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ALFA 44 (Ametralladora ALFA Modelo 44)

1944 COLD WAR WORLD WAR 2

History

The ALFA Modelo 44 (or "ALFA 44") machine gun is a Spanish machine gun of indigenous design that emerged during World War II and the Cold War. Some variants reinforce the ALFA 44 legacy, with Egypt becoming the only significant foreign operator of the system.

The ALFA 44 is an air-cooled machine gun of a very traditional design. A gas-powered weapon limited to fully automatic fire, it used a locking system consisting of a sloping breech block to activate the receiver. It retains a barrel length of 1450mm with a barrel size of 750mm - with six grooves and a correct twist. Total weight with tripod is 13kg.

The operator trains the weapon by using a simple spade handle on the rear of the receiver. The trigger and safety lever are secured along the receiver backplate. The sights are mounted on the receiver and on the barrel, with the former fixed in front of the trigger group and the latter behind the muzzle.

The cylinder is mounted under the barrel and attached to the receiver's panel at the rear and to the barrel itself at the front. The charging handle is mounted on the right side of the gun body, while the horizontal carry handle is mounted on the left side of the barrel.

The weapon is operated by a 100 rounds metal chain link belt, originally for the 7.92x57mm Mauser Infinity Cartridge, with a rate of fire close to 780 rounds/min and a muzzle velocity of 760 m/min bot second. However, after the war and as NATO's importance increased, the ALFA 44 was redesigned to accept the NATO standard 7.62x51mm cartridge.

A new version of the gun appeared in 1955, called the ALFA Modelo 55 (or "ALFA 55"), with a shorter overall length of 1100 mm, a barrel of 610 mm, and an increased muzzle velocity of 860 meters per second.

Egypt received deliveries of a slightly redesigned ALFA 44, easily identifiable by a series of fins running almost the entire length of the barrel. Additionally, the weapon system has graduated sights with Arabic numerals and a slightly modified gas cylinder with larger cooling slots.

Machine guns entered inventory in the early 1950s.

ALFA 44 production continued until 1962.