welcome to the world of weapons: February 2013

Thursday, 28 February 2013

Darne

Darne machine gun

Darne machine gun

The Darne machine gun is a machine gun of French origin.
The French gun-making company Darne, which became famous for its innovative shotguns, entered the world of military weapons in 1915, when it was contracted by French government to manufacture Lewis machine guns. In 1916 this same company announced development of its own machine gun of indigenous design. This belt-fed weapon was designed especially for rapid manufacturing techniques, and without any unnecessary refinements typical for most contemporary small arms. External finish and appearance of the Darne machine gun was crude, but worked well and its price was much lower than of any contemporary weapon of compatible combat characteristics.
The French Army tested Darne machine guns during 1917/1918, but the Great War ended before production contracts could have been signed. Despite that fact, during 1920s and 1930s Darne company managed to refine an aircraft variant of the machine gun to the point of its adoption by French and some other air forces for the role of an observers gun. However, there were many more variants of the Darne machine gun, although most others were certainly less successful. For example, in 1920s and 1930s Darne offered a number of lightweight belt-fed machine guns for infantry or vehicle use. All these machine guns were made to the same concept of least expensive finish, and unlike its aircraft variants, found no buyers during the inter-war period.
Overview
The Darne machine gun is gas operated, firing from open bolt in full automatic only. Breech is locked by tilting the rear part of the bolt up into the mortise cut in the roof of receiver (A la M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle). The Darne machine gun has an unusual belt feed between the gas piston and barrel, using the two-stage cartridge feed system (cartridge withdrawn from the belt to the rear, and then pushed forward into the barrel). The weapon usually has provisions to attach a belt box directly below the receiver to improve handling characteristics of the gun.
Variants
Land Variant
Infantry versions of the Darne machine gun were normally fitted with pistol grip and rifle-type trigger below receiver, and a wooden buttstock. Alternate variants featured skeletonized pistol grip made of metal and a top-folding shoulder stock, also made of metal. Folding bipod or compact lightweight tripod was used to mount Darne machine guns in ground role.
Aircraft Variant
The aircraft variant equipped French aircraft until 1935 when it was replaced by the MAC 1934, except in naval aircraft. Often criticized for its lack of reliability in the aircraft role, like other rifle calibers, the 7.5 mm bullets proved to be too light for air combat in World War II.

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

Besa machine gun

Besa machine gun

Besa machine gun

Besa machine gun Ammo

Besa machine gun

The Besa Machine Gun was a British version of the Czechoslovak ZB-53 air-cooled, belt-fed machine-gun, which in the Czechoslovak army was marked as the TK vz. 37. It was used extensively by the armed forces of United Kingdom during the Second World War, as a mounted machine gun for tanks and other armoured vehicles, to replace the heavier, water-cooled Vickers machine gun. Although it required a rather large opening in the tank's armour, it was dependable and reliable. The name came from the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA), who signed an agreement with Československá zbrojovka to manufacture the gun in the UK. The War Office ordered the weapon in 1938, and production began in 1939, after
Development and use
Although Britain's armed forces used the .303 in rimmed round for rifles and machine guns, the ZB-53 had been designed for the German 7.92 x 57mm Mauser round - referred to by the British as the 7.92mm. Although it had been intended for the British to move from rimmed to rimless ammunition generally, with war imminent wholesale change was not possible. It was considered by BSA and the Ministry of Supply that the industrial, technical, and logistical handicap of converting the design to the .303 round was more onerous than retaining the original calibre, especially given that the chain of supply for the Royal Armoured Corps was already separate from the other fighting arms of the British Army. As a consequence, the round was not changed for British production. Since the Besa used the same ammunition as Germany used in its rifles and machine guns, the British could use stocks of captured enemy ammunition.
The Mark II version entered production in 1940. It was modified with a selector to give high (around 800 rounds per minute) or low (around 500) rates of fire. As the war progressed the design was modified to be more rapidly and economically produced, resulting in the Mark III version. This came as either an "L" (for low) or "H" (high) firing rate models.
A larger, heavier - at 57 kg (125 lb) - 15 mm version, also belt-fed, was developed by BSA from the Czechoslovak ZB vz.60 heavy machine-gun as vehicle armament. It could be fired in semi-automatic mode as well as fully automatic. It was used on the Light Tank Mk VIC and on armoured cars such as the Humber Armoured Car Mark III. While American-produced armoured cars or tanks would have been fitted with .30 cal Browning machine guns, many British tanks and armoured cars would be equipped with the Besa machine gun.

Sunday, 24 February 2013

Zastava M72

Zastava M72

Zastava M72

Overview
The Zastava M72 chambers and fires the 7.62x39mm M43 round. It is a gas-operated, air-cooled, drum-fed firearm with a fixed stock.
This weapon is a near copy of the Soviet RPK light machine gun. There are a few differences on the M72/M72A. It does not have a scope side rail mount, the butt is also different, having the shape of a regular AK-47 rifle. It has a reinforced receiver, night sights and no carrying handle. The barrel also differs from other RPK rifles because of the cooling fins to help with heat dissipation from prolonged fire. The M72 only appears with a heavy profile barrel as opposed to Russian and Romanian RPK rifles that can come in both light or heavy barrel configurations.
Variants
In serial production, Zastava Arms produces two variants of the weapon – the M72 and M72A.[citation needed] Many variants have been made in Iraq under the name of 'Tabuk', which are direct copies of the M70A and the M72 AK47s. Century Arms International assembles semi-automatic (self-loading) only, rifles for American collectors and sportsmen, using American-made receivers, surplus M72 parts kits and several small US made parts to comply with import restrictions.
Design details
The Zastava M72/M72A is a gas-operated, air-cooled, drum-fed, selective fire, shoulder-fired weapon with a bipod. It is a squad automatic weapon, like the Soviet RPK but has unique design features.

Weibel M/1932

Weibel M/1932

Weibel M/1932 Ammo

Weibel M/1932

The Weibel M/1932 was a light machine gun concept of Danish origin and was considered to supplement the Madsen gun in Danish service. It was fed from a 20 round box magazine chambered in the intermediate 7x44mm round. This calibre was considered underpowered for its day but shares the same ballistics as later calibres such as the 7.92x33mm Kurz, 7.62x45mm vz. 52 and 7.62x39mm M43 used in assault rifles. The Weibel was an advanced weapon at the time of its invention.

Saturday, 23 February 2013

VMG-27

Volksmaschinengewehr VMG-27

VMG-27

VMG-27

The Volksmaschinengewehr VMG-27 (German "People's Machine Gun 27") is an incorrect interpretation of the term 'VMG 27'. At the end of WW 2 several weapons were developed which would be easy to produce in large quantities. These were very simple, even crude designs which would be produced in local factories and to arm the new Volksgrenadiers and Volkssturm militia during the latter days of the Third Reich.
In 1916 Heinrich Vollmer began working on a design of a light machine gun. The design took time, resulted in a limited amount of prototypes but none reached a full development stage. At the end the weapon was known as a MG Vollmer, later also as VMG 1927. It consisted of only 78 parts while the standard MG of those days, the MG 08/15 consisted of 383 parts. It was recoil operated and fed from a small drum magazine underneath the receiver. In 1927 Vollmer also obtained a patent covering the breech mechanism of the weapon. Even later on, Vollmer offered his design in cooperation with Mauser Werke as a MV 31 (MauserVollmer 1931) to German ordnance board - Inspektion für Waffen und Gerät - IWG. This machine gun was of a quite simple design, it had a quickly changeable barrel, drum magazine and German armed forces tested it quite thoroughly. The MV 31 was not a bad weapon at all but at the end failed to be adopted. This was possibly because it was a light MG incapable of being used as a heavy one. For such a multifunctional weapon the German armed forces had to wait until the arrival of the legendary MG 34.