Perino Model 1908 | |
Origin: | Kingdom of Italy, Austria-Hungary (captured) |
Type: | Heavy machine gun |
Is Ranged: | YES |
Used By: | Italy |
Wars: | Italo-Turkish War(limited)[1],World War I |
Designer: | Giuseppe Perino |
Design Date: | 1901 |
Weight: | 27kg |
Cartridge: | 6.5x52mm Carcano |
Action: | Recoil |
Rate: | 450RPM |
Feed: | 20 round strips |
Sights: | Iron |
The Perino Model 1908 was an early machine gun of Italian origin designed earlier in 1901 by Giuseppe Perino, an engineer (Tecnico dell'Artiglieria). Perino's design apparently was the first Italian-designed machine gun, and in its original configuration weighed in at a heavy 27kg (60lb), which made it largely unsuitable to field utilization and apt only for fortifications; a lightened 1910 version brought the weight down to 15kg (33lb). The gun was nonetheless adopted by the Regio Esercito and saw some use alongside the Fiat-Revelli Modello 14 and the Maxim guns. It had a unique feed mechanism, with a hopper on the side of the gun filled with up to five twenty-round clips rather than being belt fed. This allowed the loader to constantly keep the gun at maximum capacity, meaning the gun crew never had to stop to reload.