Bergmann MG 15n A Machine Gun - Design and Development

Design and Development

The Bergmann gun used a lock system patented by Theodor Bergmann in 1901 along with the short recoil principle of operation. The locking system, in which a cam moves a lock vertically in the weapon was not dissimilar to the Browning machine gun designs. The original design, borrowing from the 1910 pattern, was a heavy ground-based weapon fitted with a water-cooling jacket. The weapon was then lightened for both infantry and aircraft use. For aircraft usage, the bolt was lightened and the mechanism sped up from 500 rounds per minute to 800. For ground use, this weapon was adopted as the Bergmann MG-15. The receiver to the weapon was machined down and lightened, featured a butt stock fitted to the end of the weapon. It was given a pistol grip and trigger grouping instead of spade-grips, the heavy cooling jacket was replaced with a thin perforated barrel-shroud and an affixed bipod halfway down the barrel.

The major development of the weapon came early in 1916 when the Bergmann MG-15 was converted into a second variation to mirror the development of the Maxim MG 08/15. The bolt was slowed back down as the original had stoppage issues when used in the ground role. The bipod was removed from the flimsy barrel-shroud and relocated to just forward of the pistol grip using a swivel-mount that accepted the bipod shared between the Bergmann and Maxim guns. A carry handle and new sights were also added. When this variation was adopted, it was called the Bergmann MG-15nA, the nA standing for neuer Art ("new Model"). The old pattern was then renamed the Bergmann MG-15aA from alter Art ("old Model"). The MG-15nA saw a much larger dispersion amongst the Imperial German forces than the MG-15aA.