L3A1 (7.62 mm)

Description

The L3A1 (7.62 mm) on the Swingfire.

The L3A1 is the post-war British designation for the American M1919A4 Browning .30 calibre machine gun, when used in a fixed mounting (flexible mount guns are designated L3A2). The L3A1 is used as the co-axial machine gun on many British post-war tanks. As the gun is simply the British designation for the M1919A4 Browning, its performance is absolutely identical to its American counterpart. Being only a 7.62 mm machine gun it is largely ineffective against all but the most weakly armoured, or open cabin, vehicles.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

The L3A1 is used as the co-axial (and occasionally turret mounted) machine gun on many British tanks from Rank 4 - Rank 6.

General info

The gun is the British designation for the M1919A4 Browning so performs identically to it.

Available ammunition

The L3A1 can only be equipped with one ammo belt consisting of one Armour-piercing (AP) bullet, followed by one Tracer bullet. Neither bullet has much penetration (maximum of 10 mm), however the AP bullet performs much better than the tracer bullet.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration @ 90° (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
AP	10	9	7	4	0	0
T	5	4	2	1	0	0

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Normalisation at 30° from horizontal	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
AP	853	0.0108	N/A	N/A	N/A	+2.0°	47°	60°	65°
T	835	0.0095	N/A	N/A	N/A	+2.0°	47°	60°	65°

Comparison with analogues

The L3A1 performs identically to the M1919A4 Browning. Due to the low penetration of 7.62 mm, and similar, none are very effective against armoured vehicles, making rate of fire the main differentiating factor.

Usage in battles

Due to the very low penetration of this weapon it is largely ineffective against enemy armour (although you may be able to penetrate some vehicles with extremely thin armour). The gun is primarily useful for incapacitating exposed crew members in open-topped vehicles (although there are few such vehicles at the battle ratings this gun is found at). The gun can also be used for ranging on some vehicles, as well as marking enemy vehicles and obscuring the view of enemy players (shooting at their gun sight). You can use the gun against aircraft however it does minimal damage, and being co-axially mounted on most tanks it can be difficult to keep on target against aircraft.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Decent Rate of Fire

Cons:

• Low penetration makes it ineffective against armour
• Generally low damage

History

The L3A1 is the Commonwealth (used by Britain, Canada and Australia) designation for the M1919A4 Browning machine gun, itself one of the most prolific machine guns of the 20th century. First entering service in 1919, the M1919 versions of the M191 have served in many wars including World War 2, Korean War, the Vietnam War, and is still in service today with some countries.

Media

An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

See also

• M1919A4 (7.62 mm)

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the weapon;
• other literature.

Tank machine guns
USA
7.62 mm	M37 · M60D · M73 · M240 · M1919A4 · Mk.52
12.7 mm	FN M3P · M2HB · M80 · M85
Germany
5.56 mm	MG4
7.62 mm	C6 · MG3A1
7.92 mm	MG13 Dreyse · MG34 · MG37(t) · MG42
12.7 mm	S.MG.50
USSR
7.62 mm	DT · PKMB · PKT · PKTM · RP-46 · SGMT
12.7 mm	DK · DShK · 6P49 · NSVT
14.5 mm	KPVT
Britain
7.62 mm	Browning MG4 · L3A1 · L8A1 · L8A2 · L37A1 · L37A2 · L94A1
7.7 mm	Vickers
7.92 mm	BESA
12.7 mm	L21A1
Japan
6.5 mm	Type 91
7.62 mm	Type 74
7.7 mm	Type 97
12.7 mm	Type 60 (B)
China
5.8 mm	QJT
7.62 mm	Type 55 · Type 59 · Type 86
12.7 mm	QJC88A · Type 54
14.5 mm	QJG02
Italy
7.62 mm	Beretta MG42/59 · FN MAG 60-40
8 mm	34/40M · Breda Mod. 38
13.2 mm	Breda Model 31
France
7.5 mm	AAT-52 · MAC 31
7.62 mm	A-A-F1N
8 mm	Hotchkiss Mle 1914
Sweden
6.5 mm	ksp m/14-29
7.62 mm	ksp 39 C · ksp 58 · ksp 94
8 mm	ksp m/36 · ksp m/39B
12.7 mm	ksp 88