MG 131 (13 mm)

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Description

The MG 131 (German: Maschinengewehr 131, or Machine gun 131) is a 13 mm German machine gun. This machine gun was developed for the Luftwaffe in 1938 and was in full production by Rheinmetall-Borsig from 1940 to 1945. This machine gun was one of the smallest machine guns produced by any nation in this calibre and due to its lighter weight and fast rate of fire, it replaced many 7.92 mm machine guns already installed in German fighters. This 13 mm machine gun provided the punch against armoured Allied aircraft (bombers especially) which the 7.92 mm machine guns had virtually no effect against.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

Vehicles equipped with this weapon
Fighters 
Bf 109  Bf 109 G-6 · ▄Bf 109 G-6 · ▄Bf 109 G-6 Erla · Bf 109 G-10 · Bf 109 G-14 · ▄Bf 109 G-14/AS · Bf 109 K-4
Fw 190  Fw 190 A-8 · ▃Fw 190 A-8 · NC.900 · Fw 190 D-9 · ▂Fw 190 D-9
S-199  Sakeen
Twin-engine fighters 
Do 217  Do 217 J-1 (Defensive) · Do 217 J-2 (Defensive) · Do 217 N-1 (Defensive)
Ju 388  Ju 388 J (Defensive)
Me 410  Me 410 A-1/U2 (Defensive) · Me 410 B-1/U2
Strike aircraft 
Fw 190  Fw 190 F-8
Me 410  Me 410 A-1 (Defensive) · Me 410 A-1/U4 (Defensive) · Me 410 B-1 · Me 410 B-2/U4 (Defensive) · Me 410 B-6/R3 (Defensive)
Bombers 
BV 138  BV 138 C-1 (Defensive)
BV 238  BV 238 (Defensive)
Do 217  Do 217 E-2 (Defensive) · Do 217 E-4 (Defensive) · Do 217 K-1 (Defensive) · Do 217 M-1 (Defensive)
He 111  He 111 H-16 (Defensive)
He 177  He 177 A-5 (Defensive)
Ju 188  Ju 188 A-2 (Defensive)
Ju 288  Ju 288 C (Defensive)
Me 264  Me 264 (Defensive)

General info

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Available ammunition

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Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

The MG 131 (13 mm) is always deployed alongside heavier guns such as MK 108 and MG 151. Here, the overall tactic is to treat this weapon as a supplement of your heavy cannon.

Three common tactics:

  1. Use the tracer round to make your opponent overreact such as firing at fleeing enemy, force them to evade thus resulting in lost speed
  2. Use it as an additional damage dealer or trajectory indicator, work best in combination with MG 151 but fails badly with when used with a 30 mm cannon
  3. Use as a backup gun to finish off a wounded enemy vehicle, therefore conserving the cannon rounds for better use

Separate key blinding between weapons or use of the weapon selector mechanic is recommended

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Can set target vehicles on fires
  • Can spook the enemy and cause them to make mistake while conserving cannon ammo for the real punch elsewhere
  • Low muzzle velocity can be a good thing as it matches the bullet trajectory of MG 151 (both at around 750 m/s)

Cons:

  • Low damage output compared to heavy machine gun of other nations
  • Your best damage dealing option is the HEI-T belt which is a tracer belt with HE property, the resulting light show can be annoying
  • Difficult to lead small targets due to the low muzzle velocity of this heavy machine gun

History

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Media

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See also

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  • reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
  • references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

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  • topic on the official game forum;
  • other literature.


Aircraft machine guns
USA 
7.62 mm  Browning · M134 Minigun
12.7 mm  GAU-19 · M2 Browning · M3 Browning
Germany 
7.62 mm  MG3
7.92 mm  MG 15 · MG 17 · MG 81
12.7 mm  FN M3P
13 mm  MG 131
USSR 
7.62 mm  DA · GShG-7.62 · PKT · PV-1 · ShKAS
12.7 mm  A-12.7 · Berezin UB · TKB-481 · YaK-B
Britain 
7.62 mm  FN 60.30 · L8A1
7.7 mm  Browning · Lewis · Vickers E · Vickers K
Japan 
7.7 mm  Te-1 · Type 89 · Type 89 'special' · Type 92 · Type 97 navy
7.92 mm  Type 1 · Type 98
12.7 mm  Ho-103 · Ho-104
13 mm  Type 2
13.2 mm  Type 3
China 
12.7 mm  QJK99-12.7-1
Italy 
7.7 mm  Breda-SAFAT · Lewis
7.92 mm  FN Browning
12.7 mm  Breda-SAFAT · FN M3M · Scotti
France 
7.5 mm  Darne 1933 · Fabrique Nationale Mle 38 · FN Browning · MAC 1934 · MAC 1934T · Mle 33 · Mle 1923
7.62 mm  PKA
Sweden 
7.7 mm  FN-Browning M.36 No.3
8 mm  Ksp m/22 · Ksp m/22 Fh · Ksp m/22 Fv · Ksp m/22-37 R
12.7 mm  Akan m/39A · Akan m/40 · Akan m/45 · LKk/42
13.2 mm  Akan m/39 · Akan m/39A