Notes: This Spanish machinegun was designed when the Spanish needed replacements for their machineguns and no outside source was available due to World War 2. It is fired from a tripod, and is gas-operated. The original M-44 model was chambered for 8mm Mauser, but later the M-55 was developed to fire the 7.62mm NATO cartridge. (A number of M-44’s were also converted to this configuration). The Alfa served with the Spanish until the late 1960s, when they were sold off to various countries in Africa and Central America. Most of these were also sold off by those countries, and they might now turn up almost anywhere.