Showing posts with label Light machine guns. Show all posts

Zastava M72

Sunday, 24 February 2013

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.

VMG-27

Saturday, 23 February 2013

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.

Vickers-Berthier

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Vickers-Berthier

The Vickers-Berthier (VB) light machine gun manufactured by Vickers-Armstrong was based on a French design of just before World War I intended for use on aircraft. In 1925 Vickers in Britain purchased licence rights for production in their Crayford factory, and as a replacement for the Lewis Gun. It was an alternative to the water-cooled Vickers machine gun of same manufacture. The weapon used a similar gas and tipping bolt mechanism to the Bren gun, and also had a removable barrel, and was air-cooled like the Bren. It was adopted by the Indian Army in 1933.
History
During the British Army trials of several light machine guns which began in 1932, the Vickers-Berthier was in direct competition with the Bren light machine gun. The British Army adopted the Bren, and the Vickers-Berthier was adopted by the British Indian Army. A production line for the Vickers-Berthier Light Machine-Gun Mk 3 was established at the Ishapore Rifle Factory. The reasons for its failure were simple; it was heavier, at 24 pounds than the lighter Bren at 22 pounds. It was also longer, and hard to stow away. The Bren also had a slower cyclic rate of 500 rpm, and far better portability. The only advantage the weapon had over the Bren was the far simpler design; it could be produced more efficiently.
Appearance and Design
The Vickers-Berthier Light Machine Gun has a 30-round box magazine and a bipod stand, and is sometimes mistaken for the Bren as both used a similar curved magazine to accommodate the rimmed .303 British cartridge.
Use
part from India, it was only sold to a few Baltic and South American states, but the design was modified into the Vickers K machine gun, called the Vickers Gas Operated (VGO).

The weapon is fairly rare to see nowadays, but it remains in reserve with the modern Indian Army.

Ultimax 100

Tuesday, 19 February 2013

Ultimax 100

Ultimax 100

The Ultimax 100 is a Singapore-made 5.56mm light machine gun, developed by the Chartered Industries of Singapore (CIS, now ST Kinetics) by a team of engineers under the guidance of American firearms designer L. James Sullivan. The gun is extremely accurate due to its low recoil.
Work on a new light support weapon for the Singapore Army began in 1978. The weapon is produced by CIS (presently STK—Singapore Technologies Kinetics), initially in the Mark 1 version, later—the Mark 2, and currently, in the Mark 3 and Mark 4 variant. The Ultimax 100 (also called the U 100) is used in significant numbers by the armed forces of Singapore, Croatia and the Philippines. The Mark 3 variant is currently used in the Singapore Armed Forces primarily as a support arm, and is known by soldiers as the SAW (Section Assault Weapon).
Design details
The Ultimax 100 is a gas-operated automatic weapon (capable of fully automatic fire only) with a short-stroke gas piston operating system powered by ignited powder gases diverted from the barrel through a port in the gas block. The Ultimax 100 is a locked breech weapon with a rotating bolt that contains 7 locking lugs. It fires from an open bolt position. The bolt contains both a spring extractor and a casing ejector. The weapon's non-reciprocating cocking handle is located on the left side of the receiver and occupies the forward position during firing. The Ultimax 100 is striker-fired. The feature that grants the weapon its low recoil (compared to similar light machine guns) is the "constant recoil" principle. The overall design allows the bolt carrier group to travel all the way back without ever impacting the rear, instead stopping gradually along the axis of movement against the resistance of the return springs.
The magazine catch consists of two tapered pins on a bar, controlled by the magazine release button. The machine gun feeds from a proprietary 100-round synthetic drum magazine (early models also used 60-round drum magazines), or from a modified 20 or 30-round STANAG 4179 magazine (from the M16 rifle).
The Ultimax 100 uses a manual safety mechanism that consists of a lever installed on the left side of the receiver (just behind the trigger) with two possible settings: "S" – indicating the weapon is safe and "F" – continuous fire. An internal safety achieved through the proper arrangement of parts and mechanisms secures against premature detonation. The light machine gun was also designed to mount an M16-type bayonet and either day or night-time optics. The Ultimax 100's ergonomics are similar to that of the Thompson submachine gun, specifically the forward grip.
Jane's International Defence Review correspondent — Andrew Tillman, in an exclusive invitation from ST Kinetics to participate in the Product Improvement Program (PIP, initiated in 1989) to test fire the gun, was quoted after writing the test review as saying:
However, the widespread adoption of the design might have been compromised by its feed system. The original Ultimax 100 was meant to be used with a drum magazine holding 100 rounds. Unfortunately, the drum magazine was bulky. It was also difficult to reload without a special mechanism. The shape of the drum magazine also occupied more space compared to M16 magazines or the FN Minimi box holding a belt of 200 rounds. The machine gunner also could not take magazines from other squad members who were equipped with M16s.
M16 magazines were subsequently modified to allow them to be used with the production model Ultimax 100. This was done by drilling two holes right at the left feeding lip of the magazine. This improved the handiness of the weapon and allowed magazines to be loaded in the field.
The system was modified to use only STANAG compatible magazines in the Mk 4 version of the design, which was submitted for the USMC Infantry Automatic Rifle competition. This meant the original drum could no longer be used, making the design closer to the IAR than a light machine gun. This has been ratified in the latest Mk 5 variant which allows the usage of the Beta C-Mag

Type 99 Light Machine Gun

Monday, 18 February 2013

Type 99 Light Machine Gun

Type 99 Light Machine Gun

History and development
The Type 96 light machine gun, an improvement over the previous Type 11 light machine gun was introduced into combat service in 1936, and quickly proved to be a versatile weapon to provide covering fire for advancing infantry. Both the Type 11 and Type 96 used the same 6.5x50mm Arisaka cartridges as the Type 38 rifle infantry rifle. The system had the advantage that any squad member could supply ammunition for the light machine gun; however, as the Japanese army was switching from the Type 38 rifle to the Type 99 Rifle which used a 7.7 mm cartridge, it was necessary to develop a new version of the Type 96 light machine gun that would also be able to use this larger caliber.
Design
The Type 99 was basically the same design as the Type 96 light machine gun, and had a number of parts in common. However, it dispensed with the oiler and had better primary extraction, increasing reliability over its predecessors. Early models had a mono-pod at the stock and a flash suppressor on the muzzle, which was screwed onto a threaded portion of the gun barrel. A top-mounted curved detachable box magazine held 30 rounds, and the finned gun barrel could be rapidly changed to avoid overheating.
The Type 99 had a blade front sight and a leaf rear sight, with graduations from 200 to 1,500 meters, with a wind adjustment. A 2.5X telescopic sight with a 10 degree field of view could be attached at the right side of the gun. These were often issued to the best marksmen of the unit and occasionally employed like a sniper rifle. A standard infantry bayonet could be attached to the gas block below the barrel, but on the battlefield this feature proved inconsequental due to the weight of the gun and that the blade was largely obstructed by the flash hider when it was fixed on the muzzle
Combat record
The Type 99 came into active service in 1939, and was used side-by-side with the older Type 11 and Type 96, as these models had been produced in large quantities and many front line troops continued to use the Type 38 rifles with their 6.5 mm ammunition. All three weapons remained in service until the end of the war
Variants
A limited production version of the Type 99 was produced for paratroopers. It had a detachable stock and a forward-folding pistol grip. For deployment, the barrel and butt were detached from the gun, the pistol grip and bipod folded, and the entire set packed into a carrying bag.

welcome to the world of weapons

Zastava M72

Weibel M/1932

VMG-27

Vickers-Berthier

Ultimax 100

Type 99 Light Machine Gun

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