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 the machine gun example of quantity over quality. The stopping power of a single bullet is lower than even most other rifle-caliber machine guns, however it makes up for that by having a shredding fire rate of 1,350 RPM and being equipped with large amounts of ammo. The gun is mostly mounted in 2 pairs, making the planes fitted with it a force to be reckoned with in the skies.

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 in short bursts. 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 1,350 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	1,000 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	1,350 RPM	7.5 x 54 mm MAS	Belt
▄	Breda-SAFAT (7.7 mm)	1935	12.5 kg	900 RPM	7.7 x 56 mm R	Belt
▀	MG 17 (7.92 mm)	1934	10.2 kg	1,200 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	1,350 RPM	7.5 x 54 mm MAS	Belt/Magazine

Usage in battles

The MAC 1934 fares well in the early BRs. As a fast-firing machine gun, on fighters always mounted in 2 pairs, it has a damage output that slightly exceeds most other guns at its BR (a notable exception being the Italian Breda SAFAT 12.7mm). The fire rate enables it to destroy enemies in medium bursts of fire, assuming most bullets hit the target. The relatively quick overheating requires the pilot to have some restraint, as nearing the overheating limit jams out some of the guns. This will not completely take your firepower out, but it will be severely limited when 2 or more guns get jammed. Overheating (and the ensuing jamming) is however nowhere near as quick as on the ShKAS, which makes the high rate of fire very sustainable.

The fights against bombers and fighters with this gun usually require different strategies. Bombers usually take a long time to take down through brute destruction (especially considering they may return fire from rear-turrets), however taking out the crew is rather easy if you get the right angle. Against fighters you will rarely rip off a wing, but in this case the ignition of engines and again the pilot are the best target to go for. Hitting these parts is quite effective, and medium bursts with short intervals will usually only improve the ability to take down single-engine planes.

A pilot using the MAC will however need to consider that the ammo, although not low is pretty limited (especially on the earlier users of this MG) due to its fire rate, and - although not as bad as the early nose-mounted Hispano 404 - will require some tactical knowledge regarding ammo expenditure. The reload time is pretty quick however, so in Arcade Battles reloading between fights is recommended.

Though not blessed with the Air-targets belt of the .50-cals, the MAC still has some valuable belts, with the Stealth and Tracer belts performing quite well.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Very high rate of fire
• 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:

• Lackluster damage, even for a rifle-caliber gun
• No Air Targets ammunition belt
• Despite the impressive ammo capacity, the guns can quickly run out of ammo due to its high fire rate

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

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, 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;
• other literature.