Vickers K

Vickers Gas Operated
Used on a Fairey Battle light bomber
Type	Machine gun
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
Used by	United Kingdom
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designed	1935
Manufacturer	Vickers-Armstrongs
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Weight	29.5 lb (13.4 kg)
Length	37 in (0.93 m)
Barrel length	529mm
Cartridge	.303 British
Calibre	.303 in (7.7 mm)
Action	Gas operated
Rate of fire	950-1,200 round/min
Muzzle velocity	2,500 ft/s (762 m/s)
Feed system	pan 60/100 rounds
Sights	Iron

Not to be confused with the Vickers light machine gun

The Vickers K machine gun, known as the Vickers Gas Operated (Vickers G.O.) in British service, was a rapid-firing machine gun developed and manufactured for use in aircraft by Vickers-Armstrongs. The high rate of fire was needed for the small period of time when the gunner would be able to fire at an attacking aircraft. The weapon was also adopted for land use during World War II.

The Vickers K was a development of the Vickers-Berthier (VB) light machine gun, adopted in 1932 by the Indian Army. The VB, like the Bren light machine gun, used a tilting locking breechblock. However, unlike the Bren, the VB locked its breech only at the last moment of forward travel and this enabled the development of the Vickers K also known as the "Vickers Gas Operated" (VGO) or "Vickers GO" . With lighter moving parts and the VB locking design, the Vickers K had an adjustable rate of fire between 950 and 1,200 rounds per minute; faster than the German MG34. The weapon was adopted for British service as the VGO. It was test-flown with a large 300-round pan magazine, and beat the .303 Browning in reliability. However, the wide pan would have caused problems to accommodate, since it would have interfered with wing structures. When the belt-fed Browning Mark II was selected as the standard machine-gun armament for RAF aircraft, the VGO became redundant for the RAF. It continued to be used by the Fleet Air Arm until 1945.

Some were made in 7.7mm for the Belgians before the war and at least one example survives in a European museum.

The Vickers class K/Vickers G.O. machine gun is a gas operated weapon, firing from an open bolt (thus making it non-synchronizable for firing through a spinning propeller) in full automatic mode only. Its gas cylinder is located below the barrel, and a long stroke gas piston operates a vertically tilting bolt. Feed is from top-mounted flat pan magazines with a nominal capacity of 100 rounds, although it was customary to load only 96 or 97 rounds to ensure reliable feeding. The gun is fitted with a single spade grip at the rear of receiver, with trigger to control fire. In ground use, it was normally mounted on single or twin pintle mounts on various jeeps and trucks.