Original German WWII Danish Madsen Machine Gun Tripod Mount Wartime Converted for MG 42 Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. The Madsen tripod has a particularly important place in the history of machine guns; the Madsen tripod was the very first machine gun tripod to incorporate soft recoil. This feature greatly reduced or eliminated the effect of the gun’s recoil on accuracy. The soft recoil feature allowed the gun to recoil straight back against a spring, which then returned the gun to its original position. This feature was later copied by German during WWII on the MG 34 and MG 42 Lafette tripod. The Madsen tripod was the FIRST to incorporate this feature, and thus has a very important place in the history of machine gun tripod development.

The tripods that we have offered in the past were found in Portugal in the 1970’s, together with 7.92 mm Madsen MGs. However, some of these tripods no longer accepted the standard Madsen Gun. After much research, it turns out, that these were modified for use with the German WW2 LMG model MG 42. Much lighter and more friendly for the infantryman than other mounts, these Madsen/MG 42 tripods must have been a true blessing. These also work with the Post War Yugoslavian M-53 (MG 42 clone) and of course the postwar conversions of the MG 42 which were designated the MG1 and later manufactured as the MG3. Interestingly the butt has to be removed or at least swiveled 90 degrees for the MG 42 sights to be operable. An extremely interesting MG Conversion / Development underlining again the old saying of “Need is the Mother of Invention”.

Tripod is offered in very good condition, all original parts except for the retrofitted mount for the MG42. Comes complete with remote trigger assembly. Only one available so act quickly!