AMELI: Spain’s Not-Mini-MG42 in

Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! The AMELI (which is a contraction of “ametralladora ligera“, or light machine gun) was introduced by CETME in 1981, and adopted by the Spanish military as the MG82. It was a counterpart LMG to the new CETME-L rifles, and is a mechanically fascinating design. The AMELI is a roller-delayed blowback system. Although it takes a lot of visual cues form the MG42, it’s not simply a copy of that classic. What makes the AMELI so intriguing is it combination of excellent mechanical simplicity, light weight ( lb), and handiness. It is a belt-fed gun, with a rate of fire around 900rpm - fast, but not too fast. Unfortunately the AMELI suffered a reputation for fragility, and never saw widespread adoption or real commercial success. It was adopted by Spain, Mexico,