Light MGs
Czech ZB-26 manuals
The Holek brothers began what would ultimately become a very successful light machine gun design in 1923 with the production of a prototype gun. It was refined over the next several years and adopted by […]
Machine Guns
Heavy MGs
Polish Hotchkiss M1914
After regaining its independence in 1918, Poland had a variety of weapons available to its armed forces, including the Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun. The Hotchkiss fed from 30-round feed strips, and was gas operated and […]
Light MGs
Spanish Ameli LMG
One of the less well known firearms in the roller-locked family of designs is the Spanish Ameli (a contraction of “Ametralladora ligera”), or “Special Purpose Assault Machinegun”. Developed in the late 1970s by CETME, the […]
Light MGs
Madsen Light machine gun
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 […]
Light MGs
T12 Light machine gun
We don’t have very much information on the T12 – it was an experimental US belt-fed light machine gun in the early 1930s, with a flapper locking system similar to the DP series of LMGs. […]
Belt-fed
Russian NSV .50 manual
We’re getting a fairly thorough collection of Russian weapon manuals collected in the Vault, and here’s another one that’s a bit less common. The NSV was the .50 caliber heavy machine gun chosen by the […]
Light MGs
Lewis Gun Manual
Since I mentioned one of its contemporaries in the last post, I think this would be a good time to take a look at the Lewis gun. It was designed by an American (Colonel Isaac […]
Light MGs
Huot Automatic Rifle
It seems that armies are always short of weaponry when major conflicts light up, and creative solutions are often the result. Canada during the First World War is a good example. They had a serious […]
Light MGs
DP-28 vs DPM
I’ve mentioned the DP28 and DPM light machine guns a couple times, and it occurs to me that the differences between them are worth going over. There are parts kits for both variants available, so […]
Light MGs
Colt Potato Digger manual
As a followup to last week’s post on the Colt 1895 “Potato Digger”, we also have a US War Department manual on the gun, published in 1917. Lots of good information on those essential topics […]