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HomeMachine GunsLight MGs

Light MGs

Light MGs

.30-06 M1918 American Chauchat – Doughboys Go to France

May 4, 2024 Ian McCollum 28
When the US entered World War One, the country had a grand total of 1,453 machine guns, split between 4 different models. This was not a useful inventory to equip even a single division headed […]
Light MGs

Colt Automatic Machine Rifle Model 1919: the First Commercial BAR

April 26, 2024 Ian McCollum 16
Several patents were taken out on the BAR during World War One, but they were all kept unpublished and secret during the war. Just days after the Armistice, Colt patent attorney CJ Ehbets wrote to […]
Light MGs

DSA’s Modernized Mini-RPD at the Range

February 10, 2024 Ian McCollum 18
Full video available at all of these sites: History of Weapons & War Patreon Playeur Floatplane Today I am at the range with one of DSA’s mini-RPDs. The RPD is a nearly 80-year-old design (doesn’t […]
Conversion

Making Do: South Africa’s 7.62mm NATO Bren Gun Conversions

December 23, 2023 Ian McCollum 3
During World War Two, the South African military used a lot of .303 caliber Bren guns. When 7.62mm NATO became the standard cartridge after the war, the Bren guns were put into storage, as converting […]
Light MGs

Hotchkiss Portative: Clunky But Durable

November 27, 2023 Ian McCollum 11
The Portative was an attempt by the Hotchkiss company to make a light machine gun companion to their heavy model (which had found significant commercial success). The Portative used the same feed strips, albeit loaded […]
Light MGs

FN Model 30: The First Belgian BAR

November 22, 2023 Ian McCollum 4
FN played a role in the production of Polish wz.28 BARs, and in the process obtained a copy of the technical package for the weapon, and converted it to metric measurements. Under the supervision of […]
Light MGs

The Gun Science Says Can’t Work: Madsen LMG Mechanics

November 21, 2023 Ian McCollum 14
The Madsen LMG is generally considered an extremely complex and confusing system – but is it really? Today we are taking one apart to see just how it actually works. Because in fact, it’s a […]
Commentary

Madsens in the Favelas: The LMG Still Going Strong With Rio’s Military Police

November 8, 2023 Ian McCollum 2
The Madsen LMG was first introduced in 1902, and it is still in use with police forces in Brazil today. The Madsen was not very popular with major European armies, but it sold extensively in […]
Light MGs

AMELI: Spain’s Not-Mini-MG42 in 5.56mm

August 26, 2023 Ian McCollum 25
The AMELI (which is a contraction of “ametralladora ligera”, or light machine gun) was introduced by CETME in 1981, and adopted by the Spanish military as the MG82. It was a counterpart LMG to the […]
Light MGs

Last Gasp of the German Maxim: the Air-Cooled MG 08/18

June 7, 2023 Ian McCollum 21
The MG 08/18 was developed at the very end of World War One as a lighter alternative to the MG 08/15. It used an air-cooled barrel, and between not needing water and having lighter parts […]

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