The Dror light machine gun (Hebrew for "Sparrow") was an Israeli light machine gun based on the M1941 Johnson light machine gun. Some Drors are on display at the IDF History Museum.

Development

Dror-M1951-light-machine-gun-batey-haosef-1

In 1946,

Ta'as Ta'as, an abbreviation of the Hebrew for "Military Industry" (Hebrew: ''Ta'asiya Tzvait''), was the clandestine arms industry of the Jewish settlement in Mandatory Palestine. In the 1930s, it was headed by Yisrael Amir.Milstein & Sacks, 1997, p. ...

studied plans to produce an indigenous light machine gun. By the end of the year, the

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

(precursor to the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

) bought the manufacturing rights to the

M1941 Johnson machine gun The M1941 Johnson Light Machine Gun, also known as the ''Johnson'' and the ''Johnny gun'', was an American recoil-operated light machine gun designed in the late 1930s by Melvin Johnson. It shared the same operating principle and many parts with ...

from the

Winchester Repeating Arms Company The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American manufacturer of repeating firearms and ammunition. The firm was established in 1866 by Oliver Winchester and was located in New Haven, Connecticut. The firm went into receivership ...

and developed the Dror in its own clandestine workshops. They were bought alongside manufacturing tools bought cheaply as scrap in the United States. Yisrael Galili was in charge of overseeing the Dror's production.

Design

The Dror was air-cooled and recoil-operated.http://modernfirearms.net/en/machineguns/israel-machineguns/dror-eng/ The barrel uses a rotary bolt with multiple radial lugs mounted. The Drors is fired from an open-bolt in full auto for better cooling, or from a closed-bolt in semi-auto for better accuracy. The Pattern 1 Drors had a physical resemblance to the Johnson, including the tall front sight and the barrel release. The Pattern 2 Drors had many changes from the first one by adapting to a rimless round and the use of modified 20-round BAR LMG magazines to balance the weapon. The barrel release was now located at the front barrel bearing with a heat shield, which is colored orange/brown, that can be removed without the need of using protective gloves. A folding cover is also mounted over the magazine well so that the gunner can close it to prevent dirt and other foul elements from going inside when the weapon is not used. A fire selector is located on the right side, above the pistol grip. The LMG has a metal butt, made up of two parallel steel tubes with a sheet-steel buttplate.

Production history

Because large amounts of British rifle ammunition were available, the Pattern 1 Dror was initially chambered in

.303 British The .303 British (designated as the 303 British by the C.I.P. and SAAMI) or 7.7×56mmR, is a calibre rimmed rifle cartridge. The .303 inch bore diameter is measured between rifling lands as is the common practice in Europe which follows th ...

. Around 800–1000 were made before production was halted due to feeding problems the armourers could not handle. The Pattern 2 Dror was built by IMI and was chambered in 7.92×57 mm Mauser to take advantage of large quantities of recently imported Mauser ammunition. In this pattern, the magazines were mounted vertically under the receiver.

Service history

Because of its oversensitivity to dusty environments, the Dror did not see combat service in the 1947–1949 War of Independence. Following combat simulation testing, the

selected the FN Model D (a derivative of the

M1918 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 . ...

) to replace the Dror in 1952.

References

{{IMI IWI smallarms Firearms of Israel Light machine guns .303 British machine guns 7.92×57mm Mauser machine guns Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1947