The M60E3 7.62mm machine gun is a lightweight, air-cooled, disintegrating metallic link-belt fed, portable or tripod mounted machine gun designed for ground operations like its predecessor, the M60. It is gas operated with fixed headspace and timing which permits rapid changing of barrels. (Associated components: mount, tripod, machine gun, 7.62mm, M122). Slightly different from its "parent," the M60, the M60E3 has a receiver-attached bipod which easily deploys for stability. It has an ambidextrous safety, universal sling attachments, a carrying handle on the barrel, and a simplified gas system that does not require safety wire to prevent loosening. However, the light weight barrel is not safe for overhead fire and is not capable of sustaining a rapid rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute without catastrophic failure of the barrel.


The M60E3 (light weight version of the parent M60) was fielded with the intention to reduce the load carried by the gunner. However, the reduction in weight resulted in firing limitations and a loss of reliability that severely restricts the use of the weapon in the Fleet Marine Force. Consequently, troop acceptance of the E3 has been very poor. This gun will be replaced by the M240G.


The preferred combat ammunition mix for the M60 is a four-ball (M80) and one-tracer (M62) mix. Again, the four-and-one mix allows the gunner to use the TOT method of adjusting fire to achieve target kill.