Well, in real life, an M60e3\e4\mk44 is easy to use control, and matches\beats most AR's in effective range. Its designed to be fired from the hip, and contrary to popular believes, a trained SF soldier can easily wield M60's with assault barrels with very impressive accuracy at full auto. Newer guns probably even better.
Its balanced for gameplay.
And? What does real life have to do with anything? I'm talking about games. In BF2 and BF2142, if you weren't prone with the MG, you were likely not to hit anything at all at range. Here you can hit folks while standing.