The origin of the Heavy Stubber lay in Mankind's past, in its precursor the Machine Gun, which dates back to at least the late 2nd Millennium. These early machine guns came into their own in the early 3rd Millennium. The Heavy Stubber is the modern version of this heavy automatic ballistic firearm, and is a tried and tested weapon that has stood the test of time to become the Imperial Guard's most common long-range anti-personnel weapon. The weapon is based on an extremely ancient design, making it too heavy to carry manually, and is thus most commonly mounted on Imperial Guard vehicles. In this capacity it serves as either as additional crew-served weapon or for close-in defence when much rarer Storm Bolters are unavailable. In penetrative power, the Heavy Bolter has superseded it as an i