Alfa

Notes: This Spanish machinegun was designed when the Spanish needed replacements for their machineguns and no outside source was available due to World War 2. It is fired from a tripod, and is gas-operated. Feed is by non-disintegrating link belts. The trigger mechanism is from spade grips and a butterfly trigger, with safe and automatic settings. The M-44 has a cyclic rate of fire of 750 rpm and single shots can be difficult to make, but the M-55 uses a slower rate of fire of 610 rpm and single shots are easier to squeeze off. The barrel of the M-44 is 29.5 inches, but the M-55’s barrel is shorter at 24 inches; both are finned for cooling for part of their length. The original M-44 model was chambered for 8mm Mauser, but later the M-55 was developed to fire the 7.62mm NATO cartridge. (A number of M-44’s were also converted to this configuration, since some older Spanish-built vehicles still use the Alfa as a coaxial machinegun.). Though some were used as vehicular machineguns, most were used by infantry, firing from large and heavy tripods weighing 27 kilograms that provided excellent stability. The Alfa served with the Spanish until the late 1960s, when they were sold off to various countries in Africa and Central America. Most of these were also sold off by those countries, and they might now turn up almost anywhere.

Weapon

Ammunition

Weight

Magazines

Price

Alfa M-44

8mm Mauser

12.92 kg

250 Belt

$2827

Alfa M-55

7.62mm NATO

12.7 kg

100 Belt, 250 Belt

$2302

Weapon

ROF

Damage

Pen

Bulk

SS

Burst

Range

Alfa M-44

5

5

2-3-Nil

9

1

1

217

Alfa M-55

5

4

2-3-Nil

8

1

1

163