View source for MG 30

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox weapon
| name               = MG 30
| image              = 1671 - Salzburg - Festung Hohensalzburg - Österreichisch leichtes Maschinengewehr.JPG
| image_size         = 300
| caption            = The MG 30 on display in Austria.<br />(Festung Hohensalzburg)
| origin             = [[Switzerland]]<br/>[[First Austrian Republic|Austria]]
| type               = [[Light machine gun]]
<!-- Type selection -->
| is_ranged          = yes
<!-- Service history -->
| service            = 1930s−1940s
| used_by            = ''See {{section link|MG 30|Users|nopage=yes}}''
| wars               = [[World War II]]
<!-- Production history -->
| designer           = Louis Stange
| design_date        = 1929
| manufacturer       = ''See {{section link|MG 30|Manufacturers|nopage=yes}}''
| production_date    = {{ubl
  | '''Solothurn S2-200''':<br/>1931–1940
  | '''Solothurn 31.M''':<br/>1938–1944
  }}
| number             = More than 15000
| variants           = 
<!-- General specifications -->
| weight             = {{ubl
  | '''Solothurn S2-200''':<br/>{{convert|9.5|kg|lb|1|abbr=on}}
  | '''Solothurn 31.M''':<br/>{{convert|8.4|kg|lb|1|abbr=on}}
  }}
| length             = {{convert|1162|mm|in|abbr=on}}
| part_length        = {{convert|600|mm|in|abbr=on}}
<!-- Ranged weapon specifications -->
| cartridge          = [[7.92×57mm Mauser]]<br />[[8×56mmR]]<br />[[7×57mm Mauser]]
| action             = Recoil
| rate               = '''Cyclic''': 450-500 Rounds/min<br/>'''Practical''': 100 Rounds/min
| velocity           = 807.92 m/s (2,650 ft/s)
| range              = 800 m
| max_range          = 
| feed               = {{bulleted list
  | 30-round box [[magazine (firearm)|magazine]]<br/>(7.92×57mm; 7×57mm)
  | 25-round box magazine<br/>(8×56mmR)
  }}
| sights             = 
}}

The '''''Maschinengewehr'' 30''', or '''MG 30''' was a German-designed machine gun that saw some service with various armed forces in the 1930s.<ref name="forgottenweapons">{{cite web |last=McCollum |first=Ian |date=September 23, 2024 |title=Steyr-Solothurn S2-200: the Austrian MG30 and Hungarian 31M |url=https://www.forgottenweapons.com/steyr-solothurn-s2-200-the-austrian-mg30-and-hungarian-31m/ |website=forgottenweapons.com |location= |publisher= |access-date=July 3, 2025}}</ref> It was also modified to become the standard German aircraft gun as the [[MG 15]] and [[MG 17 machine gun|MG 17]]. It is most notable as the design pattern that led to the [[MG 34]] and [[MG 42]], and thus is one of the major ancestors of many of the weapons in service which would later find widespread use into the 21st century.

==History==
Development of the MG 30 took place under the direction of [[Louis Stange]] at [[Rheinmetall]]'s [[Sömmerda]] office, from where he filed several patent claims in 1928–1929.<ref>{{US patent|US1753072A|Trigger apparatus for the single and continuous fire of automatic firearms}}, {{patent|DE|512025C}}, {{US patent|1755034A|Automatic firearm}}, {{patent|GB|325159A|Automatic firearms with locked breech and sliding barrel}}</ref> However actual production of machine guns was prohibited in Germany under the [[Versailles Treaty]]. Rheinmetall circumvented the provisions by acquiring the majority shareholding of the Swiss manufacturer [[Waffenfabrik Solothurn]] and relocating production there. The goal was to acquire orders for the rearmament of the [[Reichswehr]], which was modernizing its arsenal.

The design was rejected by the German Reichswehr which adopted the [[MG 13]]. Rheinmetall then turned to other companies and licensed the design to Solothurn in Switzerland and [[Steyr-Daimler-Puch]] in Austria. Production soon followed, entering the armed forces of both countries as the '''Solothurn S2-200''' and '''''Maschinengewehr'' Solothurn 1930''', or '''MG 30''', respectively.

2000–3000 were also purchased by Hungary, where it was known as the '''Solothurn ''31.M Golyószóró'''''. The [[Fegyver- és Gépgyár|FÉG]] factory in Budapest prepared for serial production under its license, between 1931 and 1938, a few hundred were produced each year. From 1938 to 1944, 9,000 pcs of 31 M. Golyószóró light machine gun were produced.{{efn|Every [[Company (military unit)|rifle company]] had 12 Solothurns, 9 of them were equipped with bipod as light machine gun, and 3 of them were equipped with tripod as medium machine gun.}} A total of more than 12,000 machine guns came into the possession of the Hungarian Armed Forces and [[Székelys|Székely]] National Guard of [[Transylvania]], the 31 M.s that survived the war were kept in storage until [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|1956]], after almost all of them were melted down.<ref name="A magyar könnyű fegyverzet gyártása 1938 és 1945 között">{{Cite web|url=http://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00018/00109/pdf/EPA00018_hadtortenelmi_1993_04_076-117.pdf|title=A magyar könnyű fegyverzet gyártása 1938 és 1945 között|date=17 October 2022}}</ref>

==Design==
[[File:MG 30 buttstock.jpg|thumb|left|Fire control column and buttstock of the MG 30.]]
The gun is an air-cooled, recoil-operated design, firing standard [[8×56mmR]] ammunition, fed from a slightly curved 25-round [[magazine (firearm)|magazine]] inserted in the left side of the weapon. It uses a locking ring, which is located at the end of the barrel extension, to lock the bolt.<ref>{{Cite web | title=US1846156A - Automatic firearm        - Google Patents | url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US1846156A/ | access-date=2025-10-05 | website=patents.google.com}}</ref> Inside the locking ring, there are six sets of locking lugs, arranged as an interrupted thread, which mate with lugs cut at the rear of the bolt. Rotation of the ring, which locks and unlocks the bolt, is controlled in a mount on the outside of the ring. The gun is of relatively simple design, with most parts having a round cross-section. The tubular receiver is an extension of the barrel jacket. The butt hosts a tube which contains the return spring and its guide.<ref>{{Cite web | title=US1755034A - Automatic firearm        - Google Patents | url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US1755034A/ | access-date=2025-10-05 | website=patents.google.com}}</ref> Safety is found on the receiver.<ref>{{Cite web | title=US1842847A - Safety device for firearms        - Google Patents | url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US1842847A/ | access-date=2025-10-05 | website=patents.google.com}}</ref>

The MG 30 fired both in [[Semi-automatic firearm|semi-automatic]] and [[Automatic firearm|full automatic]] mode depending on how far the two-stage trigger is pulled,<ref>{{Cite web | title=US1753072A - Trigger apparatus for the single and continuous fire of automatic firearms        - Google Patents | url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US1753072A/ | access-date=2025-10-05 | website=patents.google.com}}</ref> with a rate of fire between 450 and 500 [[rounds per minute]] in full-auto. It included a folding [[bipod]] attached two-thirds down the barrel.

==Further developments==
===Germany===
Rheinmetall's Borsig office modified the MG 30 design for use as an aircraft gun, producing the ''Flugzeugmaschinengewehr'' 15, or [[MG 15|MG 15 machine gun]]. The primary changes were the use of a double-drum magazine holding 75 rounds, and the removal of the stock for use inside the cramped quarters of a [[bomber]].

Further modification in 1936 led to the [[MG 17 machine gun|MG 17]], which included provisions for belt-fed ammo in addition to the drums, increased the rate of fire to about 1,200 rpm, and with its design incorporating a [[closed bolt|closed-bolt]] firing cycle, was suitable for use on a [[synchronization gear]] system-equipped aircraft for shooting through the aircraft's own propeller.

7.92×57mm weapons were no longer considered useful by the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' once enough [[MG 131]]s were available. The partial armour protection of most new military aircraft had caught up with the 7.92×57mm SmK cartridge by 1940. Many MG 15, MG 17 and more modern 7.92&nbsp;mm [[MG 81]] were then used by forces on the ground, especially since 1944. Many were modified with a bipod and simple metal stock, and other belt-fed MG 17 and MG 81 were built into dedicated anti-air machine gun twin and quad mounts.{{sfn|Gander|Chamberlain|1979}}

===Hungary===
Hungarian LMGs were different: There was a free-rotating swivel handle near the machine gun's center of gravity. The bipod was not part of the barrel jacket, the fixing clamp could rotate and the fixing springs of the bipod legs were also different. The tripod for Hungarian machine guns was equipped with an attachment, so they could also be used as an anti-aircraft machine gun, which was also used in the mountains  ([[Carpathians]]) for firing in high angle groups. The 31.M.s equipped with tripods served as medium machine guns, and those equipped with only bipods served as light machine guns. The bipod was also retained on the medium machine guns too. A small number of 31. M. machine guns were converted as flexible machine guns for the Royal Air Force. The handle and the bipod were removed from these, and their 75-round magazine was based on the German model. These were used on some [[Weiss WM-21 Sólyom|light reconnaissance aircraft]] until they were replaced by Gebauer machine guns after 1940-41. They remained in use as anti-aircraft machine guns on the river patrol boats ([[Hungarian River Forces|River Flotilla]]).<ref name="A magyar könnyű fegyverzet gyártása 1938 és 1945 között" />

==Manufacturers==
* [[Waffenfabrik Solothurn]]
* [[Steyr-Mannlicher|Steyr-Werke AG]]
* [[Fegyver- és Gépgyár|FÉG]]

==Users==
* {{flagcountry|First Austrian Republic}}
* {{flag|Bulgaria}}{{sfn|Zlatev|1996|page=85}}
* {{flag|El Salvador}}<ref name="forgottenweapons" /> − 47 guns made in [[7×57mm Mauser]].
* {{flag|Nazi Germany}}<ref name="forgottenweapons" />
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Hungary}}{{sfn|Thomas|Szabo|2008|pages=24, 42}} − 3000 ''2S-200'' and 9033 ''Solothurn 31.M Golyószóró''<ref>{{cite web |title=Hungarian Solothurn Machine Guns |url=http://www.hungariae.com/Soloth.htm |website=Hungarian Weapons & History}}</ref>
* {{flaglist|Switzerland}}

==See also==
*[[Weapons employed in the Slovak-Hungarian War]]
===Weapons of comparable role, performance and era===
*[[MG 13]], predecessor
*[[MG 15]], developed from the MG 30.
*[[MG 17]], developed from the MG 30 via MG 15.
*[[MG 34]], direct successor of MG 30.

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book |last1=Gander |first1=Terry |last2=Chamberlain |first2=Peter |name-list-style=amp |year=1979 |title=Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939–1945 |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=0-385-15090-3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Nigel |last2=Szabo |first2=Laszlo |date=October 10, 2008 |title=The Royal Hungarian Army in World War II |url= |series=Men-at-Arms 449 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-1-84603-324-7 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Zlatev |first1=Zlatko |date=1996 |script-title=bg:Оръжейните доставки от Германия за България (юли 1938 - февруари 1941) |trans-title=Weapons Supply from Germany for Bulgaria (July 1938-February 1941) |script-journal=bg:Военноисторически сборник |trans-journal=Military History Collection |language=bg |volume=4 |publisher=Bulgaria Ministry of National Defense, Institute of Military History. |issn=0204-4080 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|MG 30}}
*[https://modernfirearms.net/en/machineguns/switzerland-machineguns/steyr-solothurn-mg-30-eng/ Steyr-Solothurn MG 30]

{{Steyr Mannlicher}}
{{WWIIGermanInfWeapons}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mg 30}}
[[Category:8 mm machine guns]]
[[Category:7.92×57mm Mauser machine guns]]
[[Category:Light machine guns]]
[[Category:Machine guns of Austria]]
[[Category:Machine guns of Switzerland]]
[[Category:World War II infantry weapons of Germany]]
[[Category:World War II machine guns]]
[[Category:Military equipment introduced in the 1930s]]
[[Category:Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1931]]