Ma Deuce

The mother of all machine guns. The M2 Machine Gun (Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun) is a heavy machine gun designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. It was nicknamed "Ma Deuce" by US troops (because "she always has the last word") or simply called "fifty-cal" in reference to its caliber.
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The M2 Browning has been used extensively as a vehicle weapon and for aircraft armament by the United States from 1933 to the present day. It was heavily used during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, as well as during operations in Iraq in the 1990s and 2000s. It is the primary heavy machine gun of NATO countries, and has been used by many other countries. It is still in use today, and is the second longest-serving weapon in the US arsenal, after the M1911 pistol.
The round with the red tip, it's called a tracer and it was used to provide essential information to soldiers firing at an enemy target by creating a line-of-sight that allowed them to track the trajectory of their bullets and adjust their aim. The US Army used a four-to-one ratio of rounds to tracer rounds during WWII. That means, every fifth round was a tracer. Here I also added the .50 CAL round with black tip, which was used for armor piercing.
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Here I am showcasing my high poly model of the WW2 M2 Browning .50 Cal heavy barrel, mounted, with a flash hider.
I did the modeling in 3DS Max and used Zbrush for the heavy booleans, polishing and sculpting small details.
It was great fun modeling this iconic machine gun and quite challenging at the same time, as I had to do loads of researching to get everything right and as close to the real thing as possible.