MAC 1934 (7.5 mm)

This page is about the French machine gun MAC 1934 (7.5 mm). For the other version, see MAC 1934T (7.5 mm).

Description

The MAC 1934 is the main machine gun used on French WW2-era aircraft, and much like its real life counterpart, it is horribly outclassed by other guns by other nations. In order to make up for its lethargic stopping power, planes are often fitted with a large amount of the guns with high ammo capacities, resulting in a sheer volume of fire that deals a surprising amount of damage when aimed accurately.

General info

As mentioned previously, the MAC gun comes up very short regarding raw per-bullet damage, even compared to other rifle calibre machine guns. This is primarily due to its small cartridge of 7.5 mm, slightly smaller than the tier's common 7.62, 7.7, 7.92 and 8 mm rounds of other nations. While this difference may seem minor and trivial to some, it's big enough to create a very noticeable deficiency, especially due to the particularly unimpressive belts. However, what the MAC lacks in stopping power, it makes up for in its good accuracy, solid muzzle velocity, and blistering rate of fire of 1,450 rounds-per-minute. Although players are often gifted with a very large ammunition capacity, they may find themselves running dry quicker than expected due to this fire rate, requiring an emphasis on accuracy in sustained bursts in order to make the most out of the guns.

Available ammunition

• Default: T · Ball · Ball · Ball · I · AP
• Universal: T · AP · AP · I · I
• Tracers: I-T · I-T · I-T · I-T
• Stealth: AP · AP · I

Comparison with analogues

Comparable machine guns to MAC 1934 (7.5 mm)
	Name	Year of Creation	Mass	Rounds Per Minute	Ammunition	Feed Type
▃	Browning (7.62 mm)	1919	14 kg	600 RPM	7.62 x 63 mm	Belt
▅	Type 92 navy (7.7 mm)	1932	8 kg	600 RPM	7.7 x 56 mm R	Drum
▄	Darne 1933 (7.5 mm)	1916	8.4 kg	1,100 RPM	7.5 x 54 mm MAS	Belt
▄	Breda-SAFAT (7.7 mm)	1935	12.5 kg	850 RPM	7.7 x 56 mm R	Belt
▀	MG 17 (7.92 mm)	1934	10.2 kg	1,150 RPM	7.92 x 57 mm	Belt
▂	ShKAS (7.62 mm)	1932	10.5 kg	1,800 RPM	7.62 x 54 mm R	Belt
▄	MAC 1934 (7.5 mm)	1934	10.7 kg	1,450 RPM	7.5 x 54 mm MAS	Belt/Magazine

Usage in battles

Describe the cannon/machine gun in the game - its distinctive features, tactics of usage against notable opponents. Please don't write a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Fast firing rifle-calibre gun of its era
• Incredibly high ammunition capacity
• Very solid terminal ballistics; solid accuracy and muzzle velocity
• Large ammo capacity and amazing fire rate results in a nigh-unmatched ability to saturate an area
• Relatively harder to jam compared to contemporaries

Cons:

• Paltry damage, even for a rifle-calibre gun
• Ammunition belts leave much to be desired
• Despite the impressive ammo capacity, the guns can quickly run out of ammo due to its high fire rate

History

In 1934, the Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault (Châtellerault weapons manufacturing company, often shortened to MAC) completed the development of the MAC 1934 machine gun to replace the Darne mod. 1933 machine gun aboard aircraft of the Armée de l'Air. Essentially a faster-firing variant of the mitrailleuse mle 1931, and using the same 7.5 mm MAS ammunition, the MAC 34 worked by gas operation and was fed from drum magazines. Because it used an open bolt action, the MAC 34 could not be fitted with synchronization gear, and was more expensive to manufacture than comparable weapons; but it was compact and had excellent reliability. Originally the Armée de l'Air favoured magazine-fed weapons, but it eventually accepted that the feeding system of the MAC 34 would require too frequent reloading for dorsal gunners, and was impractical for wing mountings, so it required the development of a belt-fed variant. The resulting weapon was introduced in 1939, and designated as MAC 1934 M39.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

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.