I was browsing AIM Surplus and ran across something that gave me a good idea.



The gun is a Semi-Automatic version of the Soviet Guryunov SG43 Belt Fed 7.62x54R Machine Gun.

If you remove the old hitch on the gun's trailer, you could weld on a new one to allow it to be attached to a vehicle using a standard ball hitch.  The next required modification would involve removing the wheels and adapting the the axle to accept modern rims.  I was thinking something in a 28 to 30 inch BFG All-Terrain on a 15x7 black steel wheel.  

The gun rig could be pulled behind a pickup truck, that would be carrying the guns ammo supply.  This would allow the gun to be moved around as needed.  This mobile heavy gun setup can be called used to support fronts that are getting heavy incoming zombies and require a heavy hitter.

I could also see a similar setup utilizing the 1919 or even the M2 if one was acquired.

EDIT–– Changed Title and have another Idea



Looking at cost issues related the the gun from AIM Surplus, I got to thinking of cheaper, home-built alternatives.  I was looking at the above log splitter as a donor body.  Periodically, you find old log splitters pop up in the farm+garden, tools, and sometimes in general section on Craigslist.  The old Soviet gun on AIM Surplus is just a trailer mounted machine gun with a chicken plate.  A resourceful person with some mechanical and welding skills could easily built the same basic rig for much less.  You would start by removing the old log splitter setup from its trailer.  The next step would involve fabricating and installing the chicken plate on the trailer.  Then all that would be left is to fabricate a mount for whatever gun the builder planned to install on the rig.  The Soviet setup appear so have a simple hinged setup to allow the gun to sweep up and down.  

On the model of log spitter pictured above, it looks like you could simply unbolt the hydralic cylinder and splitter head and leave the beam attached.  By mounting the gun high, you could install a box on between the beam and fender, over the axle to the box of ammon currently being fed into the MG if using a belt fed setup.

Hmmm... I'm just thining out loud, but if you have a medium to heavy MG (or semi), do you think it would be better served to have it vehicle mounted in a fortified kind of ring mount?  That way, you'd have 360 degree coverage and the ZEDs couldn't get at you.  Or, you could hitch-mount a fortified cage using one of those luggage racks that Cabela's sells with the gun mounted in it.  Then you would have use of the back of the pickup bed for ammo/supplies with a more rigid MG nest kind of thing.

My guess is, if there were merit to pulling a med/hvy MG on a trailer like this, then we might see it being currently being used by the military.  If you got into anything but easy terrain or had to do some fast turning with the host vehicle, you might find the trailer flipping over.  I could be missing something and I'm not trying to crap on your idea.  Heck, if I came across a rig like that on ZDay, I'd be glad to have it along for the ride!

You raise some good points.  Being on a small trailer could pose issues related to terrain.  One advantage to being trailered though would be that it could be detached and left in action, while the truck goes back for re-supply.  In a run and gun, mobile battle, I can see major disadvantages to this design.  Fixed location defensive battles might fair better for a rig such as this.  It might not be as good as having a fixed machine gun nest, but the ability to redeploy it as need could be an advantage.   In a zed battle, you won't have incoming fire (unless the learn new tricks), so a dug in sandbagged machine gun nest wouldn't be as necessary as it would in a traditional fire-fight.  

When in a defensive action, such as fighting from a stronghold or compound, having the heavy machine gun on a trailer, if built correctly, would make it easier for single person to redeploy the gun from one area to another.  That leave others free to continue fighting with standard battle rifles while the HMG is brought into position.

I could just be overthinking this though

Wood splitter would be way too slow to operate.

If left hydraulic, yes, but now imagine if you converted to pneumatic.

Not enough side cover for the 'trunk monkey'. Let's just call him "zombie bait" instead. if I am running away and they are behind me, I am not wasting my ammo unless I am in a clean up mode. Pied piper of zombiedom? Well then yes, I would be using soft nosed bullets and trigger control. I would rather mount it into the truck bed. A good idea though could be vehicle FRONT mounted...aimed buy shot gun rider in front to sweep the road ahead.The less exposed the better. Maybe aimed remotely with a cable.

those little trailer wheels suck btw......use an old truck tire. Taller, more able to handle road punishment, and better on the axles

I agree.  A truck bed trailer would also give you a small amount of defense against them if they got close.  You would probably want a 360" swivel also.


One of those 10/22 Gatling gun kits would make a small caliber substitute.

Instead of using 10/22s, I think it would be more effective at close ranges to modify the kit to accept a pair of Saiga 12s.  Just imagine Gatling gun goodness in 12 gauge.

Or you could just start shoveling your ammunition into a furnace. Same effect really, but without the tedious reloading parts in between. In a situation like this you need clean, controlled fire. If it's the infected zombies though, where body shots can kill them, then okay. But I'm with the others who want it to be better protected in that case.

Anyone else just thinking of the opening scene from Tremors: 3?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nNaRY47gNw

Exactly!  THis would be sweet, even if for only a minute, like to thin the heard.

I'd rather just have a mount for the truck bed worked up skinny-technical-style.

So a more preferable design would be like a Vietnam-era gun truck rig scaled down to fit in the bed of a pickup truck?  If so, the next question would be what size of truck.  Would something like a F-350 dually be too big, or would a Toyota Tacoma be too small?  If someone was building the rig from scratch, then the gas vs. diesel arguement wouldn't have to hamper what size of truck you start with.  This is because, if one knows what they are doing, you can put just about any motor in a vehicle with the right mods and tweaking.  Max. payload could be an issue with smaller trucks, but could be fixed by beefing up the suspension.

Cab size would be an issue for debate for smaller trucks.  With the 1 ton and 3/4 ton pickups, you can have extended and crew cabs without losing bed size.  On trucks like the Tacoma, the bigger your cab the smaller the bed.  The extended cab pickups would have an advantage over standard cabs since the back bench or jump seats could be removed to provide for addtional ammo storage.

i thought you folk smight like this, i saw it on a youtube video, hit pause, [PrtSc] cut, clear, paste, save, upload, post pic...



now i really wish i had the cash for a couple beltbeds to start mounting on shit, starting with my "somalli technical" looking 85 toyota pickup truck ...

K.

I think it would make much more sence instead of having a heavy wheel mount that really ties you down and limits your mobilty but rather have a more portable gun that you could more easly pick up and move with....esp. if it is going to be a semi auto and not full auto.
These wheel mounts were so you could move the gun around on the battle field being pulled by men.
Realisticaly if you think about it anything you can do with this semi auto gun on it's mount that probably weighs in at a couple hundred pounds you could do the same with a bi pod gun like a DP28 ...While you might loose some range a RPD or RPK 74 shooting  the 7.62 X 39 round would be a good choice and again you are not limited to having to use  them on some heavy pull behind wheeled mount.

I have a registed full auto Maxim water cooled belt fed that I made a mount for that fit on the roll bar of my old Samurai....We used to shoot groundhogs with it and worked fine !.........T

Perhaps some variant of a steadicam mount; not the person carried one (though that might be OK for vehicular use) but one mounted to the vehicle/truck?

Shoot and scoot.Mobility saves lives,unless your in a static fortified position.I want to be able to get in and out quickly.There's also the option of mounting another belt-fed on the roll cage.

My 2 favortie things....early broncos and guns.......

Gun mounted on Bronco

Gun mounted on Bronco Pt.2

FTW!

well if we're getting away from the topic of tow behind guns and discussing mounted weapons... somebody call up the dept. of the navy and see if ZEADS can procure a coupl eof their seal fast attack vehicles

Either way... who would want to be the guy that had to wrestle the Zeds head into the splitter while it slammed home?