My "brother" was a 60 gunner in the Marines in RVN from mid-late 1968 through the first part of 69. Carried it about six months and then was promoted to squad leader and traded it for a M-16.

He explained how he'd carry it balanced on his right shoulder with a six round stringer in it. When they got hit he'd throw it down and then attach the rest of the belt, that was a lot easier and faster than opening the feed cover and not as likely to give away his position (assuming they didn't already know where he was). We had a snapshot of him like that someone took while they were going through a village, M-60 on his shoulder and a pack of Winstons in his helmet band.

Except for it being heavy he was apparently quite fond of it and proud of his skill with it. In fact the Marines were going to make him a truck driver but he specifically requested to be a machine gunner and go to Vietnam, so he got his wish.



I only qualified with one in 1972 and and fired one a few times thereafter. I'm a lefty and they made me shoot it right handed due to the feed cover latch being on the right so I wasn't particularly accurate with it. Shooting it is fun, it just gently rocks back and forth in recoil. Muzzle blast from behind it isn't bad at all, however being the assistant gunner sucks since you're off to the side and the muzzle blast is truly obnoxious.

Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery.
Hit the target, all else is twaddle!