Ckm wz. 30 (short for ''ciężki karabin maszynowy wz. 30''; "heavy machine gun 1930 Pattern") is a Polish-made clone of the American
Browning M1917
The M1917 Browning machine gun is a heavy machine gun used by the Military of the United States, United States armed forces in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War; it has also been used by other nations. It was a crew-se ...
heavy machine gun
A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light machine gun, light, medium machine gun, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require weapon mount, mountin ...
. Produced with various modifications such as greater caliber, longer
barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...
and adjustable
sighting device,
it was an improved although unlicensed copy of its predecessor, and was the standard machine gun of the
Polish Army
The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stret ...
from 1931.
[Erenfeicht, Leszek (2013). ''Ckm wz.1930'']
Design and development
After
Poland regained her independence in 1918, her armed forces were armed with a variety of different weapons, mostly a legacy of the armies of her former occupying powers. As with its rifles and carbines, the
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
s used by the
Polish Army
The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stret ...
in the
Polish–Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War (Polish–Bolshevik War, Polish–Soviet War, Polish–Russian War 1919–1921)
* russian: Советско-польская война (''Sovetsko-polskaya voyna'', Soviet-Polish War), Польский фронт (' ...
included the Russian 7.62 mm
M1910 Maxim, the Austrian 1907 8 mm
Schwarzlose MG M.07/12, the German 7.92 mm
Maschinengewehr 08
The ''Maschinengewehr'' 08, or MG 08, was the German Army (German Empire), German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an adaptation of Hiram Stevens Maxim, Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim gun. It was produced in a number of va ...
, and the French 8 mm
Hotchkiss Mle 1914. Such diversity was a logistical nightmare, and in the early 1920s the General Staff of the
Polish Army
The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stret ...
decided to replace all older machine guns with a new design, specifically built to Polish designations.
[Leszek Erenfeicht]
CKM Browning wz.30 – Klon lepszy od oryginału ("Clone better than original")
(in Polish) Magnum-X.pl, 2008; reprint. Retrieved
Initially the Hotchkiss machine gun, proven during the Polish–Soviet War and adapted to the standard Polish 7.92 mm round (as the
Ckm wz. 25 Hotchkiss), had the most supporters. In late 1924 and early 1925, 1,250 were ordered from France and the Polish Ministry of War started talks on buying the license for manufacturing copies in Poland. However, the first tests of the post-war Hotchkiss machine guns proved that the new production were well below both Polish needs and maker's specifications, and the talks came to a halt. By the end of 1927, the ministry organized a contest for a new standard all-purpose heavy machine gun.
[ Ciężki Karabin Maszynowy wz.30](_blank)
''Wielka Encyklopedia Uzbrojenia M.S.Wojsk. 1918 - 1939'' ("Great Encyclopedia of Armaments"). Retrieved
Four companies took part in the competition: the American
Colt
Colt(s) or COLT may refer to:
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People
* Colt (given name)
*Colt (surname)
Places
*Colt, Arkansas, United States
*Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...
company with the M1928 (modified export variant of the
Browning M1917A1
The M1917 Browning machine gun is a heavy machine gun used by the United States armed forces in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War; it has also been used by other nations. It was a crew-served, belt-fed, water-cooled ma ...
), a
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
n-built rechambered version of Schwarzlose M.7/12 (Schwarzlose-Janeček vz.7/24), the British
Vickers machine gun
The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a Water cooling, water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more me ...
converted to 7.92mm caliber, and Hotchkiss with improved wz.25 model.
All initial tests were won by Browning. The tests were repeated in 1928, and again the American weapon won, so the Polish ministry decided to purchase a license. The price, however, was very high ($450,000), and Colt demanded an order for 3,000 guns in its own factories.
It turned out that neither the Colt company nor its European representative, the Vickers-Armstrong, had patented the design in Poland. In addition, the documentation of a recently purchased license for
Browning Automatic Rifle
The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) is a family of American automatic rifles and machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the . ...
(via Colt's agent, Belgian company
Fabrique Nationale de Herstal
Fabrique Nationale Herstal (), trading as FN Herstal and often referred to as Fabrique Nationale or simply FN, is a leading firearms manufacturer based in Herstal, Belgium. It is currently the largest exporter of military small arms in Europe.
...
) was faulty, and deliveries were delayed, which discouraged the Polish from further orders abroad. Because of that, the Polish ministry decided to order the preparation of a local version of the Browning M1917 at ''
Fabryka Karabinow'' ("Rifle Factory") in Warsaw.
Modifications
In mid-1930 the first test models were ready and were sent to various testing ranges. In March 1931 the first 200 models were sent to front-line units for further tests under the designation of Ckm wz.30.
Serial production started by the end of that year. Among the most notable differences between the original and the Polish clone were:
![Warsaw Uprising by Bukowski - machine gun - 76](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Warsaw_Uprising_by_Bukowski_-_machine_gun_-_76.jpg)
# Different calibre, adapted to the Polish standard
7.92×57mm Mauser ammunition
#
Loophole iron sights replaced with V-notch sights
# Butt handle of the weapon was lengthened for easier carriage
# Longer barrel for greater precision and accuracy
# Rifle lock was modified for easier exchange of used-up barrels
# The lock was modified for easier handling
# New mounting was adapted, with a mast for
anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
fire
# Sights were adapted for anti-aircraft fire as well as a handle for aiming in the air was added
# Added flame suppressor
Three types of a tripod mounting were developed and used in Poland. First was wz.30 mounting for infantry (weight 29.3 kg), superseded with improved wz.34 mounting (26.3 kg). Cavalry adopted more modern wz.36 mounting instead (17 kg). All tripods could be used for anti-aircraft fire, using a mast, transported in a rear leg in case of infantry mountings, or folded below the barrel and fulfilling also a role of a recoil shock absorber, in case of the cavalry mounting.
[
Following the first tests, a series of additional modifications was introduced. In 1938 the ]trigger
Trigger may refer to:
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;Mononym
* Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers
;Nickname
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;Surname
* Bru ...
mechanism was replaced with a completely new, more reliable system. In addition, the lock was replaced for easier handling and keeping the weapon in good condition. The modified design received the designation of ''ckm wz.30a'', though the name was rarely used by the soldiers themselves. The new version was also the basis of a ''ckm wz.30/39T'' design, designed for export to Turkey and adapted to Turkish standard 7.65×53mm Argentine ammunition. However, the design was never introduced in large numbers as the Turkish competition was halted after World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
broke out. In the late 30s, Wilniewczyc and Skrzypinski designed experimental barrels with a rifled oval barrel bore (" Lancaster rifling"). The barrels were very expensive to produce, but gave a significant increase of the accuracy and longevity of the barrel. Altogether, between 1931 and 1939, the '' Fabryka Karabinow'' ("Rifle Factory") in Warsaw built at least 8,401 ckm wz.30 for the Polish Army, in addition to 200 of information series (available are only data until March 1939, and several hundreds more were probably built by September 1939). In addition, quite a big number - over 1,700 - was exported
An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...
by the SEPEWE syndicate to Republican Spain
The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 A ...
. There were trials to sell them also to other countries, like Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
, Bulgaria, Estonia, Yugoslavia and Argentina, but in spite of favourable participation in contests, the state factory had no resources to credit deliveries. Among others, in 1936 in Argentina the wz.30 machine gun was evaluated as more reliable and accurate than original Browning M1928, but Colt could ensure more favourable conditions of delivery. In 1938 Turkey ordered 500 wz.30/39T machine guns and probably at least part of this contract was fulfilled. Captured weapons were used by Nationalist Spain
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
, Nazi Germany and Romania. After 1939, many preserved wz.30 machine guns were used by Polish partisan units (mainly Home Army
The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...
), among others during Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...
.
Surviving examples
File:Karabin maszynowy wz. 30 Base Borden 1.jpg, MG wz. 30 on wz. 34 tripod at Base Borden Military Museum
File:Karabin maszynowy wz. 30 Base Borden 2.jpg
File:Karabin maszynowy wz. 30 Base Borden 3.jpg
V_rekonstrukcja_Bitwy_o_Mławę,_miasto_0882.jpg, Polish reenactors with a MG on wz. 36 tripod in AA position
Users
* Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...
*
* Second Spanish Republic
The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII, and was di ...
* Nationalist Spain
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
*
*
*:Supplied in small quantities by the Soviet Union in 1940
References
world.guns.ru
* Erenfeicht, Leszek. ''Ckm wz.1930'', "Wielki Leksykon Uzbrojenia. Wrzesień 1939" No.2. Edipresse Polska, 2013.
Further reading
*
{{WWIIPolishInfWeapons
7.92×57mm Mauser machine guns
World War II machine guns
Heavy machine guns
Machine guns of Poland
World War II infantry weapons of Poland
Science and technology in Poland
Military equipment introduced in the 1930s