SIG KE-7 - Too Early?

The SIG KE-7 was, not surprisingly, a very advanced design. It was designed by Pal de Kiraly and Gotthard End, it was their 7th design together (hence KE-7), at the SIG factory in Neuhausen, Switzerland. Production started in 1929, with most guns going to China, with some to several Latin American nations.

The gun uses a short recoil action, with a tipping bolt. It fires from an open bolt as is standard for most machine guns. It uses quick-change barrels, with the fore grip being used to handle the hot barrel when it's taken off. The bipod is permanently attached to the underside of the barrel, and folds into grooves in the hand guard. The non-reciprocating charging handle is on the left side of the receiver. The safety is on the right, above the trigger. The trigger is one of the most interesting parts. How one selects automatic or semi-automatic is similar to that of the Steyr AUG, with a short pull for semi-automatic and a long pull for automatic. It also has an ejector port cover that flips open automatically when the weapon is cocked.

It was chambered in 8x57mm and a few others. It was never used by the Swiss military, being made purely for export. Sadly it didn't gain much popularity outside of China. This may be because the design was fairly complex meaning the gun was expensive, or it may be because there were quite a few light machine guns out there and others were more popular.

A cutaway drawing of the KE-7's action from a German manual.

A Chinese soldier with a KE-7.

A KE-7 on a tripod. While this was great for accurate fire, it wouldn't have much capability for a sustained fire role due to the fore grip and bipod being part of the quick change barrel and the small magazines.