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Fiat–Revelli Modello 1914
Italian water-cooled medium machine gun From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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, and was used in limited numbers into World War II.[2][3][4]
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It was very similar to the Maxim in appearance (it had a similar-looking water-cooling jacket and tripod), even though its internal workings were entirely different.
The water jacket has an unusual and thoughtful feature – in addition to the standard filling plug on top, it has two drain plugs on the bottom. One is to relieve steam pressure into a condensing can (as with all water-cooled guns), and the other allows the use of a manual recirculating pump to move condensed water back into the jacket.[3]
It was chambered for the 6.5×52mm Carcano, which eased logistics (as it was the same cartridge of the Carcano rifle) but made it somewhat underpowered compared to higher-calibre weapons, weighed 17 kg (37.48 lb) (the tripod weighed 22.4 kg (49.38 lb)) and had a firing rate of 400-500 rpm, rather low for this type of machine gun.[5]
One feature was the presence of select-fire, which allowed for the choice between single shot, "normal" fire, and full automatic fire.
Magazine
The Fiat–Revelli Modello 1914 was fed from a 50-round or 100-round magazine referred to as a multi-column strip-feed box magazine (or “squirrel cage” magazine[3]), divided into 10 or 20 separate columns, each holding 5 rounds under pressure with a separate spring. Loading could be done singly, or with a loading tool that allowe you to simultaneously load rounds into 5 of the columns.[3]
The unit is inserted in the left side of the gun, and indexes on the first column of cartridges. Once they are all fired, the box is pulled inward and indexes on the next column, somewhat like a typewriter. This continues until the final column is fired, at which point the box falls out the right side of the gun and a new one can be inserted.[3][4]
Despite being a fairly compact magazine, it had a multitude of problems:
- Flimsy construction — The magazines could easily be dented (in particular, when they fall out empty). Once dented, they would unlikely to work reliably. If any one of the ten recoil springs becomes weak, or any of the 20 feed lips is not quite right, the gun will malfunction.[3]
- Lack of compatibility — These magazines had no compatibility with the 6-round Mannlicher type clips Italy was using in their Carcano rifles at the time.[3][4]
This magazine system was changed in the later version of the Revelli, and not used by any other production guns ever.[3]
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Further development
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.[6]
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,[7] a precursor to the L3/33 tankette.
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