Rio de Janeiro slum wars

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I'm sure the topic has been covered well enough in the media but there's one image specifically that grabbed my attention. It's one for all the firearms aficionados - remember that this was taken now (as in, November 2010).




And I've just found a video of it in action. A police officer can be seen using the MG in question at about 1:18 on the vid.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/428337...aniero_brazil/

[pmulcahy11b]

My god, it's what must be an ancient Madsen M-1904 -- it belongs, lovingly-restored, in a museum and not in a fight! I wonder if it's been rechambered -- original chamberings included .303 British, 8mm Mauser, 7mm Mauser, 6.5mm Mauser, and 7.65mm Mauser. The barrel does look a little different from the pictures in my books.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I knew you'd pick it Paul
The Modern Firearms site claims that many of them were still in use up till the 1980s and also that some were chambered for 7.62x51mm.
http://world.guns.ru/machine/mg64-e.htm

[Canadian Army]

The Madsen light machine gun begin used is one of the Madsens that were donated by the Brazilian Army to the State Police of Rio De Janerio; after army retired the Madsen machine gun in 1996. These guns were .30 cal weapons and were converted to fit 7.62 mm NATO.

Here close up of the Madsen in question:



From the picture it looks like an M1946, probably from Chile.

[Gelrir]

I think the pictures were taken a year or two ago. There is a video of the same para-military police in action, too. I

The Brazilian military apparently passed some on to the cops; some were captured from drug dealers; and some came from other odd sources. They've been converted to 7.62mm NATO.

The members of that force (if I recall the article and discussion correctly) are pretty well-funded; they have access to most modern weapons (belt-fed H&K, etc.) but like the Madsen for a few reasons:

-- it's controllable on full-auto, mostly due to weight and recoil operation
-- it's able to punch holes in cinder blocks and other slum building materials
-- it's very loud (they like to scare the drug dealers, I guess)
-- it's reliable

Here's a vid showing the Madsen in use:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qobInwK_VnQ

and another:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/428337...aniero_brazil/

They seem to be operating it with the recoil booster/flash hider removed from the muzzle.

I own a semi-auto conversion of a 1946 Madsen, in .30-06 and 8mm (they use the same magazines, thank goodness), and I can say that recoil is pretty light for full rifle-caliber weapon. Of course, carrying the beast around isn't so fun! I've put a canvas Sten gun handguard around the rear end of the barrel jacket.

[HorseSoldier]

If I'm not mistaken the unit in question is the Batalhao de Operacoes Policiais Especiais, though pictures of them usually show them in tacticool police black storm trooper gear rather than urban camo. In terms of operational intensity (even outside Brazil's recent push to clean out the favela gangs before the sports tourists starts rolling into Rio) and the level of resistance they face they pretty much make LAPD SWAT look like Hollywood's idea of a cheerful old retirement age Irish beat cop.

There's a documentary about them in the extras on the DVD for the Brazilian movie City of God (which is about the favela drug gangs) that mentions they average something in excess of 300 officer involved shootings a year (that's not Rio Police overall, that's this one unit of about 400 officers). There's also the more recent Brazilian film Tropa de Elite (screenplay by the same guy who wrote City of God) about the unit that depicts them as being proactive to a level that in the US would probably get the entire city government thrown in jail. Pretty good action flick, though.