MG 30(t) is the german designation for the czechoslovakian ZB 1930 light machine gun. During the production of the ZB 1926 the weapon had been continously improved in different aspects, an intermediate model was called ZB 1927. This development eventually resulted in the improved ZB 1930 model, the most visible change being the relocation of the gas-pressure vent away from the muzzle to a position roughly halfway of the barrel. There was also an export version that was changed to be more tolerant to accept a wider range of ammunitions of differing manufacturing quality under the designation ZB 1930 J.
A major customer of this latter model was Yugoslavia with 15,500 weapons bought. Other major international customers of the ZB 1930 were Romania with 17,131 ( a later ally of germany on the eastern front in WW II) and turkey with 9,805 of these machine guns. It should also be noted that this weapon was the basis of the ZGB 1933 that became widely known as the british Bren light machine gun. Weapons of the type ZB 1926 or ZB 1930 also were sometimes called ZB-machineguns or Holek-machineguns after their inventor.
With the occupation of czechoslovakia in 1939 the germans captured 31,204 machine guns of the types ZB 1926 and ZB 1930, mostly the latter. From these, 1,500 were sold to Bulgaria. The ZB 1930 was integrated into german army service under the designation MG 30(t). Production of the weapon was continued under german occupation for the german forces: 10,430 were produced for the SS. In 1941 production was switched over to the german MG 34 and production of the MG 30(t) / ZB 1930 ceased.
The MG 30(t) had the same basic layout as its predecessor, the MG 26(t). Caliber was still 7.92mm Mauser. The range of the sights was increased to 2,000m. The weapon used straight or curved 20-round magazines. Other data: Length 117cm, barrel length 60cm, weight (empty) 9.65kg, rate of fire 600/min, V0 = 760 m/s.
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