Breda Modello 37 (M37)

History

The warring factions of World War II (1939-1945) all used different classes of machine guns for their respective ground forces, mainly light, medium and heavy machine guns, to cover different roles on the battlefield. For the Italian army, the Breda Model 1930 served as the standard machine gun, followed by the Fiat Revelli Model 1914 to fill the middle role.

In response to heavy-duty needs, just before the war, the Army chose the Breda Type 1937, which was originally intended to be mounted on Italian tanks as a coaxial weaponthus inheriting characteristics that limited it as an infantry field weapon.

Back in 1930, Breda acquired the production rights for the useful French Hotchkiss 13.2mm machine gun and repackaged/sold it as the "Breda Model 1931". After acquiring Fiat's arms manufacturing interests, Breda further expanded the machine gun market, resulting in the "Breda 1935". The product was further developed into light, medium and heavy machine gun forms, as well as vehicle-mounted versions.

The 1937 model - already designed in 1933 - followed and relied on the larger, more powerful rifle caliber cartridge in the 8x59mm RB Breda from the start. Testing of the new weapon continued from 1935 to 1936, with approval for service in 1937.

Internally, the Model 1937 relied on conventional pneumatic piston operation and a toggle bolt breech, and overall the gun was largely conventional in design except for a few unique elements. A large rectangular receiver houses the inner workings, and the shovel handle is located at the rear near the trigger assembly. The barrel, which is designed to be air-cooled, is long and thin, with the gas cylinder mounted underneath. Iron sights are suitable for long distance work.

For defensive/infantry support roles, the weapon is usually mounted on a heavy tripod, but can also be easily arranged for use in/on the vehicle as needed.

The limitations of the 1937 model are the same as some of the previous Breda machine gun designs - the cartridge extraction problem is obvious and solved by a bulky lubrication system that easily spreads all kinds of dirt, grime and grime to Picking up and picking this up can spoil the action - the oil reservoir lubricates each incoming cartridge to aid in the final extraction. Since the Model 1937 only offered fully automatic fire, the mechanism had to work fairly quickly, opening the door to failure/failure every time.

Feed is from left to right of the receiver, through 20-round "clips" rather than a single ammo belt. These magazines are held in a compartment (on the left), the feeding mechanism pulls and oil each round, reinserts them in the magazines when they are used up, and pushes them through the waiting compartment ( right) - the idea at the time was that the strips could be reused (although the individual empty cartridges still had to be manually removed from the clip).

Therefore, a real extraction system is not required in the artillery, but this makes the operation more difficult compared to contemporary belt-fed systems.

The original gun design envisioned the Model 1937 as a coaxial gun in a tank, so there was concern that spent cartridges could be fed into the turret's rotation system and jam its propulsion controls. Hence, a unique attempt to solve this problem.

Of course, hard continuous fire is impossible, and the assistant gunner must constantly load new magazines into the ammunition slots to ensure consistent firing.

Despite its inherently dated qualities, the Model 1937 proved to be an effective and surprisingly reliable weapon during the war years, and was produced in 1943 and served on the front lines into the 1960s. The rate of fire of 450 rounds per minute (200 rounds in actual use) gives experienced riflemen good accuracy because recoil is reduced (and barrel overheating is better managed). The range reaches 5,400 meters, with effective use down to 1,000 meters - the penetration of large bullets is also rated as good.

Even members of British SAS special forces operating in the North African desert had enough ideas for machine guns to reconstruct captured samples for their own use.

The vehicle/tank version of the weapon was also produced as the "Type 1938" which featured a more traditional detachable box magazine with 24 rounds mounted above the breech, other changes included a heavy gun Tube for improved sustained fire and a more traditional pistol grip attachment at the rear of the receiver. The rate of fire of this product has been increased to 550-600 rounds per minute.

Some of these stocks were later reassembled for infantry support roles and sat on tripods, but the useful 24-round counting box remained.

Portugal adopted this model in 1937 as "Metralhadora pesada 7.92mm m/938 Breda" (note 7. 92x57mm Mauser rifle chamber) and entered combat service during colonial operations.

Specification

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Changes