Oh, I always assumed the MG was something that bottomed out as a 14.5mm using fairly extreme ammo by modern standards. Pretty much the exact opposite of a machine gun array.

Then again, the RAW had it that _sidearms_ could do damage to vehicular armour, (IIRC a 1/18 chance of one point of damage for a heavy pistol, 1/36 for light).

As for infantry in BT: It was very hard to use and practically immobile in anything but dense terrain, (infantry platoons in clear terrain took double damage). It's main use IME was as a scout 'mech deterrent or, with hidden placement house rules, as what amounted to a land mine.