A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles are typically designed more for firing short bursts rather than continuous firepower, and are not considered true machine guns.
A squad automatic weapon (SAW), also known as a section automatic weapon or light support weapon (LSW), is a man-portable automatic firearm attached to infantry squads or sections as a source of rapid direct firepower. Weapons fulfilling this role can be light machine guns, or modified selective-fire rifles fitted with a heavier barrel, bipod and a belt/drum-fed design.
A semi-automatic pistol is a handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridges in its chamber after every shot fired. Only one round of ammunition is fired each time the trigger is pulled, as the pistol's fire control group disconnects the trigger mechanism from the firing pin/striker until the trigger has been released and reset.
The Fucile Mitragliatore Breda modello 30 was the standard light machine gun of the Royal Italian Army during World War II.
A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun or externally attached. The magazine functions by holding several cartridges within itself and sequentially pushing each one into a position where it may be readily loaded into the barrel chamber by the firearm's moving action. The detachable magazine is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "clip", although this is technically inaccurate since a clip is actually an accessory device used to help load ammunition into a magazine.
Blowback is a system of operation for self-loading firearms that obtains energy from the motion of the cartridge case as it is pushed to the rear by expanding gas created by the ignition of the propellant charge.
Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. This can be influenced by several factors, including operator training level, mechanical limitations, ammunition availability, and weapon condition. In modern weaponry, it is usually measured in rounds per minute or rounds per second.
An ammunition belt is a firearm device used to package and feed cartridges, typically for rapid-firing automatic weapons such as machine guns. Belt-fed systems minimize the proportional weight of the ammunition apparatus to the entire weapon system, and allow high rates of continuous fire without needing frequent magazine changes. The capacity of belts and associated belt containers is typically a function of weight and bulk, and their size is limited by caliber and the combined portability of the weapon and ammunition. The most common ammo capacity typically carried on a man-portable weapon system vary from 50 to 300 rounds.
A medium machine gun (MMG), in modern terms, usually refers to a belt-fed machine gun firing a full-powered rifle cartridge, and is considered "medium" in weight. Medium machine guns are light enough to be infantry-portable, but still cumbersome enough to require a crew for optimal operational efficiency.
The 8×50mmR Lebel rifle cartridge was the first smokeless powder cartridge to be made and adopted by any country. It was introduced by France in 1886. Formed by necking down the 11×59mmR Gras black powder cartridge, the smokeless 8mm Lebel cartridge started a revolution in military rifle ammunition. Standard 8mm Lebel military ammunition was also the first rifle ammunition to feature a spitzer boat tail bullet, which was adopted in 1898. The long-range ballistic performance of the 8mm Lebel bullet itself was exceptional for its time. For use in the magazine tube-fed early Lebel rifle, the 8 mm case was designed to protect against accidental percussion inside the tube magazine by a circular groove around the primer cup which caught the tip of the following pointed bullet. However, the shape of its rimmed bottle-necked case, having been designed for the Lebel rifle's tube magazine, also precluded truly efficient vertical stacking inside a vertical magazine. The bolt thrust of the 8mm Lebel is relatively high compared to many other service rounds used in the early 20th century. Although it was once revolutionary, the 8mm Lebel was declared obsolete after World War I and was soon after replaced with the 7.5×54mm French round.
The SIG MG 710-3 is a Swiss 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) designed and manufactured by SIG - Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft. The weapon was developed as a commercial venture primarily for export, since the Swiss Army had already adopted the 7.5 mm MG 51 GPMG, produced by the federal arms factory W+F.
The Hotchkiss 13.2 mm machine gun, also known as the Hotchkiss M1929 machine gun, and the like, was a heavy machine gun, primarily intended for anti-aircraft use, designed and manufactured by French arms manufacturer Hotchkiss et Cie from the late 1920s until World War II, which saw service with various nations' forces, including Italy and Japan where the gun was built under license.
The 20×138mmB or Long Solothurn cartridge is a type of ammunition used mainly for anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons during World War II. The designation means the caliber is 20 mm, the length of the cartridge case is 138 mm and B indicates it is a belted case. The loaded cartridge weighs 300 grams (10.7 oz).
The Breda 20/65 mod.35, also simply known as 20 mm Breda or Breda Model 35, among other variations, was an Italian 20 mm (0.787 in) anti-aircraft gun produced by the Società Italiana Ernesto Breda of Brescia company during the 1930s and early 1940s which saw heavy usage during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, among other period conflicts. It was designed in 1932 and adopted by the Italian armed forces in 1935, becoming one of two major 20 mm caliber anti-aircraft guns used by Italy during World War II, the other being the Scotti-Isotta Fraschini 20/70, both firing the common Swiss 20x138mmB "Solothurn Long" cartridge.
The Fiat–Revelli 35 was an Italian machine gun, a modified version of the Fiat–Revelli Modello 1914, which had equipped the Italian Army of World War I.
The Mitragliatrice Breda calibro 8 modello 38 per carri armati was an Italian tank-pattern machine gun used in the Second World War on the Fiat L6/40, the Fiat M11/39 and the Fiat M13/40. It was also adapted as infantry machine gun. The M38 is based upon the Breda M37. The Breda 38 received the German identification code Kampfwagen-Maschinengewehr 350(i).
The Fiat–Revelli Modello 1914 was an Italian water-cooled medium machine gun produced from 1914 to 1918. It was the standard machine-gun of the Italian Army in World War I, and was used in limited numbers into World War II.
The M1919 Browning is a .30 caliber medium machine gun that was widely used during the 20th century, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M1919 saw service as a light infantry, coaxial, mounted, aircraft, and anti-aircraft machine gun by the U.S. and many other countries.
8×59mmRb Breda was an Italian heavy arms cartridge. It is unusual in that it is one of the small number of cartridges designed with a rebated rim, meaning the rim of the cartridge is smaller in diameter than the body of the cartridge. The "Rb" in the designation stands for "rebated rim".
The Breda 5C was an Italian medium machine gun, which was adopted by the Royal Italian Army and used in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and in World War II.
