19 inches wide is 4 mils exactly five bursts and for 7 and 8 with with too much time and extra allowed
wide at 121.7 meters. Do the math. A eight pasters there should be exactly ammunition to merely keep shooting
mil is one thousandth of the radius eight bursts. No more and no less. TC and make a third attempt. Many units
of a circle. 19 inches divided by four 3-20.40 explicitly confirms this. This fail to enforce this standard due to ig-
is 4.75. 4.75 inches is a thousandth of is not a change to the qualification norance and low skills. A gunner or
4,750 inches. 4,750 inches is 121.79 standard. This has always been the automatic rifleman failing to fire a full
meters. standard but most Army personnel burst and hit gets a second burst to
Merely hitting a silhouette at 122 have been doing it wrong. make a hit. If the target fails to fall on
meters from a bipod or tripod posi- The gunner or automatic rifle- the second burst, that target should be
tion is not a challenge. Keeping all the man should be stopped after firing scored a miss because the crew failed
rounds from a single burst is. the pre-determined number of bursts to fire an accurate initial burst and
Training Circular 3-22.249 and 3- EVEN IF TIME AND AMMUNITION adjust fire as needed. Using more than
22.240 specifically states this. With REMAIN. If there is ammunition left two total bursts, regardless of how few
the machine gun qualifications, the after firing five or eight bursts, the rounds are fired, is a failure. The pur-
manual directs that "the gunner us- shooter should NOT shoot it because pose is to create crews that can engage
ing the traverse and search technique, it means they didn’t fire the correct targets and make correct adjustments
engages pasters, either B5 and B6 number of rounds per burst, mean- with confidence, not to make multiple
or B7 and B8, firing a 5- to 7-round ing they failed to perform the task guesses, sling out a bunch of random
burst at each." For the automatic rifle shots, and hope they eventually get
qualification the instructions are spe- lucky. Read the Training Circulars to
cifically to fire a three-round burst for verify this.
each paster. Not to fire as many short Doing it right is harder but will
bursts as you like in any order until create better gunners. ARMP
you’ve finally expended all ammo
but to start on one end of the target
area and systematically place ONE,
single, accurately-fired burst at each
paster representing a section of the

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 Army Reserve Marksman

Machine Gun Gunnery Theory

Effective machine gun use re- the distance from weapon to target
quires understanding machine gun and increases with range.
gunnery theory. This understanding Cone Of Fire
is what makes a machine gun an ef- The cone of fire is the pattern
fective crew-served weapon capable formed by the different trajectories
of suppressing and controlling large of individual rounds in a burst as
target areas. Failing to understand they travel downrange. Fired at a Above: Cone of fire creates the
and apply these concepts reduces a two-dimensional paper target the beaten zone downrange.
machine gun to a large and clumsy cone of fire should appear like a
belt-fed rifle limited to engaging group and be roughly circular in Grazing Fire
single point targets. shape. Various factors effects this Grazing fire occurs when the
but the gunner’s Stability and Con- center of the cone of fire does not
Characteristics Of Fire trol have the biggest influence. rise more than one meter above the
A gunner’s knowledge of the ma- Beaten Zone ground. Continuous grazing fire
chine gun is not complete until they The beaten zone is the elliptical effectively creates a fence that is
learn about the action and effect of pattern formed when the rounds nearly impassable. The gunner does
the projectiles. within the cone of fire strike the not have to aim at a particular tar-
The Line of Sight is an imagi- ground or target area. The size get along the line when grazing fire
nary line drawn from the firer’s and shape of the beaten zone changes is used because anything trying to
eyes through the sights to the point based on the distance and slope of the pass that line when a burst is fired
of aim. The Burst of Fire is a num- target area but is normally oval or ci- is almost certain to be hit. This is
ber of successive rounds fired from gar shaped with the long axis along ideal for final protective fires along
the same hold and aim point, such the gun-target line. At closer range the a final protective line in the defense
as the same Traverse and Elevation beaten zone is longer and narrower and can be used offensively as well
mechanism setting, when the trig- and becomes shorter and wider as anywhere the terrain is level or
ger is held to the rear. The number of distance increases. On rising ground, sloping uniformly along a line from
rounds in a burst varies depending the beaten zone becomes shorter and the gunner’s position. Dead space
on the type of fire employed. ground that slopes away causes the is any bit of ground that interrupts
The trajectory is the curved path beaten zone to become longer. this continuous line, such as a small
of the projectile in flight from the Gunners and automatic riflemen depression, and must be covered
muzzle to impact. As the range to can take maximum effect of this by by a weapon from a different posi-
the target increases, so does the aiming at the center base of a target tion or one capable of indirect fire,
curve of trajectory. area as most rounds will either be such as a grenade launcher. Over
Maximum ordinate is the high- direct hits or fall a bit short, increas- uniformly sloping terrain, 5.56 and
est point above the LOS the trajec- ing chances of on-target ricochets, 7.62mm machine guns can attain a
tory reaches between the muzzle better enabling spotting the strike of maximum of 600 meters of grazing
of the weapon and base of target. It the rounds to adjust fire from, and fire and heavy machine guns can
always occurs about two-thirds of increasing suppressive effect on the push this to 700 meters. Grenade
target area. The effective zone encom- machine guns with a sharply arcing
passes about 85% of the fired shots.
Below: Trajectory showing Height (in The danger space is along the gun-
meters for the burst's path to reach target line from muzzle to target where Below: Grazing fire requires main-
different distances. Grazing fire (1 the trajectory does not rise above 1.8 taining continuous danger space
meter height is normally effective meters above the ground, or the aver- over uniform terrain.
to about 600 meters. The height is age height of a human adult.
3 meters to reach 800 meters and 6 These characteristics help de-
scribe various classes of fire.

Classification of Fire: Ground

With respect to the ground, the two
classes are grazing and plunging
fire.

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 Army Reserve Marksman

firing high to low ground or low to in a column formation.

high ground, or firing across uneven Flanking Fire
terrain which breaks up the danger Flanking fire is delivered direct-
space needed to maintain grazing ly against the side of the target area
fire at points along the trajectory. and becomes enfilading fire when
Fires from grenade machine guns employed against a line formation.
are always plunging fire. Oblique Fire
Oblique fire occurs when the
Above: Plunging fire is when fires Classification of Fire: Target long axis of fires is an angle other
are limited to the beaten zone, even Fires with respect to the target in- than a right angle to the front of the
clude enfilade, frontal, flanking, and target.
oblique fires. Leaders and gunners Proper positioning of gun teams
trajectory cannot use grazing fire. should always strive to position gun requires determining likely avenues
Plunging Fire teams so that the long axis of fires, of approach and setting up so as to
Plunging fire occurs when there grazing and beaten zones falls along place the long axis of fire along the
is little or no danger space from the the long axis of the target and target long axis of the target area.
muzzle to the beaten areas. It’s worth noting that routine
zone, thus the weapon’s effect is Enfilade Fire qualification fails to take this into
limited to placement of the beaten Enfilade fire occurs when the account as the ideal place to put
zone as grazing along the length of long axis of the beaten zone coin- crews on a transition range would
the gun-target line is not possible. cides or nearly coincides with the be to fire across the side of the range
Plunging fires happen when firing at long axis of the target. Derived from as that would enfilade fires across
long range beyond the grazing fire the French meaning “to thread” all the targets in all of the lanes.
maximum effective range, when enfilading fires takes maximum Obviously, this will won’t fit in the
benefit of the effects of grazing and existing Surface Danger Zone and
Below: Tracers from a machine beaten zone. Range Control will be very angry
gun illustrate the characteristics of Frontal Fire with you, however, understanding
danger space and beaten zone over Frontal fire occurs when engag- this will help taking the machine
ground. Good gunnery means learn- ing a force facing toward the gun gun marksmanship skills tested in
ing how to establish and control this position. It is enfilading fire when qualification into real world appli-
“fence” of coordinated fires. the target area is advancing forward cation.

Below: Classes of fire with respect to

the target.

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 Army Reserve Marksman

Above: Enfilading fire on RETS targets from the crew’s perspective. From
this position the long axis of the target array matches up with the length of
Above: Enfilading fires are most danger space and beaten zone, establishing the most effective fire. Note that
effective and may be frontal or most training ranges forbid this and force a much less effective face-on target
flanking depending how the targets engagement. No wonder our troops are ignorant of machine gun gunnery!
are arrayed.
landing an initial burst and making transition course is limited to fixed
Classification of Fire: Gun T&E adjustments from there in even targets only and the 10-meter target
Classes of fire with respect to the increments to ensure even, continu- has a bold outline for each paster so
weapon include fixed, traversing, ous coverage along the target area. as to aim at each one individually.
searching, traversing and search- Given that a cone of fire should be While not included as a standard
ing, swinging traverse, and free 2-4 mils in size, an adjustment of qualification, targets can be used to
gun fires. 4 mils from burst to burst creates emphasize these points. For exam-
Fixed Fire overlapping coverage. ple, a target series the has one aim
Fixed fire is possible when the Searching Fire point reference for five target areas
point target or target area can be ef- Searching distributes fires in- that are invisible to the gunner. A
fectively engaged within the width depth by successive changes in el- one-mil black square is at the bot-
and size of the centered beaten zone evation. Gunners employ searching tom, left, top, or right side of a given
or grazing fires with little or no ma- fire against a deep target or a target target area. After aiming in a firing
nipulation required. having depth and minimal width, an initial accurate burst, the gunner
Traversing Fire requiring changes in only the eleva-
Most target areas will likely be tion of the gun. The amount of eleva- Below: Classes of fire with respect to
bigger than the gun’s beaten zone tion change depends upon the range the gun.
or grazing fire coverage and adjust- and slope of the ground.
ment is necessary. Traversing dis- Traversing and Searching Fire
perses fires in width by successive combines elements of both traverse
changes left or right but not in eleva- and search to distribute fires both
tion. When engaging a wide target in width and depth.
area, the gunner selects multiple These concepts are important
aim points or makes subsequent tra- for gunnery but aren’t really tested
verse adjustments after successfully during routine qualification. The

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 Army Reserve Marksman

Above: Improved gunnery fundamentals practice target. This target has

four separate arrays of five circular pasters each, starting on the left side
are Search Up and Search Down arrays. Next are the Traverse Right and
Traverse Left. Each paster is a four-mil circle that is invisible from the
gunner’s position. Only the first target in each array has a one-mil black
square at the paster’s center base. The gunner aims in there, fires an initial Above: Soldiers are sometimes
accurate burst, and has to trust the T&E adjustments to engage each area confused about the gunnery role of
after that as there isn’t a visible target to aim at. machine guns because the weapons
can also be employed as individual
has to trust T&E adjustments to en- small arms. The need for gunnery
gage the remaining target areas. skills with other crew-served weap-
Machine guns really shine when ons, like this mortar, is obvious
they apply accurate, controlled fires because there is no other way to
over a target area. Firing over ter- utilize them.
rain with grazing or enfilading fires
may not give a convenient aim point
to hold on. Gunners need to under-
stand how to apply fires to get the
desired effect. ARMP

Left: Gun crew during field training

set up in position. Stakes designate
the limits of their sector of fire. The
gun is currently set for grazing fire
shot down a final protective line
protecting the unit position to the
crew’s right side. Ideally, another
gun crew is set up on the opposite
end of the unit to protect this gun
crew. The range card by the T&E
allows the crew to employ their
weapon while staying behind cover.
The gunner can stay below the gun
behind cover and still direct fires.

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