Original Item: Only One Available. This is really a fantastic offering, the likes of which we have not had before! This is a great AN/M2 Aircraft M2 Browning BATF Compliant Training Cutaway Display Machine Gun. It has had over 90% of the right hand side plate removed, as well as portions of the rear top cover, front top cover, barrel, barrel trunion, buffer, recoil assembly, and other components removed, making this totally legal to own without a license of any kind. Additional components may have been omitted or removed, as it was intended for training and learning.

It looks like this was cutaway for training some time ago, as there is some surface rust on the cut areas, which have now been painted red in the typical fashion. It may have repainted after being in display for some time, which we cannot determine as we do not know the entire history of this lovely display piece. The AN/M2 was the primary aircraft machine gun during WWII and much of the Korean war, before being replaced by the 20mm Hispano-Suiza design in the mid 1950s. We do not know exactly when it was made or cutaway, but we assume it was during WWII or just after.

The M2HB ground variant remains in U.S. service until this day, and the now obsolete AN/M2 machine guns were often used to make these training cutaways. We received an email from a customer after this item was first published, and they indicated that these were usually mounted on top of a wooden box. Inside was a motor that would slowly cycle the internals to show how they functioned during all of the various operations involved during cycling. They indicated that a display cutaway like this was in use when they attended training in 1987, so these definitely had a long service life.

A fantastic opportunity to own a BATF compliant inert display gun of one of the most enduring machine gun designs in history, as used in virtually all U.S. Aircraft during WWII! Ready to display!

The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chambered for the .30-06 cartridge. The M2 uses Browning's larger and more powerful .50 BMG (12.7 mm) cartridge. The design has had many designations; the official U.S. military designation for the current infantry type is Browning Machine Gun, Cal. .50, M2, HB, Flexible. It is effective against infantry, unarmored or lightly armored vehicles and boats, light fortifications, and low-flying aircraft.

The gun has been used extensively as a vehicle weapon and for aircraft armament by the United States since the 1930s. It was heavily used during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Falklands War, the Soviet–Afghan War, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan. It is the primary heavy machine gun of NATO countries and has been used by many other countries as well. U.S. forces have used the M2 longer than any other firearm except the .45 ACP M1911 pistol, which was also designed by John Browning.

The lightweight "Army/Navy" prefixed AN/M2 "light-barrel" version of the Browning M2 weighing 60 pounds (27 kg) was also developed, and became the standard .50-caliber aviation machine gun of the World War II–era for American military aircraft of nearly every type, readily replacing Browning's own air-cooled .30 caliber machine gun design in nearly all American aircraft installations.