Motorcycle of the Guanabara Police Department, sporting a Hotchkiss 1914 heavy machine gun. Rio de Janeiro, 1960. Thanks to Ronaldo Olive for the photo!
In the early 1990s, the Brazilian Imbel factory made a small run of FAL rifles converted to 5.56mm using AR magazines. They used standard FAL receivers and bolt carriers, with a boltface cut for 5.56x45mm […]
The Madsen light machine gun is note-worthy for several reasons – it was the first military-issue light machine gun developed and it was successful enough to remain in production into the 1950s (long after every […]
Troops from the BEF (Força Expedicionária Brasileira) posing for the camera, with 1908 Mauser rifles and a Hotchkiss 1922 LMG both in 7mm Mauser.
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That is a pretty sturdy and substantial sidecar platform — they would have needed it given the weight and recoil of the Hotchkiss. It also looks as if the whole platform was designed to take the gun as-is, complete with its original tripod, which would have added to the overall bulk. Quite different from the light and compact World War II-era BMW and Zundapp sidecar combos with a pintle-mounted MG-34 or MG-42.
Bring back Vintage Saturday!