0505
The 11·35 mm Madsen Cartridge
This
“in between” machine gun cartridge enjoyed only
limited popularity, and as far as is known to your
Journal editor was loaded by only
three countries – Denmark (the country of origin),
the UK and Argentina.
The famous Danish company Dansk
Industrie Syndicat AS 'Madsen', usually referred
simply as Madsen, manufactured various weapons
since the early 1900s.
The first Madsen machine gun for
sale was produced in Denmark by the Dansk Industri
Syndikat in 1904 and the last in 1950. The
Madsen, at its introduction, was one of the very
first light machine guns and featured an overhead
box magazine. All models had a similar look and
were produced in a wide variety of calibres and
sold to over 30 different countries. The peculiar
action of the Madsen was best sited to rimless
rounds. A recoiling barrel activated a
complicated, precisely machined plate plus
associated bits and pieces, to open a Martini type
action, downwardly eject the empty cartridge, load
a fresh round and close the action.
[During WWII, it
had become necessary to develop locally produced
sub-machine guns. Australia developed the Austen
Mk1 and Owen SMGs, the Italians developed the
Beretta 38A, and the Danes developed the Madsen.
The only exception would be the Japanese, who did
not produce or use a submachine gun in any
significant numbers, though they had purchased a
small number of Swiss-made MP28/II SMGs before
WWII began.
Soon after the war Madsen
produced a 9mm m/46 submachine gun, which was one
of the last wood-stocked SMG's to be produced. In
1949 Madsen introduced a more modern design, the
m/49, which featured an entirely stamped receiver,
integral with pistol grip and magazine housing.
The Madsen SMG was not
commercially successful post-WWII due to the large
number of surplus SMG's which had flooded the
market.
This SMG also featured unusual
charging handle, a bracket-shaped slider above the
receiver. But the most unusual feature of the m/49
was the field stripping procedure. The receiver
was made from two halves, left and right, hinged
at the rear, and held together at the front by the
screw-on barrel nut. To disassemble the gun, one
must unscrew the barrel nut, and then open the
left side of the receiver/housing. Barrel, bolt,
return spring and trigger unit will remain in the
right "half" of the gun, easily accessible. The
hollow pistol grip contained magazine loading
tool, and there wee no manual safeties; instead,
Madsen m/49 had an automatic safety in the form of
the lever just behind the magazine housing; to
fire the gun, one must grasp the magazine and this
lever securely by non-firing hand, to be able to
release the bolt. Otherwise, the m/49 was a fairy
conventional blowback design, which fired only in
full auto.
Next year Madsen introduced the
M/50, a slightly modified M/49 with more
conventional and comfortable charging handle at
the top of the gun, and in 1953 Madsen introduced
the last gun in this line, M/53, which differed
mostly in that it used a curved magazines instead
of straight ones, and can be fitted with optional
barrel shroud, which had a bayonet mount lug.
Madsen SMG's were sold to various Asian and South
American countries. Brazil makes licensed copy of
Madsen in .45ACP caliber
The "peculiar" action of the
Madsen was indeed that. A bullet never starts
perfectly straight from the cartridge case as
there is always a clearance between a cartridge
and chamber, and the bullet's base is never
perfectly symmetrical, when pushed through the
crimp of case mouth. Every bullet thus emerges the
muzzle with some yaw, known as "nutation" in
Latin. Nutation is a rapid movement with a rate
equal with a rotational rate gained from the bore
rifling twist. Precession is a considerably slower
yaw with more prominent amplitude. It is able to
cause a spiral "corkscrew trajectory", often seen
when shooting tracer bullets from a rifle with a
faulty muzzle (and from a Madsen light machine
gun, notwithstanding its perfect muzzle. The
action of Madsen
(see drawing beside)
bends the bullets of its cartridges slightly askew
before discharge. Therefore it was a very lethal
"mowing machine" and it was produced over a longer
period than any other light machine gun(1904 until
late 1950s or early 60s, despite it's high cost
price).
Some said that the Madsen
bullet's precession in a random direction and rate
diminished its accuracy so badly that it was
almost impossible to hit a chart at 50 meters or
the broad side of a barn at 100 meters. However,
the precession produced by Madsen action was
predictable -- its direction and rate were the
similar and consistent, shot-after-shot. It's
accuracy at known range was satisfactory, despite
the "corkscrew trajectory" - WebEd]
In any case the 11·35 x 62
cartridge was developed in the 1930’s, and guns
and cartridges sold to Argentina. The flat based
305 grain ·465 calibre bullet had a mv of 2785
f/s.
Doubtless, some Madsen guns
chambered for readily available ammunition are
still in use somewhere in the world today. I
think though, the 11·35 round and guns would be in
honourable retirement.