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Mendoza 1934: Mexico's Domestic LMG (ad-free)
🕑 Added 2022-08-15 12:00:06 +0000 UTCRafael Mendoza was Mexico’s premier domestic arms designer, and the Model 1934 LMG is probably his most successful design. He began work on it in 1929, and it entered testing with the Mexican Army in 1932. It was formally accepted by the Mexican Army in 1934 (hence the designation) and would serve into the mid 1950s. Mendoza was a private civilian, but production of the gun took place in the state-owned National Arms Factory in Mexico City, with Mendoza himself receiving no royalty or licensing fees. Instead, his company was given a contract to make the magazines for the guns.
Mechanically speaking, the Mendoza 1934 is a gas-operated, rotating bolt, magazine-fed LMG chambered for 7mm Mauser (the standard Mexican military cartridge at that time). Production actually began in 1939, and would continue into the 1950s with about 5,000 made in total. The main purchaser was the Mexican military, but some were also exported to Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Cuba (both Batista and Castro). With he end of World War Two, there was a huge glut of American surplus arms, and Mexico adopted the BAR and the Browning 1919, which replaced the Mendoza in Mexican front line service.
If you are interested in more details about the Mendoza 1934 or any of Rafael Mendoza’s other designs, I highly recommend Luis Eduardo Gonzales’ book on Mendoza, available in English in both print and Kindle versions:
Many thanks to the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels for access to this very rare piece! Check them out here:
Comments
Library of Context
Was it stored vertically in a rack? If so, I'm guessing the bipod retention while folded was so poor, that the legs were left against the stock, rather than risk the legs falling and damaging the stock.
Guido Schriewer
owens must be such a sweetie to run!
Guido Schriewer
indeed. that is THE strangest oddball of a magazin beside the madsen. but very very nice sights on the thing, huh. I am a sucker about topfed lmg's (IMO rather automatic rifles).
Robert Rowe
Tall box mags may cause a machine gunner to have to stick his head up too high? Allegedly the reason for BREN and Stoner weapons system adopting a top mount magazine. Or in the case of the "Owen" SMG, feeding cartridges in at top, bottom eject for brass with "gravity assist" helped reliability?
Robert Beattie
Excellent presentation on a gun I had not forgotten, I never knew of :) I did not hear the magazine capacity. Some time maybe you can comment on why some auto weapons have top mags and some bottom.
Forgotten Weapons
Yeah, you are right. I'm really annoyed that I didn't realize that while I was filming. It had been stored with the bipod rearward at the museum and it never occurred to me to question that. Derp.
Terry
Very informative. However, while your criticism of the bipod is certainly valid, it would have been useful if you had talked about similar era bipods that were better. Otherwise, it could just have been as an “early mover”, some of the failures of it just represent the lack of experience in having an LMG with a bipod.
Library of Context
From looking at the cutouts on the bipod feet, it looks like they're designed to fold forward against the barrel, not backwards against the stock.
adam
Yes! This is a gun I've wondered about for years.
Falling Steel
FWIW, Re: Thumbnail design, I prefer the traditional black swath with the country flag for a few reasons. It helps differentiate your videos from all the others, and sometimes I am looking for specific country weapons (and locating the playlist for that nation is not an option). The white background thumbnails seem to blend in with all the other YT videos… in my opinion. (my two cents)
