Breda 30 The Fucile Mitragliatore Breda modello 30 was the standard light machine gun of the Royal Italian Army during World War II . The Breda M30 or Breda 30 , was rather unusual for a light machine gun . It was fed from a fixed magazine attached to the right side of the weapon and was loaded using brass or steel 20 round stripper clips . If the magazine or its hinge / latch were damaged the weapon became unusable . It also fired from a closed bolt along with using blowback for its action . Blowback operation could be violent , with poor primary extraction . During primary extraction , the initial very small rearward movement of the hot expanded cartridge case away from the chamber ' s walls must be powerful but very slow , if an automatic weapon is to be reliable . Separated cases , jamming the gun beyond field clearing , are the usual consequence of poor primary extraction . As an automatic weapon ' s chamber and barrel heat up with prolonged automatic fire , the resulting excessive temperature can cause a chambered round to cook off or ignite without intent of the gunner . As a result of firing from a closed bolt , the Breda 30 could not fully take advantage of the cooling properties of air circulation like an open bolt weapon could , thus making cooked off rounds a realistic hazard , however it did have a quick change barrel which could be easily replaced to prevent such an occurrence . The disastrous results could lead to potential injuries to or even the death of the gunner . The Breda 30 also inherently lacked good primary extraction in its design and thus utilized a small lubrication device that oiled each cartridge as it entered the chamber . With the dust and sand of the deserts of North Africa , came a combination of premature wear and jamming . Some Bredas were re - designated as the M37 after being modified to accept the new 7 . 35 mm cartridge , which the Italian Military was making an effort to adopt ; however , this was short - lived as slowed production never fully allowed adoption of the new cartridge . The Breda 30 was also mounted on a number of Italian armored fighting vehicle s . In regular Army units , one Breda 30 was issued to each two squads , although this was later changed to one weapon per squad ; an Italian infantry company would therefore have four to eight light machine guns in the first part of the war , but up to twelve in the latter part . Due to the importance of its extra firepower , the Breda 30 was most often given to the squad ' s most reliable soldier ( unlike other armies of the time , it was not rare to see an NCO brandishing himself the squad ' s automatic weapon ) . The gunner normally had an assistant who would carry extra ammunition . The Wehrmacht adopted the Breda 30 in small numbers after the occupation of Northern and Central Italy , after the Italian armistice of 1943 , using the nomenclature MG 099 ( i ) ; it filled a similar role as the German MG 34 , a light machine gun , predominantly utilized in the Italian Campaign battlefields . Combat performance . Although distinctive in appearance , the Breda 30 was widely viewed as a poorly designed weapon . It had a slow rate of fire ( although this increased accuracy ) , low magazine capacity , used the underpowered and unreliable 6 . 5×52mm cartridge and was highly prone to jamming . The vital oiling system quickly picked up dust and debris , making the weapon unreliable in combat conditions . The Breda ' s rear and fore sight were both on the gun body , so only one barrel could be zeroed . The magazine was loaded using 20 round stripper clips , which were known to be fragile , especially in combat conditions . In North Africa the weapon was nearly unusable : desert sand and dust caused the weapon to jam continuously . The oil from the lubrication necessary to fire the Breda exacerbated its flaws . In the Balkans , Russian Campaign and other theatres of war the weapon achieved slightly better results . Low magazine capacity , frequent jamming and the complicated barrel - change made firing and reloading a slow and laborious process , resulting in the Breda 30 being a weapon only capable of laying down a diminutive amount of firepower and making it a very modest contributor to a firefight . When considering all of the gun ' s deficiencies , taken during combat when it was at its worst , the practical rate of fire of the Breda 30 could even have been comparable to a semi - automatic weapon ' s practical rate of fire , as the standard American rifle was ( the M1 Garand ) . Although considerably flawed when compared to its contemporaries , the Breda 30 was still considered the deadliest weapon of the standard Italian infantryman ' s arsenal , since heavy machine guns were seen in relatively small numbers and submachine guns were very rare . The Breda 30 along with the Carcano M91 rifle made up the backbone of the Italian infantry armament during the Second World War . Field reports on the weapon were of mixed nature : the Breda ' s very slow rate of fire often resulted in a turning of the tide during a firefight against Italian soldiers ; however , the Breda 30 , in most occasions , was the fastest and most helpful weapon available . The Italian army attempted to counter the Breda ' s defects by stressing the importance of the loader ' s role : every soldier was trained to eventually be a Breda 30 loader and taught how to rapidly feed one ammunition strip after another ( this was not always possible , as with Breda 30s mounted on motorcycles ) . Careful polishing was also carried out frequently with extra attention being paid to Breda ' s lubrication system and ammunition availability .