Why the M60 machine gun earned the nickname The Pig in Vietnam

Countries & Cities · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Adopted in 1960, the M60 was a versatile general-purpose machine gun designed to replace aging Browning models. Despite its effectiveness in combat, soldiers dubbed it The Pig due to its bulky, poorly balanced frame and insatiable appetite for ammunition, which made it notoriously difficult to carry through tropical terrain.

The M60 was born from a post-World War II effort to create a lighter, universal machine gun inspired by German designs like the MG-42. After testing unsatisfactory prototypes like the T24 and T44, the U.S. military finalized the T161E3 design, chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO. It was officially adopted in 1957, beating out the Belgian FN MAG. The weapon functioned as a gas-operated, belt-fed system capable of firing 500 to 650 rounds per minute.

In the field, the M60 was a crew-served weapon, typically operated by a team of two or three soldiers. While it was praised for its handling and mechanical simplicity, it faced significant reliability issues. Its rotating bolt design could suffer from head separation, and the barrel latch was prone to accidental release. Furthermore, the trigger housing relied on a fragile leaf spring clip that soldiers often reinforced with duct tape to prevent catastrophic failure during combat.

By the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. military began replacing the M60 with the M240. Comparative testing in 1994 and 1995 revealed the M240’s superior reliability, with significantly higher mean rounds between stoppages and failures. Despite this, the M60’s legacy persisted through various upgrades, including the lightweight M60E3 and the more durable M60E4, or Mk 43 Mod 0. Even in the 21st century, the platform has seen continued use by specialized units and foreign militaries like Denmark’s, which adopted the M60E6 variant in 2015.

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