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johnlyonsA great question! I love it.
So…Here I go…
On the typical mounts of US tanks, halftracks etc, the gun itself is mounted on a cradle that holds the gun in two locations (front and rear) with two locking pins. The cradle is then held within a hinged mounting roughly in the middle of the length of the gun (roughly along the balance point of the gun to make it lighter to move around) the cradle also carries the ammunition box mount, allowing it to move vertically with the gun and not twist the ammunition belt.
The cradle itself has it’s own locking pin that, indeed, locks in in the horizonal position, and only horizontal! The mounting point for the cradle and mount assembly has it’s own traverse lock but that isn’t in a fixed position, so the gun can be locked in traverse at any point in its 360 degree motion.
(this image shows the m2 pint mount with cradle and locking pins in place. the lowest little handle with the chain hanging fro mit is the horizontal locking pin.)
When the gun (in this case the .50 m2) is not in use it can be stowed externally on the vehicle after being removed form the pintle mount and placed within its own canvas bag. On some US used Sherman tanks you’ll see the stowage points on the turret rear. Alternatively some Shermans had turret roof “travel locks” which is a bracket that rises up to clamp the barrel of the gun to face forward on the turret roof and keep it clear frm the commanders and loaders hatches.
As an aside, all tanks and vehicles with pintle mounts will usually carry the ground mounts (usually tripods) for all mounted machine guns.
I hope this helps! Most pintle mounts act and work similarly (German pintle mounts are weird because German)
