The Fiat–Revelli Modello 1914 was an Italian water-cooled medium machine gun produced from 1914 to 1918. It was the standard machine-gun of the Italian Army in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, and was used in limited numbers into
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The ammunition was fed from an awkward large box magazine, which could hold 50 rounds and fired the same 6.5mm round issued for the Carcano rifle. Like many machine guns of that period, it was water cooled and somewhat cumbersome.
Overview
It was very similar to the
Maxim
Maxim or Maksim may refer to:
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*Maxim (magazine), ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine
** Maxim (Australia), ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition
** Maxim (India), ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition
*Maxim ...
in appearance (it had a similar-looking water-cooling jacket and tripod), even though its internal workings were entirely different.
Some sources claim that it had a cartridge-oiling system, but the weapon manual does not mention its presence, and it seems that only a 1930 version briefly incorporated such a system. It was fed from a 50-round or 100-round magazine referred to as a "strip-feed box," divided into ten or twenty compartments, each fed from a rifle clip.
It was chambered for the
6.5×52mm Carcano, which eased logistics (as it was the same cartridge of the
Carcano rifle, though it could not be loaded using the 6-round en-bloc clips issued for rifles) but made it somewhat underpowered compared to higher-calibre weapons, weighed (the tripod weighed ) and had a firing rate of 400-500 rpm (rounds-per-minute), rather low for this type of machine gun.
One feature was the presence of
select-fire, which allowed for the choice between single shot, "normal" fire, and full automatic fire.
It was developed into the
Fiat–Revelli Modello 1935.
The machine gun saw some use within armored vehicles, such as the Ansaldo Light Tank Prototype 1931,
a precursor to the
L3/33 tankette.
References
Sources
*
*
External links
YouTube Animation showing mechanism of Fiat-Revelli machine gunYouTube Animation illustrating some additional features of Revelli mechanism
Further reading
Manual (in Italian)
World War I Italian infantry weapons
World War II infantry weapons of Italy
Medium machine guns
World War I machine guns
World War II machine guns
Machine guns of Italy
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