Browning M1917

Browning M1917 - .30-06

Browning M1917A1 - .30-06. Note the bottom plate.

Browning M1917A1 machine gun with tripod and ammo box - .30-06‎

MG38B, Colt version of the Browning M1917 - .30-06

The Browning 1917 .30 caliber machine gun is the immediate predecessor of the Browning M1919. This weapon saw use from the final days of World War I, throughout the duration of World War II as well as both the Korean and Vietnam wars due in large part to its reliability and usefulness in the sustained fire role (made possible by the water cooling jacket surrounding the barrel).

In 1901, John Moses Browning filed US Patent 678937 for an automatic recoil loader. The construction found little favor with the then US military. The M1917 was basically an evolution of this patent. The Browning M1917 is a water-cooled machine gun. Air-cooled experimental weapons led after the First World War to the lighter M1919, which was built mechanically the same. The Browning MG M1917 externally resembles the Maxim machine gun, has like this belt feeder and both are short recoil recoilers of the barrel lock system in the housing. Nevertheless, they are completely different mechanically. The Maxim has a toggle-lock action lock similar to that of the Luger P08, while the Browning MG lock and barrel are locked by a steel block. The Browning M1917 is slightly lighter than the Maxim and just as reliable. The Browning M1918 is a further development Aircraft service.

The M1917A variant is an updated variant, developed in the 1930s. Recognizable by the bottom plate, which had side flanges and a positive locking top cover hinge pin.

In 1930, Poland adopted the Ckm wz.30, a clone of the M1917.

The Browning M1917 machine gun can be seen in the following films used by the following actors:

Specifications

(1917 - ????)

• Type: Machine Gun

• Caliber(s): .30-06 Springfield

• Weight: 103 lb (47 kg) (gun, tripod, water, and ammunition)

• Length: 38.5 in (980 mm)

• Barrel length(s): 24 in (609 mm)

• Capacity: 250-round fabric belt

• Fire Modes: Full-Auto

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Film

Title	Actor	Character	Note	Date
Wings		WWI American soldiers	M1917	1927
Pardon Us		Prison Guards		1931
Bataan		U.S. Soldiers	M1917A1	1943
The Fighting Seabees		U.S. Marine	M1917A1	1944
Back to Bataan		Philippine guerrilla fighters	M1917A1	1945
Halls of Montezuma	Richard Hylton	Conroy	M1917A1	1951
The Steel Helmet		North Korean Army	M1917A1	1951
The Desert Rats		German soldiers	M1917A1; standing for Maxim MG08	1953
Godzilla		Japanese Defense Forces	M1917A1	1954
Merrill's Marauders		the Marauders	M1917A1	1962
Up to His Ears (Les tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine)	Jean-Paul Belmondo	Arthur Lempereur	M1917A1	1965
	Ursula Andress	Alexandrine Pinardel
OSS 117: Mission for a Killer (Furia à Bahia pour OSS 117)	Frederick Stafford	Hubert Bonnisseur		1965
		Nazis and Indians
The Professionals	Frederick Stafford	Rico	M1917A1; anachronstic for 1917	1966
		Mexican soldiers
The Wild Bunch	Lee Marvin	Tector	M1917A1; anachronistic for 1913 and 1916	1969
	Warren Oates	Lyle
	Emilio Fernández	Mapache
	Jorge Rado	Ernst
		Mexican soldiers
Rum Runners (Boulevard du Rhum)		U. S. Coast Guard		1971
Bad Man's River (El hombre de Río Malo)	Aldo Sambrell	Canales	acetylene-firing mock-ups	1971
		Mexican soldiers
Soldier of Orange		Dutch soldiers	M1917A1; standing for Schwarzlose M. 08/13	1977
1941	Dan Aykroyd	Sergeant Tree	M1917A1	1979
		U.S. soldiers
The Professional		African prison guards	M1917A1	1981
Deal of the Century			M1917A1; Seen in the Gundealer's Room	1983
Exterminator 2			M1917A1; Mounted on Eastland's truck	1984
Commando			M1917A1; In the hidden armory in	1985
Matewan		private detectives	M1917A1	1987
Return from the River Kwai		Miao tribesmen	M1917A1	1988
Farewell To The King	Gerry Lopez	Gwai	M1917A1	1989
		Headhunter
Miller's Crossing		Police	M1917A1	1990
Tae Guk Gi	Dong-gun Jang	Sgt. Jin-tae Lee	M1917A1	2004
		Soutch Korean soldiers
Public Enemies		U.S. soldiers	Colt Model 1922	2009
Spoils of War		U.S. soldiers	M1917; archive footage	2009
71: Into the Fire		South Korean soldiers	M1917A1	2010
Gallipoli: End of the Road		Australian and Turkish soldiers	M1917A1; anachronistic	2013

Television

Show Title	Actor	Character	Note / Episode	Air Date
Mission: Impossible			Colt MG38 mounted on truck, "Nitro" (S03E21)	1969
The State Border: Film		U.S. soldiers	M1917; archive footage	1986
Mail Call			M1917; archive footage	2002-2009
The Pacific	James Badge Dale	Robert Leckie	M1917A1	2010
	Jon Bernthal	Sgt. Manny Rodriguez
	Joshua Bitton	Sgt. J.P. Morgan
	Jon Seda	Sgt. John Basilone
		U.S. Marines
Boardwalk Empire	Stephen Graham	Capone	M1917A1	2010 - 2014
		Ku Klux Klan

Video Game

Game Title	Appears as	Note	Release Date
Desperados: Wanted Dead Or Alive	"Gatling Gun"	Anachronistic	2001
Forgotten Hope 2	"Browning M1917A1"	M1917A1	2005
Company of Heroes	"M1917 Browning Heavy Machine Gun"	M1917A1	2006
The Darkness			2007
Red Dead Redemption	"Browning Gun"	Anachronistic	2010
Civilization V		Introduced in "Gods & Kings" expansion pack (2012)	2010
Red Orchestra 2: Rising Storm	"M1917 Browning"	M1917A1	2013
Battlefield 1	"M1917 MG"	M1917A1; Introduced in "Turning Tides" DLC (2017), anachronitic	2016

Kongsberg M/29

Kongsberg M/29 - 7.92×57mm Mauser.

The Norwegian adaption of the Colt version chambered in 7.92×57mm Mauser. A later model was converted to 7.62x63mm Nato called M/29F1.

Film

Title	Actor	Character	Note	Date
Into the White		Norwegian soldiers		2012
The King's Choice		Norwegian soldiers		2016

Kulspruta M/1936

Kulspruta M/1936 - 6.5×55mm.

Another view of the Swedish Kulspruta m1936.

This is the 8mm double anti-aircraft configuration.

The Swedish adopted a version of the M1917 under the name "Kulspruta M/1936". The M/1936 was converted into the (then) standard 6.55mm, but the anti-aircraft version used the 8×63mm Bofors (ptr m/32). In the 1970s the remaining M/1936 were converted to the 7.62×51 mm NATO.

Film

Title	Actor	Character	Note	Date
The Callup		Swedish soldiers		1979
Beyond the Border	Martin Wallström	Sven Stenstrom		2011
	Antti Reini	Wille Jarvinen
		Swedish soldiers

See Also

• Browning Arms Company - A list of all firearms manufactured by Browning.