Original Item: A .303 caliber Vickers MMG Berthier Magazine offered in very good condition.

The Vickers-Berthier (VB) light machine gun manufactured by Vickers-Armstrong was based on a French design of just before World War I. In 1925 Vickers in Britain purchased licence rights for production in their Crayford factory, and as a replacement for the Lewis Gun. During the 1932 British Army trials of several Light machine guns, the Vickers-Berthier was in direct competition with the Bren gun. The British army adopted the Bren, and the Vickers-Berthier was adopted instead by the British Indian Army. A production line for the Vickers-Berthier Light Machine-Gun Mk 3 was established at the Ishapore Rifle Factory. The reasons of its failure were simple; It was heavier, at 24 pounds than the lighter bren at 22 pounds. It was also longer, and hard to stow away. The bren was also smaller, with a faster firing rate and far better portability. The only advantage the weapon had to the bren was the far simpler design. It could be produced more effectively. In the end however, that didn't matter. The Vickers-Berthier Light Machine Gun has a 30-round box magazine and a bipod stand, and is sometimes mistaken for the Bren for their recognisable standard curved magazine. Apart from India, it was only sold to a few Baltic and South American states. But the design was modified into the Vickers K machine gun, called the Vickers Gas Operated (VGO).