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Just a quick question, maybe me being a bit thick Is the pintle for the .50cal the same as the .30cal and is the T&E the same.

The pintle is the same, the .30 cal has a little plate on each side of the body to make it the same size as the .50 cal body but the T&E is diffrent. The .50 cal T&E has a larger bracket bit for the bigger traversing bar of the M3 tripod.

Many Thanks

Also to add, the pintle on the M3 has an extra grove on the tapered part that sits in the tripod.

There is a version with a extra groove, but i believe its unknown if this was a pure .50 cal thing or specific to a mount. i.e. If it was to be fitted in a Naval mount etc. If its specific to a mount system then it could have been used with any of the Browning guns.

The source of info came from a .50cal forum, quite reliable guys on there but looking through my vast TM collection the two groved pintle is shown in both .30cal and .50cal manuls war time and post war for the M3 and M2 mounts.

Agh, BC312! I too use the same forum. I have found that they know everything to do with converting to semi auto and rebuilding, but know little about history and originality. From what I have learned, the 2 grooves are there so the pintle can fit into diffrent mounts. i.e. it could be that the M1917 mount for the .30 cal has the locking lever higher or lower than the M2 tripod etc. I know the original M2 tripod had a Brass boss above the pintle hole which caused the gun to sit higher, therefor maybe the lower groove was used. To be honest, I bet the 2 groove was obsolete by WW2 and was kept in use because it worked fine. I'll have a check on my .50 cals and my .30s and see whats fitted because I've never bothered to check before.

Thats the one, They have been a very generous bunch for info especialy USGI drawings. I suspose that there are many didfferent querks to these old weapons that we will never find out. I now have a pintle and T&E but need the mount its self, bl*****dy expensive item these days but i did see some at Beltring for £200 but was buying other things last year.

Is it a M2 or M3 tripod your looking for? I'm guessing M2? If it is, theres a number of variations to look at, the early version has a Brass graduated ring around the pintle hole, and has a data plate riveted on to the head, a slightly later varient has a data plate only, the later variant had the manufacturing details stamped into the head, between 2 rivet holes for the original data plate.

Theres also the Israeli modified mounts with holes for staking the feet in the desert, and the British L3 mount which has had the original data milled off.

Have you some photos of yours?

I think I've sussed it now. A m3 tripod (50) uses the lower slot, the m2 (30) used the upper slot. So it makes sence that rather than have 2 diffrent items, the 2 are combined in to one universal fitment.

I am after an M3 for the .50cal.

Agh, they are the hard to find tripods. The last tripod I bought came from Holland and cost me a pretty penny in postage but it was worth it. Is your M2 the HB model? Built by AC sparkplugs?

I have two .50cals one built by Savage in HB and the other built by me in HB and aircraft mode as a gas gun.

The Savage made .50 isnt very common in the UK, most over here appear to be AC Spark plug made examples. Both of my guns are AC made and both have seen British use and have the optical sight bracket. I was wondering if the Brit WD contact was with AC sparkplug rather than for any manufacturer. Have you any pics?