Dror
- Category
- Machine Gun
- Barrel
- 508 mm
- Weight, empty
- 7.50 kg
- Introduced
- 1948
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Dror is an Israeli light machine gun developed by the Haganah's clandestine arms industry and Israel Military Industries (Ta'as) during the late 1940s. Closely based on the American Johnson M1941 light machine gun, it used a short-recoil action and fed from a side-mounted detachable box magazine. Initial production was chambered in .303 British to match the ammunition then in widest use by Israeli forces; later examples were reworked for 7.92x57mm Mauser. The design proved sensitive to dust and sand and was produced only in small numbers before being withdrawn in favor of more reliable foreign machine guns.
Derived from Melvin Johnson's M1944 LMG, the Dror (Hebrew for 'Liberty') was one of the young state of Israel's first attempts at an indigenous automatic weapon, born of the need to arm its forces during the 1948 war when foreign supply was uncertain. Several of Johnson's own engineers are said to have sympathized with the cause and aided the technology transfer.
Reliability problems in the dusty conditions of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War limited the Dror's service life. Many sources cite both .303 British and 7.92x57mm Mauser chamberings across its short production run.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Israel Military Industries (Ta'as)
- Category
- Machine Gun
- Country
- Israel
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1948 to 1952
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 508 mm
- Overall length
- 1066 mm
- Weight, empty
- 7.50 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Short recoil
- Firing mechanism
- Hammer fired
- Trigger
- Automatic
- Capacity
- 20
- Magazine
- Detachable box
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
- Finish
- Blued
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 744 m/s
- Muzzle energy
- 3120 J
- Effective range
- 600 m
- Rate of fire
- 600 rpm
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Quick change barrel
Side mounted magazine
Bipod
Select fire
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 261 machine guns | 7.50 kg | 10.50 kg | Lighter than about 80% |
| Overall lengthAmong 260 machine guns | 1066 mm | 1156 mm | Shorter than about 70% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 257 machine guns | 508 mm | 605 mm | Shorter than about 80% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 222 machine guns | 20 | 50 | Holds fewer rounds than about 90% |
Answers
Questions about the Dror
How much does the Dror weigh?
The Dror weighs 7.50 kg (16.53 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Dror?
The Dror is chambered in .303 British.
How many rounds does the Dror hold?
The Dror holds 20 rounds, fed from a detachable box magazine.
How long is the Dror?
The Dror is 1066 mm (42.0 in) long overall, with a 508 mm (20.0 in) barrel.
Who makes the Dror?
The Dror is made by Israel Military Industries (Ta'as) (Israel). It was designed by Yehuda Linder.
When was the Dror introduced?
The Dror was introduced in 1948 and discontinued in 1952.
How does the Dror operate?
The Dror uses a short recoil action, and its firing mechanism is hammer fired.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- Israel Defense Forces
- 1948
Provenance
Confidence in this record
62%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/dror-lmg' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "dror-lmg", "name": "Dror", "manufacturer": { "id": "israel-military-industries", "name": "Israel Military Industries (Ta'as)", "countryCode": "IL", "foundedYear": 1933, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "9f22dd37c0cc846ef4814d9c23a07a6fa7756f70b2a58ae8d4c063ae29049479" }, "category": { "id": "machine-gun", "name": "Machine Gun", "description": "Fully automatic firearms for sustained fire" }, "country_of_origin": "IL", "year_introduced": 1948, "barrel_length_mm": 508, "weight_empty_g": 7500, "action_type": "short_recoil"}