Italy's Worst Machine Gun: The Breda Modello 30

The Breda Model 30 was the standard Italian light machine gun of World War II, and is a serious contender for “worst machine gun ever”. Yes, given the choice we would prefer to have a Chauchat (which really wasn’t as bad as people today generally think).

The Breda 30 suffered from all manner of problems. To begin with, it was far more complicated than necessary. The amount of machining needed to build one is mind boggling compared to contemporary guns like the ZB26/Bren or BAR. And for all that work, it just didn’t work well in combat conditions.

Mechanically, the Breda used a short recoil action with a rotating bolt The recoil action meant that the barrel moved with each shot, so the sights were mounted on the receiver to keep them fixed. This seems like a good idea, but it meant that the sights would need to be re-zeroed each time the barrel was changed. To compound this, the gun fired from a closed bolt which made it more susceptible to overheating and it was recommended to change barrels every 200 rounds or so. An oiling mechanism was built in to lightly oil each cartridge on feeding. This allowed the gun to extract without ripping rims off the cases, but was a disaster waiting to happen on the battlefield. In places like North Africa, the oil acted as a magnet for sand and dust, leading to quick jamming if the gun were not kept scrupulously clean.

The next huge judgment error on Breda’s part was the magazine. The thought behind it was that magazine feed lips are easily damaged in the field, and they can be protected by building them into the gun receiver rather than in each cheap disposable box magazine (the Johnson LMG and Madsen LMG recognized this issue as well). However, Breda’s solution was to make the 20-round magazine a permanent part of the gun. The magazine was attached to the receiver by a hinge pin, and was reloaded by special 20-round stripper clips. This meant that reloading took significantly longer than changing magazines, and any damage to the one attached magazine would render the gun inoperable. As if anything else were needed, the magazine was made with a big opening on top to allow the gunner to see how many rounds remained – and to let more of that North African sand into the action.

Most of the Breda Model 30s were made in 6.5 Carcano, but a small number were made in 7.35 Carcano when that cartridge was adopted. The rate of fire was about 500 rounds per minute, which was a bit slower than most other machine guns of the day.

[HeVsuit]

With all those springs, there must be a button that launches the barrel as a dart

[mariosebastiani]

I guess this was the MG my grandfather was issued with during WWII. He was an MG operator on the French border at the beginning of war (didn't see action, cause they were sent to conquer a French fortification but found that already abandoned). He told me he won a bunch of prizes on competitions on the shooting range, on 2-shots and 5-shots bursts. I asked him "so, this means you were really accurate?"
His answer: "it means I could fire the damn thing without jamming it".

[jameskoch]

When they want you to design a machine gun and you have a controlling stake in the Italian spring industry.

[BoloH.]

Plot twist: the ammunition does not have any gunpowder but the bullets are just spring loaded.

[miguelencanarias]

I can't believe they missed the opportunity to add a few more springs when they designed the bipod.

[metalmikefreeman]

Hallo...
My grandfather he used the Breda 30 machine gun during his military service. during the Second World War he was a simple soldier in a coastal infantry department in the city of Falconara Marittima, on the Adriatic coast, a few kilometers from Ancona.He told me that he never managed to shoot more than 10 shots consecutively because the sand carried by the wind blocked the firing mechanism.
he also called Breda 30 with the nickname "La Giuda" (translatable in English as "she Judas") or "la maledetta troia" (Seems likes "The cursed bitch") ...
he was lucky not to have had to use it in action ...

Please forgive me for my Bad english.

[sebastijanglozinic]

My grandfather used to be in the Yugoslav Parisan. He used to say that when they heard a machinegun fire fast bursts, they knew they were fighting Germans, if they heard a slow pop, pop, pop, they were fighting Italians. The Partisans captured a few of those, they made use of them because any machinegun is better then no machinegun. But they much prefered German MG-34s and later on, the Brens that they got from the British via supply drops.

[salty_armorer]

I'm surprised that the inventor wasn't tried for treason over this thing.

[BloodyCrow__]

When the stripper clip is as big as a magazine, They might of well have made it use magazines.

[Airanbanshee]

when a gun requires 4 levers on magazine alone, you can already see the problem.

[bchin]

"Had trouble in dusty conditions..."

"Let's invade North Africa!"

[POTUSJimmyCarter]

I'm just gonna go ahead and assume the designer of this weapon was the majority shareholder of a spring factory

[jolly_paddles]

This gun has by far the most unmotivated firing pin I've ever seen.

[charkiboich]

The hell is it with so many MGs from this time being like "Ah yes, support weapon. Give it like 4 round capacity and full auto capability." it's like they thought ammunition was an accessory that was nice to have.

[flyboymike]

I actually really like that side swinging magazine. Not for a practical reason, it's just neat.

[Junotrooper]

Wow. Ian said, "I don't know what this does." That doesn't happen very often.

[sobchakvideos]

My grandpa, an italian army infantry nco, hated this LMG with deep passion. He served in Italian East Africa and North Africa between the late 1930s and early 1940s. He always said Breda 30 was good only for the shooting range: accurate, but overcomplicated and unreliable in real combat conditions. Not surprisingly, most of the feedbacks from the frontline were negative or poor. Great vid though.. and the Alpini troops hat was the icing on the cake :-) You're the coolest, Ian. ~Aleks

[TheRealJman]

This thing looks like it would have been stupidly expensive to manufacture

[juliosunga]

they love their olive oil so much, they even put it on their machine guns.

[TheLastPariah]

So in the event you come under attack while you have the rifle disassembled, you can just shoot the firing pin at them. A clever design feature.