Breda (machine gun)

The Breda machine gun family included moders for aircraft as well as those for the infantry. In the infantry there were two models, the M30 and the M37.

The M37 was a tripod mounted 8mm heavy, crew served, machine gun. It fired from feed clips similar to those of the French Hochkiss.

The M30 was designed as a light infantry support machine gun, much like the zb30, the Bren, or the mg13. It was clip fed from the right side. The clip was attached to the gun, and was loaded useing brass or steel 20 round strippers. Is was origanaly chambered in 6.5x52mm, but guns produced between 1938 and 1941 can be found in the short lived 7.35mm that was to be the replacement calaber for the underpowered 6.5mm. As with all guns produced in 7.35mm, all production for this caliber was stopped in 1941 due to the Italian industries inability to replace all the older 6.5mm weapons before the war. This weapon is interesting in that it fired frome a closed bolt, and had a small lubing device that sprayed lube on each cartridge as it entered the chamber. This system allowed the chamber and barrel to heat rapidly, which caused rounds to cook off before they were fully in the chamber.