Eriksen M/25
| Eriksen M/25 | |
|---|---|
| Type | Machine gun |
| Place of origin |  Norway |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1940 |
| Used by | Norwegian Army (unofficially) |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Johan Emil Barbat Eriksen |
| Designed | 1925 |
| Variants | Prototype version |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 26.7 kg |
| Length | 138 cm |
| Barrel length | 66.5 cm |
| Cartridge | 6.5x55 mm |
| Action | gas, select fire |
| Feed system | 50-round magazine (10x5 rounds in stripper clips) |
The Eriksen M/25 was a prototype machine gun of Norwegian origin designed and built by Johan Emil Barbat Eriksen in 1925. At the time he was a gunsmith at Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk and worked on several automatic weapon projects in his spare time, one of which was the Eriksen M/25. The weapon saw extremely limited service during the German invasion of Norway in 1940.[1]
The design of the action of the weapon was unique, and combined functions of several different machine guns of the same era. The action consisted of a sliding breech block connected to a rotary crank, which in turn was operated by an off-set connecting rod, driven by the piston rod of the weapon. The feeding system of the weapon was also of an unconventional design, and utilized a box magazine holding 10 stripper clips with 5 rounds each. The stripper clips were raised to the top of the magazine by a spring, and they were fed one at a time through the gun from left to right by the gun pawls. The weapon was sent to the British Committee of Investigation of Small Arms for trials, but it was not even test fired because of a complete lack of correct ammunition. The number of weapons produced is uncertain, but at least one was built in 1925 and used during the German invasion of Norway in 1940 [1]
This specific weapon was issued to Sergeant Håkon Lunde on April 14th during the invasion, but details regarding its use in combat are non-existent. After its use, the weapon was hidden away by Lunde until the war ended in May 1945.[1]
Only the one example used by Sergeant Lunde has survived, and it is in possession of the Royal Norwegian Navy Museum.[1]
Bibliography
- Antonsen A., Skytevåpen benyttet av Forsvaret etter 1859, Forsvarsmuseet 2014