Talk:Mitrailleuse d'Avion Browning - F.N. Calibre 13,2 mm

This is incorrect
"The weapon was originally based on the M2 Browning but was heavily modified with a high rate of fire and the ability to fire high-explosive bullets, just designed, for the Browning FN. The cartridge used was the 13.2 x 99 mm Hotchkiss round, based on the 13.2 x 99 mm ammunition originally designed for use in the Hotchkiss M1929 machine gun. While basically a machine gun, the invention of exploding bullets in this caliber allows this weapon to be called a "cannon" when firing such ammunition. Normally, the smallest size explosive rounds in general use start at 20 mm." I understand that "wikipedia is not about what is true", but this is just misleading.
 * They did not "just design" explosive 12.7mm rounds. They had exploding .50 caliber bullets right along, they just didn't use them because they felt that the explosive load wasn't worth the expense of filling the shells. Perhaps the French developed something like the Minengeshoss that allowed a higher volume of HE filler to be used. Or perhaps they had just completed the design of that particular type of 13.2mm projectile that they ended up designing the gun around. The test makes it sound like no one ever thought of putting explosives into a .50 caliber class projectile, and that's wrong. There were numerous experiments with this in the 20s and 30s in numerous countries.
 * If they are filled with explosive, then they are not "bullets", but "shells", especially if they officially designated it a "cannon".
 * The convention of calling anything under 20mm a "machine gun" is not universal. They were not "allowed" to call it a cannon by their brilliant new exploding shells. In Germany everything up and including 20mm were classified as "machine guns", exploding shells or not. The Japanese classified everything from 12.7mm and up as "cannon". The Japanese and Germans made widespread use of explosive 12.7 and 13mm projectiles, so what is "general use"? So perhaps it was unusual in French practice to call a 13mm weapon a "cannon", and maybe the new-to-them explosive rounds inspired them to call it a "cannon" where they would normally call it an MG. But they neither invented the concept, nor was there any international convention regarding "official" cannon sizes. That was a post-war development, and it's still not universal.
 * in the infobox the "action" is listed as "electronic". This should be the ignition is electronic (I assume). The action is what makes the weapon operate, in this case recoil, as opposed to gas. An "electronic" action would be a weapon that has a breech powered by an electic motor. Some forms of Gatling-style weapons could ne classified in this category, although only indirectly.

Idumea47b (talk) 04:26, 24 August 2020 (UTC)


 * the text has since been reworked and refined, it is accurate according to the sources.--Blockhaj (talk) 12:17, 11 January 2022 (UTC)