Machine Gun armed Jeeps

 Two of the initial missions of the Jeep were to serve as a reconnaissance vehicle and to carry infantry machine gun teams. These roles led to the development of methods to mount machine guns in firing positions on the Jeep. The first effort in March 1941 was the T47 pedestal mount, which was a simple tubular pedestal that could be fitted with either the .30 cal or.50 cal machine gun. Trails revealed that the pedestal was not rigid enough during fire with only a single brace, so triple bracing was adopted prior to series production as the M31 pedestal mount. This was the most common official Jeep Machine Gun mounting during the war, with 31,653 produced. It was followed by the improved M31C in March 1945, though this was not widely used in combat in World War II. Besides the official pedestal mounts, units in the field often created their own pedestal mounts or adapted other types of pedestal mounts. The most common pedestal mounts were for the .30 cal and .50 cal machine guns, though other weapons were mounted.
 In 1943 the M48 bracket mount was accepted for use to attach the .30-cal machine gun or .30-cal Browning Automatic Rifle in front of the passenger seat. As in the case of the pedestal mount, there were numerous field-improvised bracket mounts used by US Troops in WWII. In 1943 Ordinance tested the D76272 assembly as an improved alternative to the M48 bracket mount, but it was not commonly used in WWII.