Type 77 heavy machine gun

The Type 77 heavy machine gun, also designated the Type 85, is a Chinese 12.7x108mm heavy machine gun made by Norinco, developed beginning in the mid-1970s and in service since 1977 as a lighter, more mobile alternative to earlier Soviet-pattern anti-aircraft machine guns. It uses an unusual hybrid short-recoil and direct-gas-impingement system that keeps the weapon lighter than its predecessors while retaining a similar locking mechanism and belt-feed system, firing at 650 to 700 rounds per minute with a muzzle velocity of 825 meters per second. It has been used by China and by state forces in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Pakistan, Djibouti, Iraq, Rwanda, South Sudan, Niger, Sudan, and Yemen, as well as non-state groups including the Free Syrian Army and Islamic State.