We were able to find a Mendoza light machine gun in a private collection, and took a number of photos of it. Sadly, the gun is deactivated and we were not able to disassemble it, but the external photos are still nice to have. This is the original variant of the gun, chambered for 7mm Mauser.
The Mendoza was a weapon developed in Mexico by Rafael Mendoza, and was a very sound design. It was used by the Mexican military as a standard weapon from 1933 until after World War II.
You can see all the photos below (<a href=”https://www.forgottenweapons.com/wp-content/uploads/MendozaLMG/mendozalmgpics.zip”>click here to download the gallery in high resolution</a>), and you can see much more information on the Mendoza, plus an original operating manual, on the Mendoza LMG page in the Vault.
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The Mendoza in the article is a M1933 model. From what I understand, it was basically a gas-operated Lewis LMG mechanism with detail improvements, an overhead box magazine and a quick-change barrel, and was very advanced for the time.
Two later versions were subsequently produced. The M1945 was virtually the same weapon with additional small changes ( centrally-mounted braced bipod instead of the M1933’s individually-swiveling side-mounted bipod legs, front sight relocated on the barrel to a point above the gas cylinder, smooth pistol grip, perforated muzzle brake, etc. ) and a change in caliber to .30-06 utilizing a slightly-curved magazine.
The RM2 of 1955 was a greatly-simplified version with reduced production costs that differed significantly from its predecessors. It had a fixed smooth barrel with a slash-cut slotted muzzle brake, simplified gas cylinder, different front and rear sights, less-raked handguard / foregrip, separate handguard and buttstock assemblies, side-mounted sling swivel on the left side just above and behind the pistol grip, and a straight-sided magazine. It was more of a heavy-barreled automatic rifle than an LMG, and was not as effective as the M1933 or M1945. As far as I know, it was not adopted for general service in any army.
Veryvery interesting. Please some more on this, as information is scarce on this side of the pond.
I promise to contribute on the Mondragon in return.