Rolls Royce .50 Cal Experimental Machine Gun

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Rolls Royce .50 Cal Heavy machine gun
Type	Heavy machine gun
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	Unknown
Used by	Prototype only
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designed	1940-42
Produced	N/A
Specifications
Caliber	.50 in (12.7 mm)
Effective range	1,800 m (2,200 yd)

The Rolls-Royce Experimental Machine Gun was a prototype British Heavy Machine Gun, designed by Rolls-Royce in World War 2.

Rolls-Royce commenced design of a heavy machine gun in ealry 1940, intended for use in aircraft.^[1]. The result was a recoil operated weapon firing .50 Browning cartridges. This was evaluated in March 1941 and proved prone to stoppages^[2], a revised gas operated weapon being designed and built to try and solve these problems.^[3].

As well as the .50 calibre versions, it was planned to modify the gas operated gun to fire the more powerful .55 inch ammunition used in the Boys anti-tank rifle.^[4]. All work on the Rolls-Royce machine guns was abandoned in 1942.^[2]

[edit] References

• Birch, David. Rolls-Royce Armament. Derby, UK:Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust. 2000. ISBN 1 872922 15 5.
• Hogg, Ian V. and Weeks, John S. Military Small Arms of the 20th Century. Iola WI: Krause. 7th Edition, 1990. ISBN0-87341-824-7.