Italian M30 MG....only 21 rounds of ammo?

[Lt Bull]

Hello

I have just started playing a scenario with Italian units and discovered a most unusual feature.

The squad HQ units feature a Breda M30 MG that only comes with 20 or 21 rounds of 0.380 cal ammo. This ammo depletes itself in less than a minute of combat.

Is this loadout normal/intentional? What use is this weapon given it's only good for 1 minute?

From what I understand 20 rounds is equivalent to just one clip for this MG.so basically they carry no other ammo for it except the clip that is already in it?

Further, it doesn't seem that the ammo in the Italian vehicles (like trucks) is 0.38 cal so no chance to re supply it during a game it seems.

Given the Italian army is severely hamstrung by a lack of automatic weapons, the one squad level MG assigned to them comes with just one clips worth?

Am I missing something?

Bull

[akd]

The .380 cal is pistol ammo for the MG gunner's sidearm. The M30 LMG is 6.5mm, same as the rifles.

[Michael Emrys]

And the quantity of the 6.5 is a giveaway. How would one figure that four guys with bolt action rifles are going to burn through 878 rounds?

Michael

[Lt Bull]

And the quantity of the 6.5 is a giveaway. How would one figure that four guys with bolt action rifles are going to burn through 878 rounds?

Yes how stupid of me, my bad. Nothing to see here.

I have re-watched the offending replays more carefully The reason I assumed the 0.38cal was for the MG is because that it was used up very quickly and because once it was expended it seemed like the MG didn't fire anymore. Had no reason to think the gunner would use 0.38cal until after it used up it's ammo. Seems they like to fire off quite a few pistol rounds in-between MG clips. Also not seeing the MG fire with plenty of 6.5mm still remaining is a function of the high reload times modeled in this weapon.

How I didn't bother to check the ammo type (was more looking for ammo quantity) at the wiki page is a worry though.

[Michael Emrys]

The reason I assumed the 0.38cal was for the MG is because that it was used up very quickly and because once it was expended it seemed like the MG didn't fire anymore. Had no reason to think the gunner would use 0.38cal until after it used up it's ammo. Seems they like to fire off quite a few pistol rounds in-between MG clips.

That does sound odd. It seems to me from players reports that in general the pixeltruppen use pistols a lot more than real-world troops did. I suspect that in most circumstances where you were close enough to use a pistol, you'd just throw up your hands and surrender.

Michael

[JasonC]

The 380 is a Berreta pistol, 7 shot, in 380 ACP otherwise known as 9mm short. It was an Italian answer to the German PP, designed in 1934. Some may associate the later PPK with 32 auto, but the original PP was in 9mm short, which means a copy of the round originally designed for Colt by Browning - hence the ACP designation. It is actually a .355 caliber round, but that is true of all US 38 designations pretty much - that 0.38 inch refers to the diameter of the case in 19th century designation systems, not to the diameter of the bullet, as in most modern ones.

The .38, 380 ACP, 9mm Luger, and 357 magnum are all basically the same diameter round, from .354 to .357 inches. The 380 ACP and 9mm have been optimized for automatic pistols, with a case meant to be grabbed by their extractors and the like. The 38 is the lowest power of the lot, using little powder behind a quite large bullet; the 380 ACP uses the lightest bullet of the lot. The originals were pretty low power as well; modern versions get up to 90% of the velocity of standard 9mm Luger with about 80% of the bullet mass. That still makes it a quite low power round.

Being armed with nothing but a 7 shot 380 pistol with 3 magazines in full-on WW II infantry combat is basically equivalent to being disarmed. It was a low power, short range pistol meant for conceal-ability or for easy daily carry by civilian police facing a disarmed population, nothing more. FWIW.

[womble]

It is wierd though that the MG crew (gunner and assistant) are doing anything other than reloading the MG in the time the MG is being reloaded... Did they have very proximate threats that they might have felt needed shooting at with their sidearm because they'd be on top of the position before the MG was reloaded?