What happens to a gun when it overheats? E.g. The MG42 in WWII had a tendency to overheat a lot because of fire rate (based on gaming). Would the barrel be deformed or something? The main question is why can't the gun continue firing until it has cooled?
by 
iasksimplequests
ANSWERS: 3
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One thing that happens is that the metal expands fom the heat. That can cause moving parts to become too large to move in the now smaller spaces they are in and the gun jams. When the gun cools down the parts have room to move. This was especially common in earlier repeating wepons when precision was not as great. The chamber can become so hot and expanded that the cartridge will not fit and again we have jamming. The chamber has to cool so the cartridge can be removed. In more modern higher speed weapons, such as some machine guns, the oils can overheat to the point they break down and loose lubricating properties or even completly evaporate or burn off. Cooling doesn't help that. Barrells can deform, especially in older weapons where there was less controll of tempering, sometimes the deformation is permenant some times the barrell will return to. A deformed barrel usually winds up in severe damage to, or destruction of the weapon instead of jammimng. Most 'jamming' is due to friction caused by heat expanded metal.
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The Maschinengewehr 1942 had a cyclic rate of 1,200 rds. per minute. It came equipped with an easy to change out spare barrel and asbestos pad for rapid change-outs of the barrel to prevent overheating. Older(and heavier) machine guns had water jackest over the barrel to prevent this, but air-cooled machineguns(Like the MG-34-42, Browning LMG and .50 BMG, and others) need time to cool down after extended firing. In your games, there is no changeout of barrel,so try to only fire in short 10 rd bursts to stop this from happening. Do not spray.
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notmrjohn is right but there is one more thing, extreme heat could cause a cartridge to fire by itself. ( in the wrong direction)
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