
The Fiat–Revelli 35 was an Italian machine gun, a modified version of the
Fiat–Revelli Modello 1914
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.
Overview
It was ve ...
, which had equipped the Italian Army of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
.
Overview

The gun has an overall length of 1700 mm, including its 650 mm barrel. Unloaded, the gun weighs 17 kg, while the tripod weighed 23 kg. Like the Modello 1914, the Modello 35 is a complete weapon system made up of the machine gun unit, the tripod mounting assembly and ammunition supply, and therefore required a multi-person crew to operate.
The Modello 1914 had seen widespread use during the World War I, but its flaws (excessive weight, water-cooling and its use of the underpowered
6.5x52mm Carcano) became more and more apparent as time passed; while the Italian Army was beginning to develop the new
Breda M37
The Mitragliatrice Breda calibro 8 modello 37 (commonly known as the Breda mod. 37 or simply Breda 37) was an Italian Medium machine gun produced by Breda and adopted in 1937 by the Royal Italian Army. It was the standard heavy machine gun for t ...
, it was seen convenient to modernize the many Modello 1914s still existent. The Modello 35 opted for a more conventional belt feed, air-cooling, rechambering for the
8x59mm RB Breda and, after an unsuccessful attempt, discarding an oil pump to lubricate the bullets as on the
Breda 30
The ''Fucile Mitragliatore Breda modello'' 30 was the standard light machine gun of the Royal Italian Army during World War II.
Design
The Breda 30 was rather unusual for a light machine gun. It was fed from a fixed magazine attached to the righ ...
light machine gun (but some sources claim that, as the Modello 1914, this weapon still featured this troublesome design, which is not mentioned in any of the technical manuals). Also, the machine gun was prone to the cook-off of the chambered rounds during the pauses of firing.
[The Italian Army 1940-45 (1): Europe 1940-43 By Philip S. Jowett, p. 13]
The rechambering to the 8mm calibre and the adoption of a
belt feed succeeded in improving both the
stopping power
Stopping power is the ability of a weapon – typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm – to cause a target (human or animal) to be incapacitated or immobilized. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a weapon ...
and the rate of fire of the machine-gun; however, it reportedly suffered from jammings rather often.
See also
*
Breda M37
The Mitragliatrice Breda calibro 8 modello 37 (commonly known as the Breda mod. 37 or simply Breda 37) was an Italian Medium machine gun produced by Breda and adopted in 1937 by the Royal Italian Army. It was the standard heavy machine gun for t ...
Notes and references
External links
* https://www.forgottenweapons.com/wp-content/uploads/Fiat%20Revelli/Fiat-Revelli%201935%20Manual%20(Italian,%201941).pdf
World War II infantry weapons of Italy
World War II machine guns
Heavy machine guns
Machine guns of Italy
8×59mm RB Breda machine guns
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