Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine gun

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Hotchkiss Mle 1914
A Hotchkiss Modèle 1914 machine gun with inserted feed strip at Fort de la Pompelle
Type	Heavy machine gun
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1914–1960s
Used by	See Users
Wars	Boxer Rebellion (Mle 1897) Russo-Japanese War (Mle 1897) Mexican Revolution World War I Warlord Era Russian Civil War Polish–Soviet War Rif War São Paulo Revolt of 1924 Constitutionalist Revolution[1] Second Italo-Ethiopian War Spanish Civil War Second Sino-Japanese War World War II Chinese Civil War First Indochina War Algerian War Ifni War
Production history
Designer	A. Odkolek von Augeza Laurence V. Benét Henri Mercié.
Designed	1897 (Mle 1897), 1900 (Mle 1900)
Produced	1914–20 (Mle 1914)
No. built	over 65,000
Variants	Mle 1897 Mle 1900 Mle 1914
Specifications
Mass	23.6 kg (52 lb)[2]
Length	1,270 mm (50 in)[2]
Barrel length	770 mm (30 in)[2]
Cartridge	8×50mmR Lebel Other cartridges: 6.5×50mmSR Arisaka 6.5×55mm Swedish 6.5×58mm Vergueiro[3] 7×57mm Mauser 7.65×53mm Mauser 7.92×57mm Mauser 11×59mmR Gras
Action	gas-actuated
Rate of fire	450–600 round/min[2]
Muzzle velocity	2,375 ft/s (724 m/s)[2]
Feed system	24 or 30 round strip articulated metal belt (249 rounds)[2]

The Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun chambered for the 8mm Lebel cartridge became the standard machine gun of the French Army during the latter half of World War I. It was manufactured by the French arms company Hotchkiss et Cie, which had been established in the 1860s by American industrialist Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. The gas-actuated Hotchkiss system was first formulated in 1893 by Odkolek von Ujezda and improved into its final form by Hotchkiss armament engineers, American Laurence Benét and his French assistant Henri Mercié.

The Mle 1914 was the last version of a series of nearly identical Hotchkiss designs, following the Mle 1897, Mle 1900 and the Mle 1909. The Hotchkiss Mle 1914 became the French infantry standard in late 1917, replacing the unreliable St. Étienne Mle 1907. The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France also purchased 7,000 Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine guns in 8mm Lebel, and used them extensively at the front in 1917 and 1918. Hotchkiss heavy machine guns, some being of earlier types, were also used in combat by Japan, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Belgium, Brazil, and Poland.

The Hotchkiss machine gun, a sturdy and reliable weapon, remained in active service with the French army until the early 1940s. By the end of 1918, 47,000 Hotchkiss machine guns had already been delivered to the French army alone. Including all international sales, the grand total of all Hotchkiss machine guns sold by the manufacturer in various calibers was well in excess of 100,000 units.