VMG 1927

VMG 1927 / MV 31
TypeLight machine gun
Place of originGermany
Production history
DesignerHeinrich Vollmer
Designed1927
Specifications
Mass11.48 kg[1]
Length1550 mm[1]
Barrel length717 mm[1]
Cartridge8×57mm IS
Caliber8 mm
Actionshort recoil[1]
Feed system50[citation needed] Round Drum Magazine
SightsIron sights

The VMG 1927 is a light machine gun designed by Heinrich Vollmer in 1927.

In 1916 Heinrich Vollmer began working on a design of a light machine gun. At the end the weapon was known as a MG Vollmer, later also as VMG 1927.[2]

It consisted of only 78 parts while the standard MG of those days, the MG 08/15 consisted of 383 parts.[3] It operated on the principle of short recoil with a rotary locking mechanism for the bolt, carried by helical grooves.[1] It was fed from a small drum magazine underneath the receiver.

In 1927 Vollmer also obtained a patent covering the breech mechanism of the weapon.[2] Later on, Vollmer co-developed the gun with Mauser Werke as the MV 31 (Mauser-Vollmer 1931). It was offered to the German ordnance board (Inspektion für Waffen und Gerät - IWG) but, after testing, it was not adopted for service. This gun had a quick-change barrel and used a drum magazine.[2]

Two examples are known to exist, one is at the Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung Koblenz and the other at the Vojenský historický ústav Praha.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Pokusný kulomet MG 27". Vojenský Historický Ústav Praha. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  2. ^ a b c Heinrich Vollmer (1885-1961) translation to English from Samopal M.P.38 a MP40 by Martin Helebrant, published in Czech by Nakladatelstvi Elka Press, ISBN 978-80-87057-02-5
  3. ^ "Maschinengewehre".


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