The Madsen machine gun is the first light machine gun in history. Battlefield 1

This term has other meanings, see Madsen.

Madsen

- Danish machine gun from the First World War. The Madsen system was developed in 1890 and produced since 1900, in Copenhagen. The Madsen light machine gun is the world's first light machine gun to go into mass production, which continued until the early 1950s. The armies of 30 countries were armed with Madsen machine guns[1].

Content

• 1. History
• 2 Design of parts and mechanisms 2.1 Barrel
• 2.2 Receiver
• 2.3 Box with casing
• 2.4 Shutter
• 2.5 Trigger
• 2.6 Impact mechanism
• 2.7 Return mechanism
• 2.8 Ejection mechanism
• 2.9 Butt plate with butt
• 2.10 Store
• 2.11 Rammer

Shooting Range Report: Finnish Madsen

We talk about tests of the 7.62 mm Madsen light machine gun chambered for the Finnish cartridge in comparison with the Degtyarev light machine gun

Russia had a long and, as they say, complex relationship with the world's first serial light machine gun designed by Wilhelm Madsen. Our country was one of the first to show interest in the new product - already in September 1904, a purchased sample of a Danish machine gun was tested at the Officer Rifle School. The machine gun performed well, and based on the test results, a decision was made to purchase a batch of 50 pieces. However, the Russo-Japanese War, which was in full swing, clearly demonstrating to everyone both the effectiveness of machine guns and their acute shortage, made adjustments to the plans of the GAU. The first order was followed by a second, already for 200 submachine guns, and then another - for 1000.

However, before Denmark had time to rejoice at the rain of full-fledged gold rubles, the war ended, and with it the feverish desire of the GAU to purchase at least something that could shoot here and now. The gentlemen generals again had the opportunity to engage in a leisurely comparison of Hotchkisses, Lewises and other Bertiers, as well as reasoning whether the army even needed these submachine guns in the presence of maxims on Sokolov’s wheeled machine.

The situation changed dramatically again after the outbreak of the First World War, when it was discovered that the army really needed a light machine gun, but with its production everything was very, very sad. Thanks to the assistance of the British in Tula, the production of those very Maxims, or rather the Vickers, was still able to be brought to mass production, but no one else took on this. Supplies from the Allies were supposed to fill many other gaps in the army's supply. In addition, with regard to handbrake handles, at first the deliveries were based on the principle “we ourselves don’t have enough!” The GAU again remembered the neutral Danes. Fortunately, representatives of the company Dansk Rekyl Riffel Syndikat A/S were ready to create a production in Russia, as they say, “turnkey” - with its own machine park, patterns, tools and even a significant part of the workers - not only engineers, but also simply qualified craftsmen . Alas, even with the availability of money and resources, weapons factories are instantly built only in a computer game. In reality, at the plant founded in 1916 in Kovrov, the first batch of Madsens was assembled in the summer of 1917, between the first and second revolutions. But... as General Fedorov, assigned to the plant, wrote about this:

“The establishment of the production of Madsen submachine guns ended in complete failure - not one of the 10 copies, especially carefully made, from the first trial batch of 50 copies was accepted by the receiver.”

As a result, normal mass production of Madsens never began, but in 1927, a light machine gun designed by Degtyarev began to be produced in Kovrov.

Nevertheless, even after the revolution, Madsens chambered for 7.62x54R were mass-produced. True, this was already an order from the former province of the Russian Empire - Finland. Back in 1919, the Finns ordered seven Madsens for testing and, apparently, the result satisfied them, since they subsequently ordered several more batches. However, the experience of extensive military operation turned out to be less inspiring, and after the appearance of a handbrake of their own design - the Lahti-Saloran machine gun - the Finns sent almost all of their Madsens to neighboring Estonia.

At the Soviet rifle range, “tests of the 7.62 mm captured Madsen light machine gun chambered for the Finnish cartridge” were carried out at the end of 1941. It is not known exactly where the machine gun was delivered from and whether it was really a trophy from the Finnish front or went to the USSR a year earlier along with the rest of the arsenal of the Estonian army. What can be said for sure is that the machine gun arrived at the training ground already pretty worn out by life. The inspection report stated that:

“1) There is no disconnector for the receiver trigger lever in the machine gun trigger mechanism.

2) The trigger stop axis is broken.

3) On the walls of the vertical groove of the breech of the barrel there were bald patches with raised metal.”

During testing, the disconnector had to be taken out of another madsen, which was located in the museum of the test site. Nevertheless, after checking the calibers, the barrel of the machine gun was determined to be slightly worn, and the cartridges used were original Finnish ones with a heavy and light bullet.

For comparison, the report included test data from the Degtyarev light machine gun in 1940.

The first stage was shooting for accuracy. Shooting was carried out at a distance from 100 to 800 meters in short bursts. At all distances, Madsen was inferior to Degtyarev, and at close distances the difference was very significant - at 100 m, the average accuracy of Madsen was 59 cm, and the DP was only 17.3 cm.

But the “old man” passed the test of shooting in difficult conditions with dignity. Dust, dry parts, thick grease and heating the cartridges to 70 degrees did not affect the operation of the machine gun. Problems arose only when cooling to minus 50 degrees, but even then, after 5 single shots, the machine gun started working normally again.

When firing large numbers under normal conditions, the machine gun showed 4.8% delays with a heavy bullet and 1.6% when using cartridges with a light bullet. The main type of delays were misfires, and, as noted in the report, they could be caused by the quality of the cartridges themselves.

In total, the machine gun fired 4,100 shots, shooting all the Finnish ammunition delivered to the training ground.

The final output from Madsen looked like this:

“The positive aspects of the Madsen machine gun:

a) compact and has small overall dimensions

b) the reloading handle is motionless when firing

c) variable height of the firing line - sliding bipod

e) the presence of an interpreter - the ability to conduct both single and automatic fire

Negative aspects of the machine gun:

a) the location of the magazine above the weapon on the left, which leads to the machine gun falling down when firing, impairs combat accuracy, reduces the shooter’s field of view and unmasks the machine gun

b) the inconvenience of removing a small unfired cartridge from the chamber (knocked out with a cleaning rod)

c) difficulty of studying and mastering

d) small magazine capacity.”

The last point deserves special attention. Usually Madsens were equipped with a horn for 30 rounds. At the same time, Finnish sources, for example, with reference to the 1922 shooting manual, write about 25 cartridges in the magazine. The same is indicated in the Russian manual of the beginning of the century. In general, the Russian three-line cartridge in this sense ruined the lives of many generations of Russian, Soviet and Russian designers who tried to create a reliably working box magazine for it. And as we can all see, this was only possible with the SVD rifle already in the 60s, and even then with a capacity of only 10 rounds.

However, despite the positive qualities of Madsen, even if the Danes had managed to build their plant a couple of years earlier and begin serial production, most likely in the 20s the Red Army would have begun to replace them with DP in the same way as the Finns did with their Lahti-Saloran machine gun. It’s just that in war photos, in addition to the usual tar guns with “pancakes,” there would be other machine guns, as in old photos of the First World War.

Design of parts and mechanisms

Trunk

The barrel inside has a channel with rifling, curling from left to top to right, and a chamber. On the outside, the barrel has: in the middle part, ribs in the form of rings to improve heat dissipation; smooth muzzle and breech parts, cutout for the head and ejector; threaded stump for connection to the receiver.

Receiver

The receiver has: a threaded hole for connecting to the barrel; receiving window for cartridges coming from the store; cutout for passage of the cartridge cutting tooth; a bar with an inclined plane to rotate the cutoff when the barrel moves; comb with grooves; the right one is for the head of the receiver lever, the left one is for the firing pin lever; lugs for connecting the rammer; tide to accommodate the ejection mechanism; semicircular recess with a supporting plane.

Box with casing

The box and casing are connected to each other by thread and secured with a screw.

The casing is a tube that has: longitudinal slots for air circulation; recess for bipod; front sight base; sling swivel; sighting block.

The box has: a lid; window for the strip with guide grooves; receiver; liner; cartridge cutter; latch; a leaf spring for pressing the bolt; cutouts for the entry of the buttplate protrusions.

The receiver has a cartridge cutter with a spring and a magazine latch.

Gate

The bolt is a part of a complex design that has: a plane (mirror) for adhering to the head of the cartridge located in the chamber; comb with groove; tide to direct the movement of the sleeve; boss for contact with the groove of the guide bar; axle hole; reference plane; channel for placing a striker with a spring; protrusion for unlocking and locking the bolt.

Trigger

The trigger mechanism includes the following parts:

• trigger
• release lever
• trigger slider
• disconnector with spring
• translator

Trigger

has: a tail for contact with the shooter's finger; axle hole; protrusion for connection with the slider; lugs for connecting the disconnector.

Release lever

has: a sear for cocking the hammer; rectangular hole for the disconnector, groove for connecting the slider; protrusion with a hole for a spring; head to stop the fuse protrusion.

Disconnector

has: an eyelet for attaching a spring; hook for connecting to the trigger.

Crawler

has: a recess for the trigger protrusion; head for influencing the cam of the return mechanism lever. The slide moves forward along the trigger lever when the trigger is pulled.

Translator

- This is a double-armed lever, the front shoulder of which limits the travel of the trigger, and the rear one serves to contact the shooter’s finger.

Guide bar

plays a big role in the operation of the machine gun due to the presence of a curved groove along which the bolt protrusion moves during operation.

Impact mechanism

The impact mechanism is mounted on the safety bracket and in the bolt. It consists of the following parts:

• trigger
• mainspring with guide rod
• striker lever
• striker with spring

Trigger

has: a head for striking the striker lever; axle hole; cutout for the head of the mainspring guide rod; combat platoon The trigger is located on the axis of the charging handle.

Action spring

- This is a twisted cylindrical spring that works in compression.

Guide rod

has: a head with a hole for contact with the trigger; a whisk for supporting the mainspring; refined front part - firing pin.

Striker spring

- This is a twisted cylindrical spring that works in compression.

Striker lever

has: hole for axle; a protrusion for transmitting the hammer blow to the striker; a head that receives the trigger blow.

Return mechanism

The return mechanism includes the following parts:

• return lever
• return spring
• return spring guide rod

Return lever

has: head; axle hole; cam. It is connected to the head of the return spring and is on the same axis as the trigger.

Return spring

- This is a twisted cylindrical spring that works in compression.

Ejection mechanism

The ejection mechanism includes the following parts:

• ejector;
• ejector lever;
• ejector spring;

Ejector

has: an oval hole for connection to the receiver; a hook for gripping the sleeve by the edge of the cap; protrusion for contact with the ejector lever.

Ejector lever

has: a head with a hole for the axle; hook for contact with the ejector; socket for placing the ejector spring.

Ejector spring

- This is a twisted cylindrical spring that works in compression.

Butt pad with butt

Butt pad

has: stop for connecting to the box; lower window of the buttplate; a flap for closing the lower window of the buttplate; outlet window for removing spent cartridges; rectangular hole for attaching a safety bracket; hole for the mainspring stop; hole for the return spring stop; oval protrusion for rotating the rammer; flag type fuse; transverse hole for contactor; transverse hole for the handle axis.

Butt

has: sling swivel; ledge with a hole for a stand.

Shop

The magazine is sectoral, box-type, and consists of a box, a feeder and a latch that holds the cartridges in the magazine. It was produced in versions with a capacity of 25, 30 and 40 rounds.

Rammer

Rammer

has: hole for axle; fork for contact with the protrusion of the butt plate.

"Madsen" - long-lived machine gun

What about Madsen, who is old and difficult to reach the masses, but extremely reliable? Many people forget about it, but it had unusual automation and an incredibly compact design! By the way, in some places it is still in service, but the machine gun is already more than 100 years old!!! kugelblitz

And it so happened that in the comments to my material this appeal was made in the epigraph. However, in the materials about “Bran” not a word was said about this machine gun, primarily because the article “General Madsen’s Damn Balalaika” had already been published on TOPWAR (https://topwar.ru/60984-chertova-balalayka-generala- madsena.html), however, quite a long time ago. However, turning to this material, I saw that, firstly, it was a reprint from the pages of the “Russian Seven”, that is, it was originally intended for a site with a different thematic focus, and secondly, apparently, precisely because of this, the author, Having paid primary attention to the history of the Madsen machine gun in Russia, he only briefly touched upon the features of its design. On the one hand, why not, but on the other hand, it turned out that the author produced good material on a historical topic, but the most interesting technical “moments” of this machine gun remained in the shadows. Therefore, I thought and considered it possible to “shoot after”, and most importantly, to accompany the article with original diagrams that give a comprehensive idea of ​​this truly unique design.

This is what this unusual machine gun looked like. Externally, it is easily identified by its sector magazine, a very short mechanism box and a long barrel with a perforated casing.

Those who are interested in the fate of General Madsen and all the vicissitudes as a result of which his machine gun came to us in Russia, as noted above, it makes sense to read about the “damn balalaika”, but here we will begin by noting the really very venerable age of this weapons. After all, its creator began to develop it... in the mid-1880s of the 19th century. Moreover, at first it was supposed to be an automatic rifle, which in 1886 was developed by the staff of the Royal Arms Factory in Copenhagen, whose director was Julius Alexander Rasmussen. So this rifle even had a double name: Rasmussen-Madsen.

Model 1896 Rasmussen-Madsen automatic rifle.

And it was then that all the specific design features of the future unique machine gun were applied to it - a sector magazine inserted from above, a bolt cocking handle that looked more like the handle of a coffee grinder, and all its internal “mechanics”. In 1896, the rifle was adopted by the Danish Marine Corps. But... it turned out that the rifle had many shortcomings. For example, the barrel quickly overheated. And when they made fins on the barrel, made it heavier, and equipped it with a bipod, that’s how it turned out to be a light machine gun. Well, given that in 1901 Madsen became Minister of War, it is not at all surprising that his machine gun was soon put into service. According to some sources, it began to be produced at the Danish factory “Dansk Industry Syndicate” in 1900 (at least, as Wikipedia reports), according to others - in 1902, or in 1904. Chris Shant lists the make of the first model as “Rekytgevaer M1903”.

"Rekytgevaer M1903". Please note that the machine gun still did not have a flame arrester.

In any case, its design itself appeared very early, so today it is perhaps the “most ancient example” of manual automatic firearms. Reliable and accurate, the Madsen light machine gun was very popular, despite the high cost of production and the fact that it required high quality ammunition to fire. Well, mass serial production continued until 1950!

"Madsen" M1924. The machine gun has a handle for carrying and replacing an overheated barrel.

Madsen machine guns were produced in various calibers: 6.5x55, 7x57, 7.62x51, 7.62x63, 7.92x57. Therefore, their weight and a number of details were different. Visually, they differed most in the shape of the magazines, since it used magazines of different capacities. For example, a 7.7 mm British machine gun weighed 9.1 kg. The length was 1.14 m, barrel length 580 mm. Box magazines were produced with 20, 25, 30 or 40 rounds. Rate 450 rounds per minute. The initial bullet speed is 715 m/sec.

"Madsen" M1940.

And here are the details of the machine gun chambered for the Russian rifle cartridge: 7.62×54R. Barrel length – 590 mm. The initial speed of a 9.6-gram bullet is 797 m/s. Weight with bipod – 9.2 kg. Length – 1120 mm. Magazine capacity - 25 or 33 rounds. Rate of fire - 420 rounds per minute. Sighting range – 1707 m.

“Madsen”, on which... the magazine is inserted incorrectly, that is, not fully inserted. Please note that, although the magazine was inserted into the machine gun on the left, it was not along the axis, but on the left. Therefore, the sighting devices were located in the traditional way: the sight block was on the barrel cooling jacket, and the front sight was at the base of the flash suppressor.

As you can see, the performance characteristics are quite comparable, although the machine gun “treated” different cartridges differently, and worst of all “digested” English and especially Russian welt cartridges, which had very large production tolerances.

After the German occupation of Denmark in 1941-1942. Danish machine guns entered Wehrmacht units, and a belt-fed modification was produced.

The machine gun was criticized a lot. They said that with such an abundance of complex parts, in principle it could not work. Critics' doubts were also based on the fact that it used a very unusual combination of main parts: barrel recoil and a Peabody-Martini swinging bolt. Thus, the Madsen machine gun became the only weapon of its type to use a non-slip bolt. In addition to originality, another important advantage of this model was its relatively low weight for an air-cooled weapon. And although in many countries it was removed from mass service back in the 70-80s of the last century, it is still found and used as a military weapon!

Diagram of the Madsen machine gun.

Well, now let's look at the operation of all the automatic parts of this unusual machine gun. He got his unusual Peabody Martini swing action, no doubt, as a tribute to that era. After all, when it was created, it was the swinging shutters that were, one might say, at the zenith of their glory. Well, this machine gun really works very unusually with this bolt.

This is what the barrel looks like with the receiver screwed onto it. On the right side of it you can see a slot for a cartridge. Below you can see the “fork” of the lever that controls the shutter.

We will start, however, not with work, but with disassembling the machine gun. If you remove the pin at the back of the butt plate, then the upper part of the machine gun box hinges upward on a hinge, and... then you can remove the barrel from it along with the bolt frame. That is, the barrel is integral with the bolt frame, inside which the bolt swings up and down. It moves neither forward nor backward. Only up and down, and the barrel locks, resting its flat part against the bottom of the cartridge case. That's all! Its functions end there!

Diagram of the machine gun box. The box lid is highlighted in pink. Khaki color – box. Gray khaki – the lower part of the box. A three-position firing selector and two “bolts” are clearly visible - one fastening the upper part of the bolt box to the lower, and the other – their common axis of rotation.

This diagram shows the position of the cartridge in the chamber, which is supported by the bolt. Above it there is a limiting spring. The extractor device is also visible. Moreover, this is a separate part, not connected with the shutter!

How does it all work? And it works very simply. When fired, the barrel, together with the receiver frame, moves back inside the box only 10 mm. In this case, a special lever from the bolt frame interacts with the protrusion on the box and lifts the bolt up. In this case, the extractor ejects the cartridge case from the barrel, it slides along the semicircular guide of the bolt and falls into the hole at the bottom of the lower part of the box. Its lid tilts forward. The cartridges hit it and also bounce forward. There is no danger that one will fall into your sleeve. And the flat and curved spring prevents the bolt from rising higher than necessary.

Scheme of cartridge case extraction.

This diagram clearly shows the mounting of the magazine on the box on the left and the feeding of the cartridge through the side hole of the bolt frame.

This diagram shows the various parts of the machine gun: Fig. 11 – bolt and location of the striker with a spring in it. Part 32 is a lever that resembles a fishhook, and it is on it that trigger 33 hits, and it, in turn, sets the firing pin in motion. Fig. 12 – part 41 – this is the cocking handle of the shutter mechanism. Fig. 14 – mainspring.

Since the bolt in the bolt carrier only moves up and down, a cartridge fed from the magazine pushes a complex, field hockey stick-like lever into the barrel, interacting with a protrusion on the machine gun box. In this case, it does not enter the trunk in a direct way, but first moves from top to bottom, then from left to right, and at the same time at an angle to the axis of the trunk, enters it with the head part and only at the end does it move in a straight line. When the cartridge is in the chamber, the bolt drops and simply rests against the bottom of the cartridge case. Shooting, therefore, is carried out with the bolt completely locked, which is important for the safety of the shooter.

What else is important to highlight? Thanks to this device, the box in which all the mechanisms of the machine gun are located turned out to be very compact, and it itself was not too large, so you could shoot from it like a rifle - from the shoulder! The barrel is finned so it doesn't overheat too much. The perforated casing protects the shooter's hands. A convenient reloading handle, a conveniently located hole for ejecting cartridges, and the machine gun box on top is well protected from dirt. The magazine does not interfere with normal aiming. At the same time, the machine gun mechanism with all its levers and protrusions is very complex. That is, it can only be made on milling machines, which requires a lot of operations. The presence of many parts of complex shape, performing such complex movements in such a small space, causes increased sensitivity to contamination. It is simply very difficult to operate a machine gun for a person who has never held anything more complex than a shovel in his hands.

The first machine guns did not have a flash suppressor, but then it appeared, as well as a special muzzle that increased the recoil of the barrel.

The machine gun, as you know, was actively used during the First World War and was even installed on airplanes. By the beginning of World War II, he was no longer so popular, but again he fought in both Europe and Asia.

Macedonian partisans in Skopje in 1944.

A Japanese soldier with a captured Madsen machine gun on a tripod machine.

After the war, the machine gun was actively exported to South American countries. In Brazil they were converted to the standard NATO cartridge and are still used by the police today.

Machine gun "Madsen" in the National Army Museum in Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Brazilian policeman with a Madsen machine gun.

So this is by no means a “damn balalaika”, but a very high-quality, albeit complex weapon, the story of which has not even ended yet!

Operation of parts and mechanisms

Job. From the Russian description

Initial position

Before loading the machine gun, parts and mechanisms occupy the following positions. The moving system, under the action of the return spring, occupies the extreme forward position. The firing pin takes the forward position under the action of the firing pin lever. At the same time, it compresses its spring, and the firing pin extends beyond the shutter mirror. The striker spring has the highest compression ratio. The cutter is turned to the right. The magazine is separated from the machine gun. The feeder is turned forward. The return spring has the lowest compression ratio. The return spring lever is in a vertical position. The bolt is lowered, and its protrusion is located in the front longitudinal groove of the guide bar. The shutter spring has the smallest degree of deflection. Under the action of the mainspring, the trigger occupies the upper position with its head, rests against the rear wall of the receiver and recesses the protrusion of the firing pin lever. The mainspring has the lowest compression ratio. The firing pin lever, under the action of the trigger, takes a forward position and acts on the firing pin. The rammer, under the action of the oval protrusion of the receiver, takes its original position. The release lever, under the action of the sear spring, occupies the upper position. The trigger lever slider takes the rear position and acts on the trigger. The slider spring has the lowest compression ratio. The trigger is deployed under the action of the slider and takes the forward position with its tail. The ejector lever, under the action of its spring, occupies the lower position and, with its hook, acts on the ejector. The ejector takes a vertical position under the action of the ejector lever. The ejector spring has the lowest compression ratio. The charging handle is in the most forward position.

Loading a machine gun

In order to load a machine gun, you must do the following:

• fill the magazine with cartridges;
• attach the magazine to the machine gun;
• Pull the charging handle all the way back and release.

When the charging handle is moved to the rearmost position, the following occurs: The moving system, under the action of the charging handle, moves to the rear position and, acting on the return spring lever, compresses the return spring. The return spring receives the highest degree of compression. The receiver deploys the trigger with its rear wall. The trigger, turning under the action of the receiver, releases the firing pin lever, compresses the mainspring and rests on the sear of the trigger lever. The mainspring receives the highest degree of compression. The firing pin, under the action of its spring, moves back, recesses the firing pin behind the bolt mirror, extends its head beyond the rear section of the bolt and acts on the firing pin lever. The firing pin lever moves back under the action of the firing pin and its protrusion extends onto the rear wall of the receiver. The bolt, moving backward, with its protrusion first slides along the front straight section of the guide bar, then falls into a groove inclined upward, rises up enough so that the spent cartridge case can be removed from the chamber, and unlocks the barrel bore. The bolt spring receives the greatest degree of deflection. The ejector, with its lower plane, first finds itself on the inclined platform of the box liner and rises, and after unlocking the barrel bore, it encounters the ledge of the liner and turns at an angle sufficient to remove the cartridge case from the chamber. The feeder turns back. The cutter turns to the left and passes the next cartridge from the magazine into the chamber.

After releasing the charging handle, the following occurs: The moving system moves forward under the action of the return mechanism. The shutter with its protrusion slides along the upper straight section of the groove; as soon as the protrusion reaches the groove down, its front part lowers down under the action of its spring so much as to ensure that the cartridge is delivered into the chamber. The rammer, under the influence of the oval protrusion of the receiver on its fork, turns and sends the cartridge into the chamber. During the period of loading the cartridge into the chamber, the bolt slides with its protrusion along the lower straight section of the groove, and then rises upward along the inclined groove, closes the barrel bore and slides along the straight section, locking the barrel bore. When the bolt is in the forward position, the ejector lever, under the action of its spring, moves down and acts on the ejector with its front end. The ejector, under the action of the ejector lever, rotates to its original position and lowers down. The machine gun is loaded and ready to fire. If shooting is not expected, then the machine gun is put on safety by turning the flag. The safety pin will block the trigger lever.

Single fire

In the museum in Buenos Aires
To conduct single fire from a machine gun you need:

• turn on the fire selector by pressing on its shank;
• pull the trigger.

When the translator is turned on, it turns around an axis and with its head limits the rotation of the trigger. When you press the trigger, under the influence of pressure on its tail, it turns around its axis, compresses its spring and lowers the disconnector. The disconnector, falling down under the action of the trigger, lowers the trigger lever with its hook. The trigger lever, falling down under the action of the disconnector, removes the sear from under the cocking hammer and releases the hammer. The trigger, turning around its axis under the action of the mainspring, strikes the protrusion of the hammer lever with its head. The firing pin lever rotates around its axis under the blow of the trigger and hits the firing pin head. The firing pin moves forward under the action of the lever, compresses its spring and breaks the primer with the striker. A shot occurs. The moving system moves back under the influence of the recoil impulse to the bottom of the sleeve. All parts and mechanisms perform the same operations as for manual loading, with the exception of the following. The ejector, when its lower plane protrudes onto the inclined platform of the box liner, rises up and hooks onto the edge of the liner, and when it runs onto the ledge of the liner, it turns and throws the liner out of the chamber. The lever of the return mechanism turns and moves the disconnector forward with a cam. The disconnector turns around and with its hook releases the trigger lever. The trigger lever rises and with its sear stands in the way of cocking the hammer. After the moving system moves forward, the trigger turns around and is cocked. The machine gun is ready for the next shot. In order to fire the next shot, you must release the trigger and press it again.

When the trigger is released, the following will happen: The trigger, under the action of its spring, will rotate around its axis and lift the disconnector upward with its front shoulder. The disconnector, rising under the action of the trigger, will rotate under the action of its spring and connect with the trigger lever with a hook. When you press the trigger, the cycle of operation of parts and mechanisms is repeated.

Automatic fire

With continuous firing from a machine gun, everything happens the same as with single fire, with the exception of the following. The translator does not engage, and the trigger may turn back completely. In this case, the slider will be moved forward so much that the cam of the return mechanism lever, when the moving system comes to the forward position, will act not on the disconnector, but on the head of the slider, lower it down, and the trigger lever will release the hammer from the cocking position. A shot occurs. Fire can be carried out as long as the trigger is pressed and there are cartridges in the magazine. To cease fire, you must release the trigger.

Light machine gun Madsen Madsen (Denmark)

The M1896 self-loading rifle of the Madsen / Rasmussen system, which was in service with the Danish Marine Corps and became the basis for the Madsen light machine guns.

Madsen Model 1902 light machine gun.

Madsen model 1902/21 light machine gun.

Madsen machine gun model 1929. Can be used from the machine, for which an additional fire control handle and trigger are built into the butt

Model 1940 Madsen light machine gun, which was in service in Portugal.

Madsen light machine gun with a short barrel, used in the 1930-40s in the Dutch colonies in the West Indies.

Model 1948 Madsen light machine gun.

A Madsen model 1950 light machine gun on a universal machine, in the position for firing at aerial targets.

Diagram of the automatic operation of the Madsen machine gun.

Model 1950 machine gun data

The Madsen light machine gun is deservedly considered not only the first production model of this class of weapons in the world, but also one of the longest-lived. This machine gun was created at the end of the 19th - very beginning of the 20th century at the state arsenal in Copenhagen by its director Rasmussen and artillery captain Madsen, in the future - the Danish Minister of War. Soon after the adoption of the new machine gun, a group of private investors created the company Dansk Rekyl Riffel Syndikat A/S (DRRS), whose chief design officer was a certain Jens Theodor Schouboe. The DRRS company, which later added Madsen’s name to its name, established commercial production of new machine guns, while simultaneously taking out a number of patents for its design in the name of Shawbo, so that for a long time it was he who was considered the author of the design of the Madsen machine gun.

Serial production of the machine gun was launched by the development company in 1905, mass serial production of Madsen machine guns continued until the early 1950s, and in the DISA / Madsen catalogs its variants were presented until the mid-1960s, while the machine gun was offered to customers in any of the existing rifle calibers from 6.5 to 8mm,” including the then new 7.62m NATO caliber. In the first half of the 20th century, buyers of Madsen machine guns included countries such as Great Britain, Holland, Denmark, China, the Russian Empire, Portugal, Finland, Mexico and many other countries in Asia and Latin America. At the end of the First World War, licensed production of Madsen machine guns was planned to be launched in Russia and England, but for various reasons this did not happen. And despite the fact that in most countries these machine guns were removed from mass service in the 1970-80s, they can still be found in more remote corners of the planet, in no small part due to the high reliability and survivability of the design, as well as high-quality production. In addition to infantry versions, Madsen machine guns were widely used in aviation, from the advent of the first armed aircraft until the 1930s.

In terms of its mechanisms, the Madsen machine gun is one of the most unusual systems, combining automation that uses recoil energy during a short stroke of the barrel with a bolt that swings in a vertical plane, similar to the Peabody system. The bolt, which has a complex shape, has a transverse axis in the rear part connected to the barrel shank, so that the front part of the bolt can swing up and down relative to the axis of the barrel bore, without the possibility of longitudinal movement. There is a protrusion on the side surface of the bolt that, during the rollback and retraction of the moving system, follows a closed shaped cutout on the wall of the receiver. Before firing, the bolt is in the middle position, locking the barrel with the cartridge sent into it, the shot is fired from a closed bolt. After the shot, the barrel with the bolt connected to it begins to roll back under the action of recoil, while the figured groove forces the bolt to rise up, opening the breech of the barrel, after which a special extractor ejects the spent cartridge case from the barrel, which falls down through a window in the bottom of the receiver. As the moving system rolls forward, the bolt protrusion enters the lower part of the closed groove, so that the bolt drops below the bore, opening the chambering line for a new cartridge from the attached box magazine located on top. The cartridge is chambered by a special lever, also attached to the barrel shank. At the end of the roll, the figured groove forces the bolt to return to the middle position, locking the chamber. The machine gun allowed firing in single shots or bursts. The barrel had transverse fins for better air cooling and was enclosed in a perforated metal casing. In later versions of the machine gun, the barrel was quick-changeable. The cartridges were fed from attached super-detachable box magazines, which, depending on the model of the machine gun and the type and caliber of the cartridge, had a capacity of 25 to 40 rounds (the option with a capacity of 30 rounds was the most common). The magazine receiver was located offset to the left of the machine gun axis, so that the sights were located directly above the barrel. In the light machine gun version, the weapon was equipped with a wooden butt and a folding bipod mounted on the barrel casing. Additionally, the machine gun could be equipped with a support for the butt and various tripod machines, including those of a rather complex design.

Disassembling and assembling a machine gun

The machine gun is disassembled in the following order:

• 1. The magazine is released when the magazine latch is pressed.
• 2. The box lid opens when the lid latch is pressed.
• 3. The butt plate is separated when its contactor is unscrewed.
• 4. The moving system is removed.
• 5. The rammer is separated when its axis is pushed out.
• 6. The bolt is separated from the receiver with its axis removed.
• 7. The safety bracket is separated when the fuse is removed.

The machine gun is assembled in the reverse order.

Options and modifications

Danish Madsen on a motorcycle
The machine gun was produced in several modifications and chambered for several different types of cartridges.

In 1900, production of the first machine gun model began[2].

On February 14, 1902, an improved version of the machine gun, the Madsen mod. 1902[2]

The next modernization of the machine gun was carried out in 1918. The buttstock design was changed, the barrel and bipod were shortened, and a muzzle was introduced to enhance recoil. The new machine gun began to be produced under the designation Model 1920. The machine gun was adapted for firing both from a bipod and from a special installation - a tripod.

Another modification was carried out in 1924. A pistol grip was introduced, and the stock was replaced with an oval-shaped handle. The company manufactured machine guns for export in accordance with the customer’s wishes. Thus, for Chile in 1926, the Madsen machine gun was manufactured with water cooling.

The last minor improvements to the machine gun were made in 1937.

Russian career of the Madsen submachine gun (Part II)

(Ends. Beginning in the article “Russian career of the Madsen submachine gun” (Part I

)»)

New needs

In the very first months of the World War, the infantry realized that machine guns were its integral and important weapon, and they were also its main opponents. General Belyaev, who served as Chief of the General Staff, noted on August 22, 1915: “The number of machine guns in the infantry is not enough, and in the cavalry it is negligible. Meanwhile, the latter...is often assigned tasks that it, due to the lack of a rifle element, is not able to perform.” We remembered submachine guns. General A.A. Manikovsky wrote later that with the beginning of the war, “cavalry units, as they say, “with their hands” tore them from the GAU.”

In 1915, the GAU collected them in the fortresses and, through the Petrograd warehouse, handed over still suitable “Madsens” to the fronts; some of them had to be corrected before shipment (including, apparently, modification for a cartridge with a pointed bullet) at the Sestroretsk and Tula factories. For now they were simply trying to smooth out the general shortage of machine guns, but soon the role of submachine guns became clearer, as did the problem of saturating the army with them. When moving on the battlefield, the heavy machine gun was too heavy a load, in an open position it turned out to be too noticeable a target, and also required choosing a site for installation. Being behind the chains, even having the opportunity to fire over heads or into gaps, the machine gunners did not see all the suddenly appearing targets and could not quickly open fire on them. The troops began to send more and more requests for submachine guns, which could follow everywhere in infantry lines, quickly take a position and open fire. The submachine gun was not required to “flood” enemy positions with fire - it was enough to fire bursts at individual points where enemy machine gunners or riflemen were seen or could be located. Submachine guns made it possible to increase the force of fire, while simultaneously reducing the number of shooters in the chain during an offensive, and to “save” shooters in the forward trenches in defense.

The effectiveness of submachine guns is described, for example, in the story of the cornet of the Life Guards Uhlan Regiment S. Kropotkin about the battle at the crossing of the Western Bug River near the village of Dzharki on July 6, 1915: “At 2:30 a.m. the enemy opened deadly fire , began the crossing... At dawn it became clear that the number of the advancing enemy reached one battalion of infantry. By this time, a platoon of lancers with two machine guns, sent to reinforce us, arrived in time. The enemy repeatedly tried to approach our trenches, but each time they were driven back by rifle and machine-gun fire. At 7 o'clock in the morning it became clear that the enemy was bypassing our left flank, but the squadron commander, having sent there a submachine gun available in the squadron, ordered to hold on, and only when the order came to retreat to another position and when the enemy, spreading in our rear , rushed, bayonets fixed, to our trenches, the squadron commander, Captain Prince Kropotkin, ordered a retreat, and due to the small number of people, several times he personally carried a machine gun” (comments to “Notes of a Cavalryman” by N.S. Gumilyov).

But the supply of “Madsen” guns was exhausted in less than a year - in August 1915, the GAU reported that it “now has no Madsen submachine guns at all.”

The share of “Madsen” in the armament of the active army at the height of the war can be judged by the data on the number of machine guns on the three main fronts as of February 1, 1916:

On January 1, 1917 there were machine guns:

* of which 3 are in the fifth armored division with a platoon of armored boats

“Madsens” have already “worked out” their purpose; it was not possible to organize the production of spare parts for them. The production of Madsen parts, entrusted at the beginning of 1917 to the workshop of the Rifle Range of the Officer Rifle School, was not completed “due to the suspension of all kinds of work at the school of gunsmiths with the onset of the revolution” (referring to the February events of 1917). New submachine guns were ordered from the Allies, but they themselves were in dire need of them: in July 1915 they ordered only 1000 Lewis machine guns; large orders were placed only in 1916.

At the inter-allied conference in Petrograd in January 1917, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander announced the following requirement: Maxim machine guns - 13 thousand at a time and 7.2 thousand throughout the year, in addition - 10 thousand Colt heavy machine guns and 110 thousand submachine guns at a time . The need for submachine guns (and Lewis, Hotchkiss and Shosha were purchased as such) was determined as eight per company, that is, 128 per infantry and 36 per cavalry regiment, plus for arming airplanes.

"Madsen" in the air

The issue of arming aeronautical units was raised in Russia several years before the World War. On February 25, 1912, a commission was created to study the issue of armament of airships. Members of the commission conducted experiments firing at ground targets from an airship with a Madsen submachine gun, receiving hits on a 9x7 m shield from a distance of 1500 m. The commission developed an installation for mounting the Madsen in the gondola of an airship, as well as an installation for a Maxim machine gun for installation on the crest of the airship "Albatross".

On April 25 of the same year, the Aeronautical Committee of the Main Engineering Directorate wrote in its journal No. 47: “Small-capacity controlled balloons, such as “Swan”, “Krechet” and “Falcon”, should be armed with Madsen submachine guns in the amount of two to four pieces. (depending on their lifting power) with 1500 rounds of ammunition for each gun; high-capacity controlled balloons, for example “Grif” and “Albatross”, arm each with two Maxim machine guns with 3000 rounds of ammunition for each machine gun...” On August 15, 1912, the Officers' Aeronautical School conducted shooting experiments from the airships "Swan", "Yastreb", and "Albatross". Shooting from the Madsen submachine gun gave good results in hitting ground targets from a height of 600 m. There has been no talk about shooting at aircraft yet.

It is characteristic that the military department’s requirements for airplanes submitted for competition, announced in 1912, for the first time took into account the need to arm them with “firearms.” During the competition, held from August 10 to September 10 of the same year in St. Petersburg, some pilots took with them on a flight a shooter with a Madsen submachine gun or a carbine, but not a single airplane had special installations for mounting weapons.

A number of works on armament of aircraft were carried out in the last pre-war year. At a military airplane competition in St. Petersburg in 1913, I.I.’s biplane received high praise. Sikorsky, armed, in addition to bombs, with a Madsen submachine gun on a pivot in the center section of the upper wing. True, the machine gun, controlled by the pilot, could only fire at the upper front hemisphere. The inspector of the rifle unit in the troops, Lieutenant General Kabakov, in a note dated October 11, 1913 to the Aeronautical Unit of the GUGSH indicated that “the most convenient weapon for firing from aircraft would be a system of submachine guns,” and recommended the Madsen machine gun, for which Guard Staff Captain Kovalev developed an airplane installation.

With the beginning of the war, submachine guns, in addition to cavalry and infantry, were needed “for arming aeronautical vehicles and river armored detachments.” Air combat confirmed the usefulness of installing Madsens on light single and two-seat aircraft - with a relatively small weight and length, they also allowed reloading with one hand. On January 17, 1915, the Aeronautical Department of the Main Military Technical Directorate wrote to the GAU: “To arm airplanes, it is necessary to quickly obtain about 400 submachine guns. Of the machine guns tested, the Lewis submachine guns and the Madsen submachine guns were relatively suitable for this purpose.”

“Madsens” (sometimes called “matsons” in documents) were placed, for example, on “Farman”, on “Moran-Zh”. Thus, in September 1916, pilot Petrenko and observer Kuzmin on the Farman-XXII defeated the German Albatross with the help of Madsen.

With the outbreak of World War II, the Madsens were put into service with the Ilya Muromets airship detachment, where they were used almost throughout the war. On the Ilya Muromets series B aircraft, pivot rotary installations for the Madsen were installed in the open area in the center section; series B - installations for the Lewis (or Vickers) and Madsen. It was with “Madsen” that the plane “Ilya Muromets Kyiv” first entered into air combat on July 19, 1915. Guard Staff Captain

S.N. Nikolsky described the battle of “Ilya Muromets” No. 2 in March 1916 over Galicia: “On March 25, while flying to Monastergisko, the ship was attacked by three “Fokkers” ... The first “Fokker”, diving under the ship, receives a clip from “Madsen” at point-blank range, launched by Ushakov, and falls. At this time, the second one wounds Ushakov and staff captain Fedorov... The upper machine gun jammed. “Lewis” remains with Pavlik, and Fedorov, having dropped bombs in the village of Barysh, fires from a “Mauser” ... But the “fockers” are already indecisive. Pavlik knocks the second one out. He lands in a field and crashes. The third one walks outside the shots and finally falls behind completely.”

The Ilya Muromets E-1 series carried up to eight machine guns, of which three were Madsen. Especially for “aviation” submachine guns, the Petrograd Cartridge Plant produced cartridges with incendiary bullets “with a recessed primer for firing at hard shells.” The bullet weighed 11 g, contained three grams of incendiary composition (Berthollet salt, tetryl, aluminum chips), had an initial speed of 747 m/s and was intended for firing at Zeppelins and airplane gas tanks. They also tried to install Madsens on airships.

However, the Madsen's rate of fire did little to meet the objectives of aviation weapons. The small magazine capacity – 25 rounds – caused criticism. In addition, many of the Madsens were already largely worn out. Aviation stated that “Madsen’s submachine guns perform poorly” and asked for new machine guns.

The second coming of “Madsen” to Russia

And then the Danish “Syndicate” appears again. True, Denmark is again among the neutral countries, and Russia is in a state of war, and much larger and more severe. It is not surprising that the Danes, fearing accusations of “military smuggling,” presented their new proposals in a “roundabout way.” On October 18, 1915, a Russian military agent in Rome, Volkonsky, reported that a representative of the Dansk Reculriffel Syndicate had approached him with an offer to sell submachine guns of the Madsen system and that he was negotiating through a certain Gentiny. On November 14, a military agent reported the details of the proposal: “1st... immediately 2.5 thousand machine guns... chambered for the 7-mm Mauser cartridge...; 2nd... an order is accepted for a monthly supply of 1000 machine guns of the same or another caliber. The contract amount was estimated at 22.5 million francs.”

Although obtaining 7-mm Mauser cartridges caused difficulties, the military department became interested in the proposal - a military agent in London, General Ruban, was even instructed to find out the possibility of obtaining 7-mm cartridges through the British government. On December 31, Madsen’s new submachine gun, delivered by the Syndicate instructor, was tested at the Rifle Range and was recognized as “satisfying all requirements” - participation in the tests of such a prominent specialist as V.G. Fedorov, made this conclusion very authoritative. The results were sent to Headquarters, and from there a response was received about the possibility of giving an order to the “Syndicate” for 15 thousand submachine guns. However, it was now much more difficult to “bypass” Danish legislation. And on January 6, 1916, through the Petrograd 1st Guild merchant D.L. Lurie “Syndicate” submits to the State Autonomous Agrarian University a new proposal to build a plant in Russia for the production of submachine guns chambered for Russian cartridges with a capacity of 600-800 machine guns per month. Later it turned out that a similar story took place in Great Britain. On June 25, 1916, General Ruban reported: “1. The British government ordered the Syndicate 900 machine guns, of which 450 are ready, but, according to Danish laws, they cannot be exported to a belligerent power. 2. The British government concluded... an agreement on the construction of a plant in England for the production of Madsen machine guns, but there were very long delays. 3. The issue began to seem hopeless, and English factories began to produce large quantities of machine guns... it was decided to terminate the contract.” True, the Madsen submachine guns, previously manufactured, found use on British armored vehicles. “Madsens” chambered for the German 7.92 mm cartridge were also used by the German army - in light “musket battalions”, mountain units, and later in assault battalions.

The Russian Ministry of War received the proposal to build a machine gun factory with interest, especially since in Russia there was only one production of automatic weapons - the ITOZ department, which produced Maxim machine guns. In the same January 1916, domestic proposals were also received: industrialist M.I. Tereshchenko about the construction of a machine gun factory, engineer I.A. Semenov about the production of machine guns at his plant in Petrograd (both required an order of at least 10 thousand pieces with a deadline of three years), the joint-stock company "Machine Gun" (generally unsecured). But the vast majority of Russian enterprises were unable to maintain the accuracy of manufacturing parts down to “some thousandth of an inch,” and machine gun production required accuracy of up to 0.1 thousandth of an inch; there was a catastrophic lack of precision machines to organize production.

Against this background, the Danes’ proposal to actually transfer production to Russia with modern equipment, measuring and working tools, a staff of experienced technicians and master instructors looked much more solid. A representative delegation arrived in Petrograd for negotiations. Among those who arrived was the technical director of the Syndicate, J. Skouba, who at one time made a great contribution to the development and production of Madsen (he would leave the Syndicate in 1917). At a meeting at the State Autonomous Agrarian University, the directors of the Syndicate “were asked to find a place in the specified area to build a plant.” After examining the “area,” according to the documents, it was Skouba who chose the place in the city of Kovrov, Vladimir province.

The choice was explained by a number of factors: proximity to Moscow, the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod railway passing nearby, the availability of workers, and timber reserves.

To “establish on solid grounds the fulfillment of such an important order,” the First Russian Joint-Stock Company of Rifle and Machine Gun Factories was created. Its founders on the Russian side were artillery general V.I. Gippius and the same merchant D.L. Lurie, from the Danish side - Karl Winter and Zern Jensen. Here there is a characteristic hitch - when discussing the charter of the Society, officials demanded “limitation of participation in the administration ... of foreigners and the complete exclusion of persons of the Jewish faith.” The basis for such a requirement could be the rules introduced on April 18, 1914, which limited the ability of Jews and foreign nationals to occupy positions in the management of joint-stock enterprises. True, on July 16 of the same 1914, these rules were suspended, but the usual “Russian” fear, intensified by wartime, continued to have an effect. But in this case, all Danish technical employees turned out to be foreign nationals, and the person of the Jewish religion was the intermediary and translator David Lurie. On July 22, 1916, Lurie was forced to specifically address the assistant to the Minister of War Garin: “The need to replace me with other persons, at best, would delay the possibility of organizing an enterprise.” He also provided legal reasons. The Assistant Minister of War had to settle the matter so as not to ruin the order in the bud: in a letter to Lurie, he wrote a wish to allow “at least one Jew” to benefit the cause.

V.D. became the Director of the Company’s Management Board. Sibilev, and the candidate for director was General V.I. Gippius. Realizing that the order would not be fulfilled soon in any case, the head of the GAU, Lieutenant General Manikovsky, in July 1916 again tried to find out the possibility of another order of Madsen submachine guns, “preferably under the Russian cartridge.” But there were no offers.

Meanwhile, the British, back in May 1916, proposed to build a factory in Russia for the production of Lewis guns, and the French in the same year proposed to establish production of Shosha machine guns in Russia. But the order of the Minister of War to build a Danish plant was already in effect; it made no sense to spend money on another plant for a different model, especially since 10 thousand Lewis were ordered from the USA by that time.

At the beginning of September 1916, the Council of Ministers, at the request of the Special Meeting on State Defense, authorized the allocation of funds to order the “Syndicate” submachine guns. In October, the Society’s charter was approved, which provided for “the establishment and operation of a plant in Kovrov for the manufacture of all kinds of guns, machines, and machines for projectiles, supplies and other plants and factories serving military needs” (this part of the program will be implemented later, by completely different people and in other conditions).

Construction of the plant was already underway. The site for it was allocated by the Kovrov City Duma for 99 years - until August 15, 2020. On August 14, the ceremonial groundbreaking took place. The Company entered into an agreement for the design and construction with the Petrograd firm of engineer I.N. Kvil, the construction was supervised by engineer S.I. Orshansky. It was planned to build three main production buildings by February 1, 1917, but these plans were unrealistic. Anticipating that the construction of the main (large) building “A” would be delayed, in 1916 they decided to build a temporary (small) wooden building “B”. It was built in 2.5 months, and already in November 1916 equipment began to be placed there - more than 200 machines, workbenches, and an assembly area. To drive the machines, two Swedish diesel generators were installed. Some of the equipment for the plant was purchased in the USA through the Russian Committee. The construction of building “A” was completed only in 1918. The technical director of the plant was the Danish lieutenant of the 1st rank S. Brandt-Meller, the commercial director was captain I. Jurgensen, the positions of senior foremen, senior mechanics, senior machinists, etc. also occupied by the Danes. By January 1917, Danish specialists from the plant’s design bureau completed plans for the placement of equipment. There was a recruitment of workers. So, for example, in April the future famous gunsmith S.G. came to the pattern workshop. Simonov. The telegraph address of the joint-stock company sounded like “Mitramadsen”, that is, “Madsen’s mitrailleuses”.

On January 28, 1917, the GAU entered into a contract with the First Russian Joint-Stock Company of Rifle and Machine Gun Factories for the production of 15 thousand “Madsen P.1916” submachine guns, with delivery beginning in 1918 and ending in February 1919, and on construction and equipment. The price of one submachine gun with spare parts and accessories and closure was 1,733 rubles. 30 kopecks, this included part of the cost and equipment of the plant in the amount of 220 rubles. 80 kop. The cost of the entire delivery is RUB 25,999,500. The company was given an advance in the amount of 10,399,800 rubles (40% of the total cost of delivery), paid in installments. Senior technician of the Tula Arms Plant, staff captain G.A., was appointed as the GAU representative for the Arms Plant under construction. Aparina. It was assumed that, having completed the order, the plant should be at the disposal of the military department free of charge.

The P.1916 submachine gun had a number of differences from the mod. 1902: the weapon is chambered for the Model 1908 cartridge with a pointed bullet, a guide bushing is placed inside the casing at the muzzle of the barrel, the strength of the parts is increased, the sector sight is notched from 200 to 3,200 steps (2,272 m) after 200 steps, changed perforation of the casing, in the thickening of the butt there is a rear support in the form of a pin with a screw adjusting coupling.

In May 1917, experimental machine guns were produced at the plant, and the . In July, an experimental batch of machine guns was assembled, and on August 12, delivery of the first four submachine guns with spare barrels began. From this moment it is customary to count the history of the Kovrov Machine Gun Plant. Although the acceptance tests were unsuccessful. The production itself still bore the features of a handicraft. For example, a tool shop was not created at the plant, counting on the supply of tools and patterns from Denmark. Finally, by December 1917, they completed the preparation of drawing documentation and began to prepare for the production of two serial batches - 50 and 300 machine guns.

The order for “Madsen” was important, but no longer the main thing - the stated need for 100 thousand submachine guns was already mentioned above. So the Military Department was interested not so much in 15 thousand “Madsen” (moreover, with delivery in 1918 - 1919), but in the opportunity to get a new well-equipped weapons factory.

From the Madsen submachine gun to the Fedorov submachine gun

Meanwhile, a domestic model of a submachine gun appeared. We are talking about the “handheld submachine gun” V.G. Fedorov, created by him on the basis of his own experienced automatic rifle. “General Fedorov’s hand-held submachine gun” aroused keen interest among military specialists, but its mass production was problematic. Fedorov himself, by the way, considered the Madsen submachine gun, already tested in production, at that time preferable to his model for the speedy start of production. Knowing well the state of the state-owned industry, back in March 1916 he explored the possibility of ordering his weapons from a private factory. The already mentioned Semenov agreed to order at least 50,000 copies, and the chairman of the Industrial Group Tretyakov responded the same way. The head of the GAU, Manikovsky, insisted on “fabricating Fedorov’s light submachine gun” at the state-owned Sestroretsk plant, but the plant’s capacity was clearly not enough for this. And in October 1917, they chose a plant in Kovrov - it was just setting up production and had the opportunity to introduce a new model.

On January 11, 1918, the GAU supplemented the contract with the First Russian Joint-Stock Company of Rifle and Machine Guns; the contract stated: “1. The number of Madsen submachine guns is reduced from 15,000 to 10,000. 2. The Company undertakes to supply the GAU, according to the submitted sample and drawings and in accordance with the instructions and under the general leadership of Major General Fedorov, 9,000 submachine guns of the Major General Fedorov system (their price was slightly lower - S.F.) ... Start of gross production ... 9 months from the date of signing the contract.”

Let us note that there was no longer a strong Russian army; the industry, which had been strained during the war, was close to collapse, but gunsmiths continued to work on new weapons for Russia. The plant was given an additional advance of three million rubles - however, the ruble had been rapidly depreciating for a long time. By order of the GAU dated January 18, 1918, Fedorov was sent to the plant (P. Tretyakov, P. Gusev and the acceptance inspectors were also sent as members of the commission), and his long-time assistant, friend and student V. Degtyarev was traveling with him. They arrived in Kovrov only on February 24 (March 9, new style). By this time the plant was already standing, many workers were fired. The half-assembled “Madsens” worked unsatisfactorily.

V.G. himself Fedorov recalled: “I left during the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, when negotiations were temporarily interrupted... Due to the political events that took place, the construction and equipment of the plant was not completed. I arrived at the plant at the most catastrophic time for it: all the funds had been spent - and not only the advance given by the Russian government, but also all the subsidies of the Danish syndicate. The plant faced imminent collapse...

Chief Director Voitekevich introduced me to the state of affairs... The director of the plant reported that all financial sources had now been exhausted and there was no hope of receiving any new allocations, and therefore the only way out of the current situation was to close the plant...

The board of directors, by protocol of March 21, decided to temporarily close the plant, suspending the production of Madsen submachine guns, and also to stop all construction work, carrying out only work to prepare for the production of Fedorov system assault rifles. At the same time, the plant raised the issue of nationalizing the plant with the Supreme Economic Council, but this was refused.” Only 60 people remained on the plant's staff, including the entire staff of the design bureau.

Then a series of contradictory decisions followed - from closing the plant as unnecessary for the government, to speeding up the production of Fedorov and Madsen weapons. The civil war was already underway, the Red Army needed weapons. Thus, on November 27, 1918, the Extraordinary Commission for Supply of the Red Army decided: “It is necessary to recognize the preservation of this plant as an integral production apparatus and, as a result, order the administration of the plant not to issue machine tools and other parts of the plant’s equipment to any institutions or organizations.” On December 17, 1918, the Extraordinary Commission raised the question of the production of submachine guns of the Fedorov system and the Madsen system. At the same time, the GAU suggested that Fedorov, who became the technical director of the plant, begin production again in a semi-handicraft way, involving qualified mechanics primarily in the production of patterns and tools, and not weapon parts. February 1, 1919 (new style) Extraordinary Commission for Supply of the Red Army, chaired by L.B. Krasina decided: “To allow the resumption of production at the Kovrov Machine Gun Factory of submachine guns of the Fedorov and Madsen system, ordered under a contract with the First Russian Joint Stock Company of Gun and Machine Gun Factories dated January 28, 1917 for No. 21... 2. To allow the First Russian Joint Stock Company of Gun and Machine Gun Factories machine gun factories, in pursuance of the order mentioned in paragraph 1 of this submission, part of the order for Madsen machine guns should be transferred to the Danish Syndicate factory in Copenhagen.” On March 2, the GAU ordered Fedorov: “According to the resolution of the Extraordinary Commission, you must take all measures to quickly establish at the plant the production of submachine guns of both your system and the Madsen system.” But connections with the Syndicate were severed. Finally, on June 22, 1919, it was decided to concentrate efforts on the production of 9 thousand Fedorov submachine guns, which went down in history as the “Fedorov assault rifle.” On July 8, 1919, according to the resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Economic Council, the Kovrov Machine Gun Plant was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Central Board of Artillery Factories. Thus, the transition took place almost according to plan, albeit under the new government. On August 15, engineer-inspector M.O. Kuritsyn, who inspected the plant, reported to the VSNKh inspection: “Initially, the plant was given an order for Madsen submachine guns, then this order was stopped, and the plant received a new order for submachine guns of the Fedorov system, a member of the present board of the plant. 20 pieces were made per sample. according to the single production method. A trial batch of 200 pieces was launched. by mass production method." True, the plant did not yet have the proper personnel - on January 1, 1920, there were only 850 workers and employees at the plant (for comparison, the First Arms Plant in Tula in the same period had about 28 thousand employees). But, be that as it may, the short “Danish” period in the history of the Kovrov plant ended, and a period began that can be called “Fedorovsky”.

Fedorov’s assault rifles were late for the civil war, but were used in its so-called “liquidation period” - in the Caucasus and during the suppression of the Karelian uprising, supported by the Finns. And here they acted together with the Madsens. In January-February 1922, a successful raid behind the rear of the Finnish interventionists in South Karelia was carried out by T. Antikainen’s ski detachment, composed of cadets of the International Military School and armed with Fedorov machine guns, “three-line guns” and six “Madsen” light machine guns.

The appearance of the Kovrov plant is perhaps the main and most significant trace left by the Madsen submachine gun in Russia. But the significance of the “Madsen” in the history of the domestic machine gun business was not limited to this. We can talk about the “tactical” role: it was said above that the “Madsen” became a kind of “training tool” that made it possible to determine the place of such weapons in the army’s weapons system and the methods of its use. In technical terms, it rather demonstrated the inconvenience of complex structures in production and operation. But although the Madsen was recognized as difficult and cumbersome, some of its design solutions were used by domestic gunsmiths. Its cooling system, the design of a replaceable barrel, casing and bipod can be found in the famous experimental Fedorov-Degtyarev light machine gun of 1922. Features of the “Madsen” can also be seen in the configuration of the butt and barrel casing of the light machine gun mod. 1927 Degtyarev system (DP).

About the further fate of “Madsen”

And in conclusion, a few words about the service of the Madsen machine gun in other armies. In addition to Russia, Madsen light machine guns in several modifications, in calibers from 6.5 to 7.92 mm and with magazines of different capacities, were used in different years by the armies of Bulgaria, Brazil, Denmark, China, Mexico, Norway, Paraguay, Thailand, Uruguay , Finland, Chile, Sweden, Estonia. There are more than 30 countries in total, mostly small ones. The Paraguayan army, for example, used Madsens during the war with Bolivia from 1932 to 1935.

The Danish, Swedish and Norwegian cavalry received the Madsen model 1920 light machine guns, which were distinguished by an easily replaceable barrel-box-breech assembly - the machine gunner could replace it in the field without tools. More precisely, a whole family of machine guns was created, initially designated by the letters of the Greek alphabet: the manual “Alpha” weighing 7.3 kg, with a barrel shortened to 453 mm, with or without a bipod (a bayonet could be attached to the machine gun for hand-to-hand combat); "Beta" and "Gamma" with other barrel options; “Eta” weighing 8.5 kg with a barrel length of 588 mm and a DRS tripod with an anti-aircraft rack (another attempt to create a “universal” machine gun); tank "Epsilon". Since the mid-1920s, Dansk Industri Sundikat A/S (DISA) actively offered the Madsen models 1903/24 and 1924 on the market. This was the following family of modernized machine guns: shortened manual, “universal” air-cooled on a universal tripod machine, easel with water cooling and belt feeding, aviation for a fixed installation, twin aviation for a turret installation with drum magazines for 50 rounds. The light machine gun had a sector-shaped box magazine attached to the top for 30 rounds, the sight ranged from 200 to 2000 m every 50 m, and the trigger was improved. The machine gunners preferred not to use the rear support and the folding shoulder pad of the butt. Likewise, the universal tripod machine did not achieve success, although data from tests of the Madsen 1924 on a field machine revived the discussion about a single machine gun in a number of countries. The experimental Madsen tripod machine was equipped with a mechanism for automatic dispersion in depth - later a similar mechanism appeared on the German Lafette 34 machine for a single MG.34 machine gun. With a relatively small scale of production, the geography of distribution and popularity of Madsen machine guns were quite large, so that the weapons “Syndicate” made the name “Madsen” its trademark.

Using the same scheme, a 20-mm “anti-tank machine gun” (automatic cannon) “Madsen” was created on a massive tripod machine with a detachable wheel drive. The mass of the “body” of such a “machine gun” was 55 kg, on the machine – up to 150 kg, a projectile weighing 165 g with an initial speed of 780 m/s at a distance of 175 m penetrated armor up to 55 mm thick. This “machine gun” with a drum magazine could be used both on a bipod (in combination with a rear support) and on a motorcycle mount. Its use was limited. But the same system as the 20-mm Madsen anti-aircraft gun with a rate of fire of 180 rounds/min, as well as 20- and 23-mm Madsen aircraft guns with magazine (60 rounds) or belt (100 rounds) feed were sold quite successfully . A 20-mm aircraft cannon weighing 55 kg (without magazine) gave a rate of fire of 250-300 rounds/min and gave a 112-g projectile an initial speed of 890 m/s. The mass of the 23-mm cannon was reduced to 52 kg, the rate of fire was increased to 400 rounds/min, and the initial speed of the 173-g projectile was 675 m/s. For aircraft and anti-aircraft guns, the short (less than the length of the cartridge) rollback of the moving system turned out to be especially beneficial, reducing the overall length of the weapon.

Model 1942 Madsen light machine gun, converted in Germany

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the Madsenes again found themselves in the hands of soldiers of the Soviet and German armies. The Red Army received these machine guns after annexing the Baltic states in 1940, but left them mainly in warehouses during the retreat (then “Madsens” were found in the hands of Soviet partisans). The German army took the Madsens in the same 1940 in Denmark and Norway (the Norwegian 6.5-mm model was designated M22), and, feeling an acute shortage of weapons, accepted them as weapons of a “limited standard” and decided to adapt them to their own needs. needs. In 1942, the machine gun was converted to accept the 7.92 mm Mauser cartridge, and a receiver was installed under a loose link metal belt for 100 rounds - the cartridge box with the belt was attached to the left side of the box. The machine gun received a rack-mount sight, a removable shoulder rest instead of a permanent butt, a wooden pistol grip, a German stamped bipod, and could also fire from a tripod - in the latter case, it was used mainly as an anti-aircraft gun, which required an increase in the rate of fire. Modified models 1903/24 and 1924 entered service with the Wehrmacht under the designations MG.158(d) and 159(d), and from mid-1943 their production in Copenhagen was increased. Such “Madsens” were used, for example, in the Luftwaffe.

Portuguese M1946

The 6.5-mm shortened Madsens, which were in service with the army of the Dutch East Indies, after its occupation became a trophy of the Japanese army and found use there.

For a long time, Madsens chambered for .30-06 remained in service in Brazil. Some of the Brazilian Madsens were converted to chamber 7.62x51 NATO. Over time, the army handed them over to the police. So, in terms of service life, the first serial Madsen light machine gun can be compared with machine guns of the Maxim system.

Madsen model 1950 light machine gun on a universal machine, in position for firing at aerial targets

As for Denmark itself, the production of Madsen machine guns continued at least until 1950, and the Danish army retained them until the mid-1950s, but ultimately chose the German single machine gun MG1A1 (Danish designation M62), especially that Germany has become Denmark's closest NATO partner.

Semyon Fedoseev

Operating countries

Norwegian soldiers with a Madsen machine gun. 1928

Danish soldiers. April 1940

Yugoslav partisans. 1944

• Russian Empire - in 1905-06, 1280 machine guns and more than 100 thousand magazines were supplied [2] During the Russo-Japanese War, about 600 machine guns were used in the cavalry; due to identified shortcomings, it was not adopted for service, but the cavalrymen urgently demanded that these machine guns be armed. The Kovrov Machine Gun Factory was engaged in its own licensed production of machine guns (officially they were classified as “Madsen guns” or “machine guns”) on machines imported from Denmark under a contract with the First Russian Joint Stock Company of Gun and Machine Gun Factories (license holder and state supplier) .[3]. Used during the First World War, revolution and civil war

• in 1905, the military organization of the RSDLP purchased a batch of machine guns to arm its fighters, but the cargo did not reach the end user; according to the official version, one batch was detained on April 17, 1905 by the Revel Imperial Customs, the second batch of machine guns was transported on a schooner, which sank or sat down stranded in the Baltic Sea.

• Bulgaria - a number of 8-mm Madsen machine guns of the 1924 model were in service with the Bulgarian army[1]
• Brazil - were in service with the Brazilian army (chambered 7.62 × 63 mm), later Madsen machine guns removed from the army's arsenal, converted to the 7.62 × 51 mm NATO cartridge, were transferred to the police[1], where they are used up to present time.
• Great Britain - during the First World War, a number of Madsen machine guns, manufactured by , were installed on British armored vehicles[1]
• Germany - a number of Madsen machine guns chambered for the German 7.92 × 57 mm cartridge were in service in light “musket battalions”, mountain units, and later in assault battalions during the First World War[1]. The first "musket battalions" were introduced into battle in August 1915 in Champagne[4]
• Denmark - in service until the early 1950s[1]
• Norway - a number of machine guns chambered for the 6.5 × 55 mm Mauser cartridge were in service with the Norwegian army even before the outbreak of the First World War [5], after the German occupation of Norway in 1940, captured machine guns came into the possession of the German occupation forces
• Paraguay - the Paraguayan army had a number of machine guns; they were used during the Chaco War against Bolivia[1]
• USSR - a number of machine guns were used by the Red Army during the civil war (for example, during the fighting in Karelia in the winter of 1921-1922, Toivo Antikainen’s ski squad had six Madsen machine guns), a number more entered service in 1940-1941 . from the arsenals of the Baltic countries,[1] machine guns from tsarist warehouse stocks were in service with militia divisions and were used during the battle for Moscow[6]
• Germany - captured French 8-mm Madsen machine guns were used under the name MG 157(f)
  . After the German occupation of Denmark in 1941-1942, Danish machine guns became available to the Wehrmacht, and a belt-fed version was produced[1].
• Finland - in the spring of 1920, the first 162 machine guns chambered for 7.62 x 54 mm were purchased, a total of 729 were purchased by the end of 1923, they were in service until 1937 (under the name 7.62 pk/20
  ), when 612 pieces were sold Estonia, and the rest were sent to warehouses[7]
• Sweden - adopted before the outbreak of the First World War[5]
• Estonia - in 1937, 612 chambered for 7.62 × 54 mm were sold to Estonia from Finland[7]
• Japan - captured 6.5-mm machine guns of the army of the Dutch East Indies after the occupation of this colony entered service with the Japanese troops[1]

in the Russian Empire

Madsen M1903-14 in the museum

Option for the Russian 7.62 mm cartridge

Option for the Russian 7.62 mm cartridge

Option for the Russian 7.62-mm cartridge
The issue of supplying the Russian army with machine guns became acute with the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in January 1904, during which the Russian Empire was armed with machine guns of the Maxim system, mainly on heavy, difficult-to-handle wheeled machines. There were few machine guns on tripods. Meanwhile, the troops, especially the cavalry, urgently needed a light machine gun. The Danish Madsen light machine gun met these requirements.

In September 1904, the first model of the machine gun entered testing at the Officer Rifle School, as a result of which on September 15, 1904, the first contract was concluded for the supply from Denmark of 50 machine guns of the 1904 model chambered for the Russian 7.62 × 54 mm cartridge for arming cavalry. On February 5, 1905, a second contract was signed for the supply of another 200 machine guns. Of the 250 machine guns delivered by October 1905, 210 were distributed among 35 mounted machine gun teams trained at the Officer Rifle School, the remaining 40 were left at the Officer Rifle School. On June 23, 1905, another 30 machine guns were ordered for the border guard of the Trans-Amur District, which were transferred to guard the facilities of the Chinese Eastern Railway. On July 9, 1905, another contract was concluded to supply the War Ministry with 1000 machine guns, 100 thousand magazines and 125 “loaders”, but due to the end of the Russo-Japanese War, these machine guns did not end up in the active army [2].

There have been cases of the use of Madsen machine guns during the revolution of 1905-1907. (110 machine guns were transferred to the machine gun teams of the Life Guards and 60 units to the Don Cossack Army)[2].

In 1906, the remaining machine guns began to arrive in the cavalry and primary Cossack units, first in the Caucasus and then in other districts, at a rate of six combat and one training submachine gun per regiment. Also, the regiments were given money to independently prepare leather holsters and cartridge bags, which caused a protest from the “Syndicate”, which saw the ordering of these products in Russia as a violation of their rights. In 1908, submachine guns were also issued to the second-rank Cossack regiments of the Caucasian district. The repair of submachine guns was carried out by the Tula Arms Plant, but they did not produce spare parts. After the Maxim machine gun mod. 1910, it was decided to gradually replace the Madsen machine guns with them. As of January 1, 1911, 874 Madsen submachine guns remained in service in 137 cavalry, horse and Cossack regiments and four Cossack divisions, another 156 were in warehouses and 29 in training schools. In addition, there were 143 training and 48 “unusable and in need of correction” submachine guns. In the fall of 1911, “Madsens” began to be withdrawn from cavalry units and transferred to the arsenal of fortresses[5].

In 1915, in order to reduce the general shortage of machine guns in the active army, the Main Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of War (GAU) collected in the fortresses and through the Petrograd warehouse transferred still suitable “Madsen” to the front, some of which were “corrected” (repaired and modified) before shipment cartridge with a pointed bullet) at the Sestroretsk and Tula arms factories[5].

In August 1915, the GAU reported that stocks of Madsen machine guns were “no longer available”[5].

At the same time, the war exacerbated the need for light machine guns for infantry, cavalry, aeronautics and river combat fleets. They tried to order machine guns from the Entente allies, but they themselves felt an urgent need for this machine gun.

On October 18, 1915, the Danish arms company approached the Russian military attaché in Rome with a proposal to sell Madsen machine guns chambered for the 7-mm Mauser cartridge (the appeal through an intermediary was due to the reluctance to jeopardize Denmark's neutrality in the First World War), December 31 In 1915, the War Ministry was given one machine gun as a sample[1].

As of January 1, 1917, there were 335 Madsen machine guns in the active army [5].

In August 1916, construction began in the city of Kovrov, the owners of which were Danes, and the machines and equipment for the plant came from Copenhagen (Russian personnel were hired only for secondary positions, for work of the “lowest ranks”), in January 1917 the plant received a license for the exclusive production of the “Madsen three-line submachine gun” with all accessories, “for the supply of such to the Russian army and navy, both in war and in peacetime.” On January 28, 1917, Agreement No. 21 was concluded with the Main Artillery Directorate for the production and supply of 15,000 machine guns (at a price of 1,733 rubles 30 kopecks per machine gun with spare parts and accessories), production was planned to begin 5 months from the date of signing the agreement. On August 12, 1917, GAU acceptance tests of the first four machine guns manufactured in Kovrov with spare barrels took place, which turned out to be unsuccessful[1][8].

20-mm machine gun M1935 "Madsen"

To many specialists in the 1920-1930s, a large-caliber machine gun or an automatic small-caliber cannon seemed to be the most successful and universal solution to two problems at once - combating armored vehicles at medium and short ranges and against air targets at low altitudes.

The rapid development of combat aircraft and armored vehicles after the First World War also spurred the development of heavy machine guns.

QUESTION OF APPROACH

Two directions stood out: machine guns of 12.7-14.5 mm caliber and automatic cannons of 20-25 mm caliber close to them. In the latter case, it was possible to increase not only the armor penetration of the projectile (or bullet, if the weapon was considered a machine gun), but also the destructive power against an air target or manpower. Among the “anti-tank-anti-aircraft machine guns” with a minimum artillery caliber of 20 mm, one can recall the Danish “Madsen” system.

LARGE-CALIBER “PROPTION”

The 20mm “universal” M1935 “Madsen” became an offshoot of the “Madsen” family of machine guns. The Madsen (Skobe-Madsen) system appeared at the very beginning of the 20th century and became so famous that its main one in Copenhagen (Dansk Industri Syndikat, Compagnie Madsen A/S or DISA) made the name “Madsen” its trademark. Since the mid-1920s, the syndicate has been actively offering on the market not only the new family of normal-caliber Madsen machine guns, but also large-caliber models of the same system - for ground and aircraft installations.

MACHINE GUN DEVICE

The “machine gun” was chambered for a 20 x 120 caliber cartridge according to the old design of the “Madsen” machine gun with an automatic recoil engine with a short barrel stroke and a swinging bolt. The air-cooled barrel was equipped with a muzzle brake. The moving system was mounted inside a box connected to the barrel casing. The complex-shaped bolt swung in a vertical plane, but did not move along the axis of the barrel. When the moving system rolled back, the bolt rose, unlocking the barrel. After ejecting the spent cartridge down, the bolt was lowered to the lower position, which opened the receiver into which the next cartridge was dropped. During the reverse movement of the moving system, the cartridge was sent into the chamber by a rammer on top of the bolt, then the bolt was raised and locked the barrel bore.

Read: MP 18 and MP 28 submachine guns

The swinging bolt ensured reliable locking and made it possible to shorten the box, since the recoil length of the entire moving system was less than the length of the cartridge. In a large-caliber system this was a particularly noticeable advantage. However, with this design, separate ejector and rammer were required, the operation of which had to be synchronized with the movement of the automation, so the design of the weapon became more complicated. The swinging reloading handle was located on the right side of the box. The trigger mechanism allowed for single or automatic fire. The cartridges were fed from a detachable drum magazine with a capacity of 15 or 30 rounds, attached to the left side of the box. The ammunition included cartridges with armor-piercing (weighing 154-160 g), armor-piercing tracer (146 g), fragmentation (127 g) projectiles.

The presence of a fragmentation projectile, we note, allows us to classify the 20-mm Madsen as a cannon. For shooting at ground targets, a standard sector sight was used, and for air targets, a removable ring sight was used.

INSTALLATIONS

The 20-mm M1935 "Madsen" could be used on various installations:

— a field carriage similar to a simplified artillery one, on low wheels, with sliding frames and folding coulters. The carriage was designed for horse-drawn traction, transportation on packs, rolling or carrying by hand (in parts); - massive M1937 tripod machine with detachable wheel travel. With the use of an additional rack, anti-aircraft shooting was possible. In this version, the weapon was usually called a “light universal cannon”; — bipod in combination with an adjustable rear support and a removable shoulder rest. This option was called a “heavy anti-tank rifle”, and, of course, they tried to fire it in single shots. For an “anti-tank rifle” the weapon turned out to be bulky and not accurate enough; — gimbal installation for use as a casemate or ship gun. The 20-mm Madsen M1935 was mounted on a motorcycle for use in motorized units, and on a towed four-legged anti-aircraft carriage for air defense units.

Read: Pistols that changed history

IN ARMS

In the Danish army, the 20-mm Madsens M1935 were in service with infantry fire support companies (six machine guns per company) - mainly on universal installations. After the occupation of Denmark, the 20-mm Madsens went to the German Wehrmacht, which successfully used them as an air defense weapon. This corresponds to the general fate of “universal” machine guns - their “anti-tank” role during the Second World War was reduced to a minimum, but their use as anti-aircraft weapons increased significantly.

Until 1940, the “Madsen” in the “light cannon” version was also sold abroad - mainly to small countries (Finland, Sweden, Ireland). As a result, the 20mm Madsen was used by a number of armies. After World War II, 20-mm Madsens were still in service in some countries.

TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS 20-mm M1935 “MADSEN”

• Cartridge, mm: 20 x 120 “Madsen”
• Weight of the machine gun “body” without cartridges, kg: 55
• Weight of the machine gun on the mount, kg: - on a light field carriage: 100-160 - on a universal mount: 265-282 - on a bipod: 62
• Machine gun “body” length, mm: 1824
• Barrel length, mm: 1200
• Initial projectile speed, m/s: 730 (armor-piercing)
• Muzzle energy of the projectile, J: 42,632 (armor-piercing)
• Rate of fire, rds/min: 500
• Combat rate of fire, single/automatic, rounds/min: 8-10/120
• Aimed firing range, m: 1800
• Effective firing range, m: 500
• Thickness of pierced armor at a distance (armor-piercing projectile): - 100 m: 42 mm - 300 m: 37 mm - 500 m: 30-32 mm
• Magazine capacity: 15 or 30 rounds
• Calculation, people: 2-3

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Notes

1. ↑ 123456789101112
   Semyon Fedoseev. Russian career of the Madsen submachine gun (part III) // Master Gun magazine, No. 6 (159), June 2010. pp. 42-51
2. ↑ 12345
   Semyon Fedoseev. Russian career of the Madsen submachine gun (part I) // Master Gun magazine, No. 2 (155), February 2010. pp. 48-56
3. History of the creation and development of the military-industrial complex of Russia and the USSR, 1900-1963. - M., 2005. - T. 2 - P. 91.
4. Ian Drury, Gerry Embleton. German Stormtrooper, 1914-18. London, Reed International Books Ltd., 1995. page 14
5. ↑ 123456
   Semyon Fedoseev. Russian career of the Madsen submachine gun (part II) // Master Gun magazine, No. 3 (156), March 2010. pp. 58-63
6. Zhuk Yu. A.
   Unknown pages of the battle for Moscow. - M.: AST, 2008. - P. 65 - 731 p. — ISBN 978-5-17-039641-2.
7. ↑ 12
   7.62 mm light machinegun M/20 Madsen
8. August 15, 1916 // “Master Gun” magazine, No. 8 (149), August 2009. p.96