Type 67 Chinese 7.62mm General-Purpose Machine Gun

The Type 67 is a machine gun of Chinese origin. It was designed in the 1960s to replace the local production models of the SG-43 and SGM. Western and East Bloc nations moved to 7.62mm general-purpose machine guns on the squad level. The Chinese preferred to use the Type 67 from the bipod and to use the lighter RPD as the squad-level machine gun. The Type 67 can be considered a mixture of various proven machine gun designs. The gas regulator is derived from the RPD, the trigger mechanism from the DPM, the feed mechanism from the Maxim, the bolt and piston from the ZB-26, and the barrel change system from the SG-43. The Type 67 is a conventional belt-fed weapon that is gas operated and uses a tilting block for locking. In order to allow for a high volume of fire the Type 67 fires from the open bolt position and has a quick-change barrel mechanism. A bipod is fitted onto the gas system. Normally a low-profile tripod is used. The Type 67 fires the 7.62x54mm Russian round at a cyclic rate of fire of 650 rpm. The thick quick change barrel allows for a large volume of fire. When fitted onto a tripod 250 round belts are used. In the infantry role 50 or 100-round belts are most common. Reportedly the maximum effective range is 800 meters on the tripod and 600 meters from the bipod.