building teh m48a3 and added the machine gun on the cuppola but I would also like to add the 50 cal near the other hatch, was this done? and where could i palce the gun mount?

I have seen M-60's mounted by the loaders hatch but no 50's that I have seen.
HTH
Jeff aka beachbm2

The .50cal gun really pounds the mounting, so it requires a fairly stout mount. Not just for recoil, but just to handle the abuse that the heavyweight gun puts on the mount when the tank moves. To be strong enough, they typically need a specially designed mounting. Such a mount requires welding that is frequently beyond the field applied level.

Additionally, the heavy caliber guns can be harder to aquire. For some reason the M60, .30cal, or other similar weapons are easier to get than the heavier guns, so the lighter guns seem to show up in field mods more often.

The mounts for the smaller guns don't take nearly the abuse, so are easier to apply in the field.

C

BTW, Godfather, a .50 cal. is not 50 mm -- it's .50 inches (50 hundreths of an inch = 1/2 inch). About 12.7 mm.

Good guidance you've received so far. You might want to find a good photo reference before you commit.

found this link in an old topic. I'm not sure, but it loos like a 50 cal. near the loaders hatch.

http://h-co.freehomepage.com/id40.htm

WOW! That's one heavily up-armored 48! And it does appear to be a .50.

Personally, I never saw an extra .50 mounted at the loader's hatch on a Cav M-48 but it certainly looks like Hotel Company of the 11th ACR may have done so based on the Major General's reference photo. All the information about the heavier mounts and the abuse they take when the vehicle is in motion is certainly true but never underestimate the power of an armored crew or crewman to come up with a little "extra" firepower when there is a real or perceived need! If that is a .50 on the 11th ACR M-48, rest assured some poor slob driving a Mutt or an M113 was probably missing his .50 when he stepped outside to his "car" the following morning! A little Midnight Requisition is always a good thing.

Do you have any references to a M151 mounting a .50 . I've built a lot of these little trucks and haven't found any. If you have anything definitive on this, can you let me know. My pack of mutts would have to grow by one! :-)

.........sorry, it's not a .50, ...wrong silhouette.

IMHO. That is, unless they removed the cooling jacket.

Tread.

.50s haven't had a cooling jacket since, well, the 1950s. Even in WW2 most .50s mounted on ground vehicles didn't have the cooling jacket. That was a aircraft type of barrel.