I'm going to disagree with you. They are area weapons, but they are more deadly than any rifle (except perhaps a sniper rifle) when aimed carefully. Bi-pod mounted and with a good long range round they are very accurate. All my reading indicates that a MG gunner that has time to aim carefully is very deadly. I assume that the gunner in case, has time since he is not suppressed. I remember in Audie Murphy's book, "To Hell and Back" that his BAR gunner specialized in shooting Germans in the gut. That indicates to me that MG's are very accurate since he was able to pick even the body part to shoot.