However, heavy machine guns are too large and have poor maneuverability, so it is difficult to follow the infantry for fire support during the March. For example, Maxim's heavy machine gun, together with the gun rack, weighs 244 kilograms, which is really too heavy. So people use the automatic principle of heavy machine guns to design and manufacture lighter machine guns, which can be carried and fired by one person, thus changing the history of many people carrying a gun in the past.
The first light machine gun in the world was invented by Danes in 1902, and it was called Madsen machine gun at that time. Therefore, some people naturally think that this machine gun was invented by Madsen, but it is not. The full name of madsen machine gun is madsen rex d.r.r.s.skobo. O.H. Madsen was then the Minister of Defence of Denmark. Because he enthusiastically supported the Danish army to adopt this weapon, and he was a senior military official of the government, the full name of this machine gun ranked his first, so that when it was called this machine gun in Denmark and abroad, it was only called Madsen machine gun. Rex refers to the British Rex Arsenal. At that time, Britain was an old imperialist and colonial country, and pursued a long-term policy of not using weapons made in Britain. Although the Danish machine gun is not produced locally in Britain, it is also allowed to be used in Britain by virtue of the name of the British manufacturer. D.R.R.S is the Danish abbreviation for the Danish manufacturer of this machine gun-Copenhagen Light Machine Gun Comprehensive Factory; Scobo, whose full name is last, is the name of the director of the light machine gun comprehensive factory in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is widely regarded as the designer of Madsen machine gun.
There is still such an unsolved case about Scoble's invention of Madsen machine gun. It is said that Scobo applied for the patent of basic automatic mode of light machine gun in February 1902. But the problem is that Rasmussen, director of the Royal Military Weapons Factory in Copenhagen, Denmark, applied for a patent with very similar content on June 1899+05, and was approved. Moreover, Rasmussen has just transferred the right to use his patent to Copenhagen Light Machine Gun Complex. Therefore, I don't know whether Scobo copied rasmussen's patent or whether his invention is innovative.
Light machine gun is a kind of weapon for fire support with infantry in marching, and its design requirements are different from those of heavy machine guns belonging to position weapons. Heavy machine guns are equipped with special gun racks, which can be used for long-range continuous shooting. Especially when the machine gun is set in a hidden place, it can get the maximum killing effect with the minimum ammunition consumption when it strafe the enemy infantry attacking its own defense zone in a small conflict. On the other hand, the requirement of light machine guns on the battlefield is that they are light in weight and can quickly conceal firearms to shoot, so as to increase the firepower of riflemen, so light machine guns do not need special gun racks. According to these requirements, Scobo designed a bipod mounted on the gun body. Secondly, because heavy machine guns need to be fired continuously, the barrel should be cooled after a certain amount of ammunition is fired continuously. Maxim machine gun adopts water cooling method, and a thick water jacket is added to the barrel. In order to reduce the weight of the weapon, the light machine gun can't be cooled by water, so Scobo designed the air-cooled machine gun and used the bullet chain for ammunition. The earliest Madsen machine gun was supplied by bullet chain, and later it was changed to magazine.
The birth and wide application of Madsen machine gun is a challenge and threat to other countries. Soon, in 1906 and 1907, France, Britain and Germany also developed their own models of light machine guns. After the First World War, due to the importance attached to the mobility of infantry, the development of light machine guns attracted much attention, and many types of light machine guns appeared at one time. After the Second World War, small-caliber machine guns used by individual soldiers appeared constantly. Compared with the earliest light machine gun, the modern light machine gun has greatly improved its performance, but greatly reduced its weight. For example, some light machine guns weigh only about 5 kilograms.