This is an example of the M60 belt fed machine gun as manufactured by the New England Group of the Maremont Co. Developed in the late 1950s, the M60 was designed as a general-purpose machine gun (GPMG), a single weapon to replace as many different .30 caliber machine guns in the Army inventory as possible. The M60 was deployed as the chief infantry machine gun for Vietnam, along with a variety of air, ground, and water vehicle mountings. While other designs started to fill the infantry niche from the 80s onward, the M60 is still a frontline automatic weapon with American and allied armed forces. The barrel is equipped with a fixed blade front sight, bird cage flash hider, and swiveling bipod. The receiver trunnion is fitted with the quick release hardware for the barrel, manufacturer's marks, serial number and folding ladder rear sight. Fitted with a ventilated barrel shroud, ribbed forearm and pistol grip, and a plastic buttstock with a flip-up shoulder rest. Included with the lot is a shipping box with packing materials, manual and a number of disintegrating metal belt links.