MG 131 (13 mm)
Contents
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-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 · Fw 190 F-8 |
| 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 410A | Me 410 A-1 (Defensive) · Me 410 A-1/U2 (Defensive) · Me 410 A-1/U4 (Defensive) |
| Me 410B | Me 410 B-1 · Me 410 B-1/U2 · Me 410 B-2/U4 (Defensive) · Me 410 B-6/R3 (Defensive) |
| Bombers | |
| 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 288 | Ju 288 C (Defensive) |
| Me 264 | Me 264 (Defensive) |
General info
Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.
Available ammunition
Describe the shells that are available for the weapon and their features and purpose. If it concerns autocannons or machine guns, write about different ammo belts and what is inside (which types of shells).
Comparison with analogues
Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns that have firepower equal to this weapon.
Usage in battles
Use the stealth belts so the aim of your cannons doesn't get thrown off. Especially because the MG 131 has a way higher muzzle velocity than your cannons, so the tracers may be misleading.
Try binding a second key to shoot just these MGs to make the most out of the MGs as a standalone weapon rather than being fired with the cannon.
Their are two main uses for this gun for fighter craft:
- Fire from a relatively long range (1km) at enemies that are about to outrun you. If they get hit they might get spooked and manoeuvre so you can catch them.
- Finishing off crippled enemies to save your cannon ammo.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Very nice sound effect
- Can sometimes set fires
- Can be used to make enemies lose energy
Cons:
- Basically no damage per second
- The muzzle velocity is way faster than the German cannons, meaning you cant really hit the target with both cannons and MGs at the same time
- If you don't have the belts the tracers are very annoying
History
Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/ History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />.
Media
An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
- references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the weapon;
- 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 |
| 7.92 mm | FN-Browning M.36 No.3 · FN-Browning M.36 No.4 |
| 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 |
