Breda Modello 30 Light Machine Gun

Breda Model 30 Light Machine Gun. Tubular blued steel receiver and an air cooled barrel that has disc fins for half the length near the breech and a cone muzzle suppressor. A 'T' bar handle is attached at the point of balance on the barrel. The receiver is marked with MITR LEGG MOD.30 over the serial number and BREDA-ROMA-A.XI. It has a wooden butt with a spring loaded shoulder clip and pistol grip. An adjustable bipod folds back under the barrel. The gun feeds from a box magazine on the right hand side that folds forward for reloading. A bolt and wing nut have been fitted as a hinge pin for the top cover plate.

The Breda Modello 30 was the standard light machine gun of the Royal Italian Army (Regio Esercito) during the Second World War (1939-1945). There is no known provenance associated with this firearm. It was likely captured in North Africa by the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during the early years of the Second World War and brought to Australia for study. After the war many of the captured Italian, German, Japanese and Vichy French firearms were then gifted to the Australian War Memorial collection.