M247H Heavy Machine Gun

The M247H Heavy Machine Gun, formally known as the Machine Gun, Caliber 12.7x99mm, or M247H is a heavy weapon used extensively by the United Nations Space Command ground forces. It is a variant of the widely used M247 General Purpose Machine Gun and is very effective against infantry.

Design details
The M247H is an air-cooled, gas-operated, electrically fired, linkless-fed weapon. It can be used in both anti-personnel and anti-vehicle roles. It is most often seen mounted on stationary tripods and used as a defensive weapon, but can also be carried by those strong enough to efficiently operate it. An M247H is mounted on either side of most UH-144 Falcons.

Like many other support weapons used by the UNSC, the M247H is fitted with a metal shield near the rear of its barrel to protect the user. Some versions, including the one mounted on the UH-144 Falcon, lack this feature.

Trivia

 * It has a faster fire rate but less damage than its Halo 3 counterpart, the AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun.
 * Chief Warrant Officer Jorge-052, a SPARTAN-II commando, utilized this weapon throughout the Human-Covenant war. His customized M247H lacked the shield plate, which was replaced by a heat cover over the barrel as well as a few other small differences.
 * The M247H is erroneously labeled as the AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun in Bungie.net game stats.
 * It is prone to overheating in Halo: Reach and Halo 4 unless it is removed from its mount, which somehow enables it to fire without overheating until all ammunition is expended. This is possibly a balancing reason, however.
 * If a player listens to it firing, it makes exactly the same sound as the AIE-486H HMG when firing, even with the sound of the gun spooling up.
 * The weapon is described to use 7.62mm rounds, however, the game manual describes it to fire 12.7mm rounds and text on the weapon's ammunition box in-game reads "12mm HVE". A 12.7mm caliber would be more logical given its designation as a heavy machine gun, rather than 7.62mm which would make it a medium machine gun.
 * Along with the above points, the weapon seems far too large and bulky to fire the 7.62mm round. Also in the Halo 4: Essential Visual Guide it states that the machine gun is a 12.7mm, not a 7.62mm.
 * The ejection port for the gun is on the left side but in-game, when fired, the spent cartridges exit through the right side above the ammo box.
 * The AIE-486H HMG doesn't overheat while the M247H does. This may be due to the fact that the AIE-486H has a design similar to the Gatling Gun. Its three barreled design allows it to fire rounds continuously without the user having to worry about overheating as much. Though this does not explain why the M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun overheats.
 * Unggoy can use this weapon which can be easily seen on Lone Wolf and Firefight. Unggoy can also be seen doing this on the Halo 4 level Composer when you have to use the Mantis as well as in Spartan Ops.

Appearances

 * Halo: Reach
 * Halo 4