Italy’s WW1 Heavy Machine Gun: FIAT-Revelli Modello 1914

Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! Italy was the first major adopter of the Maxim heavy machine gun and had several hundred by 1914 - but wanted to have a domestic design in production as well. The Italian government and military put a lot of resources into the Perino machine gun, but kept it so secret that it was never properly tested and development was very slow. By the time war broke out, the Perino was clearly not ready for field use - and Maxims (along with other foreign designs) were no longer available for commercial sale as production was being taken up by warring nations. This led Italy to adopt a private design of Bethel Revelli in partnership with the FIAT company. Adopted as the Modello 1914, Revelli’s machine gun was a delayed blowback system with a wedge under mechanical disadvantage holding the bolt closed long enoug