It is not obvious from the photos, but this weapon is fed from a top-mounted magazine, and ejects from the bottom. Magazine design and capacity is unknown at this time. The design is clearly derived from the iconic Vickers machine gun, but is also clearly the product of significant effort to make it a viable light machine gun. More detailed information is not available at this time, but rest assured that we will be revisiting this weapon in the future, and will post a great many detailed photographs when we do.
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I am presuming that the jeweled piece is the bolt carrier or bolt… what is the idea behind the jeweling? Is it aesthetic only, or maybe they thought the metal held oil better? If the latter, I would think the whole bolt, op rod, and charging mechanisms would be jeweled… what do you think?
It looks like it would have made a decent weapon. Sure I wouldn’t use a toggle-lock mechanism in a MG design personally. Maybe it was abandoned in favor of building on the Zb. 26.
Hey guys,
This is the Vickers-Berthier produced in very large numbers in India as the standard squad weapon.
(The Indian Army was quite separate from the British Army though India was a so-called colony)
It looked like a BREN, fired like a BREN and was equally effective (and far better than a BAR), so photos and reports usually described it as a BREN.
But the mechanism was quite different and the tripod mount had delicately curved legs rather than blunt British straight lines.
Geoffrey C, you got it perfectly; but the Indian Army thought that it worked just fine.
I did a video on a couple models of Vickers-Berthier (https://www.forgottenweapons.com/vickers-berthier-lmg-video/), and this LMG is very distinctive from that design. This one uses a toggle lock and recoiling barrel assembly, whereas the V-B used a gas piston and tilting bolt.
As cointed out correctly by the Admin, with no offense intended, I would like to point out that appears to be a case of mis-identification. The weapon in the pictures is certainly not a VB. It’s also got me stumped as it does not correspond to any Vickers LMG that I’m aware of. The wound spring around the barrel inside the slotted jacket clearly suggests recoil operation- more likely long-recoil. The pronounced hump on the hinged receiver cover is probably to accommodate the cycling of the a toggle lock. The level of internal finish is astounding for a military type weapon. The pistol grip looks almost like it was grafted from a Lewis. The crank charging handle is very Vickers…The various characteristics almost made me mistake it it for a highly modified Madsen, but again its not. Perhaps a prototype of a very carefully down-scaled and revised Vickers MMG? What do the markings (if any) say? Dying to know. Thank you!
The only marking on it (that I was able to see) is a Portuguese national crest.
Totally inaccurate statements and descriptions for starters a Vickers Berthier ejects from the side,need I go further? You are blowing smoke out of your arse mate.
Seems strange that there is not much info available on a gun that has a national crest marked on it. That would suggest serial production of more than one example and it is not a ‘known’ gun! I have seen a patent for a similar gun which suggests it is a Vickers produced weapon, this looks like it is one of the Bapty’s collection?