After World War II it remained in use aboard the patrol boats of the Guardia di Finanza.

The Breda Model 31 was a license built copy of the French Hotchkiss M1929[3] machine gun.

[4] The Model 31 was intended to provide close-range air defense, but like its counterparts in other nations, these small-caliber guns were found incapable of defending against low-level torpedo-bombers or high altitude level-bomber attacks because their bullets were too light and short ranged.

The Model 31 was a gas-operated, air-cooled machine gun with a tilting bolt action.

It was fed by top mounted, semi-circular, thirty round magazines, with cooling air drawn through the sleeve to fins along the barrel.