This is a fine example of a very rare early production Hotchkiss Heavy Machine Gun manufactured by the French factory of "Mitrailleuse Automatique Hotchkiss" in 1929. The original design was developed and refined in 1897 and was in use by the French Army until the fall of France in 1940. This model of machine gun is very historic as it was in several major battles throughout the world. It was manufactured in three different calibers; 8 mm Lebel, 7.92 Mauser and 6.5 Japanese. It was used in the Russo-Japanese War (1904/05), in a redesigned form during WWII, in 1914/15 by Pancho-Villa during the Mexican revolution, the Chinese in the 1930s, and then again during WWI and WWII by the French in all of the major battles until the fall of France in 1940. It was a very reliable weapon that was gas operated (via an operating rod), air cooled and fired from an open bolt using 24 round strippers/feed trays. It can be easily identified by the large cooling fins on the rear area of the barrel, the massive adjustable gas block on the underside of he barrel and the all brass feeder tray and pistol grip assembly. It is heavy weighing in at approximately 52lbs (less the tripod). The side of the receiver is marked: "Mitrailleuse Automatique Hotchkiss/BREVETTE S.G.D.G./CALIBER 7m/m", but the current barrel has an 8mm bore. The right side of the receiver is marked "C.29 and 1929". It has a fixed blade front sight and a tangent rear sight graduated from 250-2000 meters.

Very good with 40% of the faded blue finish remaining overall which has darkened to a blue black type finish mixed with brown patina. The markings are clear and sharp. NOTE: This weapon is a restricted, National Firearms Act (NFA) Class 3, Fully Automatic Weapon, that is registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF&E) under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44 and 27 CFR part 478. This weapon is currently registered as a "PRE-86 SALES SAMPLE" and as such can only be purchased by an FFL with a Class 2 or Class 3 SOT licenses, individuals or companies without these types of Licenses, cannot purchase this weapon.