M60

The M60 is an American Medium Machine Gun designed between the late 1940s to 1957, where it was first put into service with the United States military to replace the M1918 BAR and M1919 Browning. Its design is largely based upon several Axis-used weapons, specifically the FG42 -- to whom the M60's early prototypes bore a significant resemblence to, and with which the modern weapon still shares the stock design -- and to a lesser extent, the MG42.

A large and bulky weapon, the M60 fires the 7.62x51mm NATO round at a rate of fire of between 500 to 600 rounds per minute up to an effective range of 1.1 kilometers. It saw extensive use during the Vietnam war by American and South Vietnamese troops, where it gained a bad reputation for its complexity, but continued in service with the U.S. military until the 1980s and 90s, and has seen service in numerous armed forces abroad. It was gradually phased out by the U.S. military, first in the 1980s with the M249's adoption as a squad automatic weapon, and then by the M240 in the 1990s as a general purpose machinegun; the M60 is now largely relegated to use as a mounted weapon, but even in those roles it is expected to be replaced by the M240.

Battlefield Vietnam
In Battlefield Vietnam, the M60 is the medium machine gun issued to American and South Vietnamese as an option of the Heavy Assault kit. It has a 100-round capacity, high standing recoil, medium damage, high rate of fire and low accuracy. The M60 is best used at medium ranges in burst fire since it's accuracy quickly deteriorates after a few shots. It also has enormous recoil when standing up or crouching. Prone decreases most of the drawbacks of this weapon, especially its recoil, which is quite low in prone, though its accuracy is generally too poor to be of much use in at long ranges. It is the counterpart to the North Vietnamese RPD.

The M60 is also mounted on several American and South Vietnamese vehicles, these being the PBR, the Huey and the ACH-47 Chinook. It still has the same kind of performance damage- and accuracy-wise, though it has an overheat limit, a 400- to 500-round belt that never needs to be reloaded, and, since being mounted, no recoil.

The Stationary M60 is an emplaced weapon found mounted in bunkers and crashed CH-47s on the Defense of Con Thien and the Fall of Saigon. These M60s have unlimited ammunition and otherwise have the same characteristics of the M60s mounted in vehicles. They tend to be near American and South Vietnamese bases, though some are scattered about.

Battlefield: Bad Company
"Iconic America rifle, famous for its service in the Vietnam War. Designed in the late 1940s, it borrows heavily from German WW2 machinegun designs."

- In game description. The M60 machine gun in Battlefield: Bad Company is one of the "Find all Five!" In order to unlock the weapon one must subscribe to the Battlefield Newsletter. However, DICE have freely released a universal code. The code for the M60 is.

The M60 is issued to the Support kit. It has 150 rounds in a full belt with 300 rounds in reserve. The M60 has a slower rate of fire than other LMGs, which will give it a disadvantage at closer ranges, but this is made up for by its high accuracy and damage. At long range it is best to fire in short bursts or to fire single shots due to the weapon's sub-par accuracy as compared to assault rifles. Moving while shooting will make it almost impossible to hit a target more than 20 meters away.

As with the other machine guns, a good tactic is to support friendly players through fire and maneuver, considering static positions are easier to maintain with machine guns, and their high ammunition capacity and utility for suppressive fire.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
In singleplayer, the M60 LMG is always used by Terrence Sweetwater, and can be found in its normal state on Sangre Del Toro, in the fountain when the two Hinds drop in troops at station B. A variant with a 4X Rifle Scope can be found to the south of the bottom of the lighthouse in Sangre Del Toro, and by a destroyed wall on the last slope before the player faces the two Havocs at station C. Both variants of the M60 are collectibles.

In multiplayer, the M60 LMG is the 4th light machine gun issued to the Medic kit requiring 25,000 points. It has a belt length of 100 rounds and has the highest damage per shot of the LMGs, equal to that of the PKM. The Red Dot Sight and 4X Rifle Scope are usually used as the iron sights are fairly obtrusive and hard to use, and inefficient for pin-point accuracy. It is also very important to note the M60 has an extremely high recoil almost similar to that of the G3, and tap firing might be necessary even at medium range.

It must be noted that the M60's damage has been reduced twice in the time the game has been out. When Bad Company 2 was first released, the M60 did 25-20 damage. Amidst complaints and balance issues, it was reduced to 20-16.7. Amidst more balancing issues, it was finally reduced to 16.7-14.3, the same as the PKM. This effectively means the PKM is now more powerful as it has the same damage and a higher rate of fire, but the M60 is still more accurate. Since then, the M60 has been used significantly less by players.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam
In Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam, the M60 is issued to the Medic kit. It's appearance, like all other Vietnam weapons, is more battle-worn than that of the base game's. It has stats similar to its base game counterpart, except in terms of damage, but the iron sights are cleaner and less obstructive, most likely to balance out the lack of attached sights available to the player. The M60 is also mounted on UH-1 Iroquois helicopters for use by passengers. The only difference between the M60 on the UH-1 and the Medic's M60 (other than ammo count and overheating) are the rear aperture sights, the UH-1's having a circle (although it is unusable) and the Medic's having a vertical rectangle. Among its rusted and battered appearance, the M60 also boasts woodland camouflage and is one of only 2 weapons in Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam to use camouflage, the other being the M79.

M60
The M60 is issued to the Medic kit. It has a slow rate of fire, medium damage, moderate recoil and moderate accuracy. It boasts an 80-round belt with 80 rounds in reserve. Compared to its closest counterpart, the PKM, the M60 has a higher damage but is slightly less accurate.

Veteran's M60 ( Vanished from the game )
The Veteran's M60 features higher bullet damage and twenty more rounds per magazine, but it costs more Credits per day or Battlefunds for unlimited use as a side effect. The weapon's appearance itself is very rugged and shows heavy use.

Since December 1st, the Veteran's M60 vanished from the game. Owners of Veteran's M60 has their weapon replaced with a M60 "+3".

Elite's M60
The Elite's M60 does even more damage per bullet than the veteran version, as well as being more expensive. The weapon has a very clean appearance, like all of the elite weapons, and sports a tan paint scheme on the stock, pistol grip and magazine.

Battlefield 3
"“The Pig,” as it was commonly referred to when it was introduced in Vietnam, has served with every branch of the US Military and continues to serve with Special Forces groups. All though the M60 has been mostly replaced by the M240, the upgraded M60E4 features modern accessory rails, a shortened barrel, and improved reliability, and reduced weight. The M60E4 features a bipod standard for supported shooting."

- Battlelog description

The M60E4 appears again in Battlefield 3, as an obtainable weapon in the game's singleplayer, and as an unlock for the Support kit in multiplayer. This version is a more compact version based on the E4 variant.

Singleplayer
The M60E4 can be found in the mission Kaffarov, on the dead bodies of Kaffarov's security guards. It's low rate of fire makes it useful against the NPCs at longer ranges, but the recoil of the weapon makes aiming difficult.

Multiplayer
The M60E4 is the next to last unlock in the Support class, requiring 130,000 points to unlock. The M60 has the lowest rate of fire of all the Machine Guns and a moderate recoil profile.

The M60 suits a standard supportive playstyle. The slow rate of fire makes it poor in direct confrontation, but this also makes the recoil easy to control. The slow rate of fire, tame recoil, and 100 round belt make the M60 a great weapon for suppresive fire and chokepoint control in Conquest, as long sequences of automatic fire can be easily controlled with few reloads. The M60 and PKP Pecheneg are very similar with the main difference being rate of fire. The PKP has a faster rate of fire allowing for a more assualt type of play while the M60's slower rate of fire allows for a more defensive supporting role as mentioned above. The choice of foregrip or bipod should be determined by whether you intend to use the M60 for attacking the objective or defending the objective, respectively. The iron sights of the gun are very small in length and width, making optics extremely useful. Picking an attachment in the accessory slot comes down to style of play. For defensive roles, the extended magazine is a very strong choice, as it further reduces the frequency of reloads. For attacking tactics, the extended magazine is again useful, but the Tactical Flashlight can provide assistance in close quarters, where the M60 is notably weak. Due to its shortcomings, using the M60 for overly aggressive frontline play isn't practical, however, because of its ease to control, it is useful for background support. While the suppressor attachment does affect the performance of the gun (higher bullet drop, lower minimal damage, etc.) it appears to have little to no effect on the M60's actual firing sound.

Trivia

 * When Sweetwater is firing the M60 during the campaign of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, it has the same firing sound as the PKM.
 * Vietnam era M60s could not reload if there were still bullets in the belt but in Battlefield Vietnam and Bad Company 2 Vietnam it could be reloaded just like the M1 Garand.

Videos
Video:BFV M60 footage|Gameplay with the M60 in Battlefield: Vietnam, on the map Ho Chi Minh Trail; note that the player is prone, substantially decreasing recoil. Video:M60 LMG|Gameplay of the M60 LMG in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at Atacama Desert, Arica Harbor and White Pass in Rush mode (note: this footage was taken before the R9 Client update, thus the M60 in this footage has damage of 20-16.7) Video:M60 Vietnam|Gameplay with the M60 in Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam at Vantage Point, Cao Son Temple and Operation Hastings in Rush mode