The Madsen was the first successful light machine gun, entering production in 1902. It saw much use, but was an unusual design – basically a fully automatic falling block action. It used a top mounted magazine offset to the left side of the receiver, allowing the sights to remain on the centerline of the gun. The Madsen was available in a wide variety of calibers, configurations, and barrel lengths. Our current collection of Madsen literature includes:
Manuals (English)
Madsen Machine Rifle Main Characteristics & Tactical Use (English)
Madsen Nomenclature (multiple languages)
Madsen 1904/1912 comparison (English)
Description of the Madsen Model 1940 (English)
Manuals (German)
Madsen manual, mostly covering 20mm models. Printed 1938.
Manuals (Spanish)
Argentine Madsen Model 26 nomenclature
Photos
Madsen belt-fed tank gun
Madsen also produced a belt-fed variant of their long-lived light machine gun for use in armored vehicles (their is a similar aircraft version as well). We found a parts kit for one of these guns and took a bunch of photos of it (click here to download the whole gallery in high resolution):
Awesome post!!!
67 pics of such a nice gun ! Thanks a lot!
simplicity is soooooo overrated!
Indeed! It must have been extremely time-consuming and expensive to produce, with a consequently high price tag for prospective customers at the hand. Weapons procurement by the Portuguese army in the inter-war era was idiossincratic at best, either plagued by endemic corruption or by sheer incompetence or a combination of both: they made quite strange choices (except, perhaps, when they decided to choose 7,92×57 as their single rifle and mg cartridge), especially in the automatic gun department: why they choose the Breda M. 37 as their new heavy mg (meant also to replace and eventually supplement their own Vickers m/917 and locally-made FBP-Vickers m/917/30, too), fed by 20 round strips, over much capable belt-fed Brownings is beyond me! At the same time (circa 1938), the air arm choose superlative FN-Brownings for their Breda Ba 65 ground attack aircraft purchased from the very same source, refusing the original Breda-SAFAT guns. Portuguese Gladiators, received in the same year, were also armed with FN-Brownings.
I can’t be 100% sure, but I am inclined to think that this belt-fed tank Madsen mg (btw, thanks a lot for the beautiful photos!) wasn’t purchased in the 40s, but rather in the 30s, for the armoured cars of the mecanized cavalry unit of the G.N.R. stationed in Lisbon, either to re-arm a few locally-built vehicles, originally armed with Vickers mgs in the first half of the decade, or possibly the Berliet VPCs ordered from France. The acronym G.N.R., engraved onto the receiver under the Portuguese coat-of-arms, stands for Guarda Nacional Republicana, a gendarmerie force equivalent to the Spanish Guardia Civil.
Fascinating stuff!
Do you have any clue on the calibre of this gun? If purchased before 1937, it can be .303. In 1937 or afterwards, it can be only 7,92 Mauser.
It’s in 8×57 – we made a point to check that. Thanks for the info on the GNR!
Thanks! And you are welcome! So, it must have been purchased during the large arms procurement program from the late 30s.