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A Standard Heierence Book for Shooters, Gunsmiths, Bollieticions, Historians, Hunters and Collectors

By JULIAN S., HATCHER



Major' General U. S. Army~ Retired

HATCHER'S NOTEBOO,K

._. .....

i 'U L I /\?\: s . 11 J\ -r c, 1,~ ,E }{

, I 'cchuical Ed iror, T'be American Rifl,e'l'fUl'n, Member, . 'he ~~ urional Board for the Promotion of H.:~Ne Practice. ~1V1,cI11ber, The United States Olympic Games Comrnirrcr-. n'ir~(,'toI", The N~lt,iollil,~ Ri,Ae' As s()cit~,tion -(}t A nlle:r,u,e,a , ~ 9;:,,::'\ ito, 1'9"'f,6.

1" D isr rungu..isbe'd Pistol Shoe" U. S~ Army. \V inner, \V eble)" & Sco n P istol . I' roph y ~ B isley, England, 19,~, ] . U. s. r n t'i," fn:lJt i (U:.1J R i:nJ.e ~1, cam, S\V:;'r7.e·rl-and, ! 9:!j; Rome 1917:; ,A,nt'w~rpl' t 930,. C~pt011:~nl - ~ s. In'tt: l"l.l ~:t t:t( U'I."t 1 I~ ~ :t1c' Te ;JIjrlll" 8:;;5 ley, ];:: ng 'I ~'i ul, 193 l ~

Editor, "The Dope Bag," Pistol Section" Arms ana tbe j'~l'4l'11 and J'JJ~ American RifJ.ttl'iitn~ H;)'l! ~o 1'9 ~)" I jfc rn~lnber!, U nired Slt,~ tcs Itlc\" 01 \"C" r ~\ ssoc iarion.

o (Ii c er in Charge! Exp e rh DC n tal Dc part 1'l,?1C nr, S:pring'f~ ej d A rmory ~ ]' 91: i'.. Ch:i ef I ,!Vlachi ne G:~ n an d Srna I ,I 1\ rrns Seer ,inn I F~ ngin ee'ri:~11.:g D j v ~s inn. 0 rdn ~ n C~ ~ ,~! ~ 51:. mgton~ ~ '9 ,I S:. \ \1 or 1~ S ~\ t' flnaglC.l, Spring fie I d Artnor)" :l'9,[9-,~ 9:t w '. Offict,( in Cbarge of Small l' rms Ammunition ~\ tanufscui re, Fran kf ord Arsenal ~ :19~ 3'" j, [9! ~'. Ch ~ ef of Sma II ,A rms D i vis ion, T ech ~ n ~ cal St:1ff,~ _IQlrdnan ce _ ,D e partmenr, '\-'l :a's:h :ing ~_on, ~ '9,~ 9.' Ch ie f of Sn;l,aU Arms Di vi,!d O,D, M ~n uJ nere r. illS Servi ce, 0 t',dln3Jlllcf;. Department, ,;\l3J:d l. ~I, ~"g [~on!, j 9 ~'9- ] 93.3 .' A ssistai II Comn iandanr, The Ord ua nee Sch 0.01, [937 - I Q'4~). ComJllanding General, The Ordnance Tr-aining Center, r.94,~=T941.. Chief of Ord n a nee Trs in in g Sf rv ice ~ 1941- ] 9+ J . Ch 1 e:f of J?,iel d Service j I 94 ~'-' ~ 945.

Djstinguished, Service Medal, ,Le,sion o.f Merit"

'FlRST 'FJ)'lT'IO'N'

Fi rst P r lnting ~ ~~.Ugllst, 194'; Second Printing, July, 194:8 Third Printing, .i.t:,. pril, 1952.

Copy,c·jght 1.947

TIlE ,JVIILrrAR.Y SeRvIcE. PU.BLISI:n,N'G ,Co,MPA:N'Y

SE:C'ON][) EDITIO~

First P rin ring, Octo ber, 1. 957

P _, d i TT'· d S' f' A '

rmtea m tne unuea States 0, -~'.mer,ICd

R "'I'" T' - PRE' E hZ' b d I)

, ,- '-"'. ,-' --' , e' l(j"ll

,. Y ,HE ET.)tGR .. 4..PH, 'ss":sta'Js:,,._ .')'

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

..

WHEN. in '946, .~fter ,4.[, yea~'s serv,ic~, .. I retired _ from '~,b.e. ~~~l.~ and bee arne 1 ec lu uca 1 Ed) tor of 1 b e A m er t c ern Ri fifJ1ncrn., I

collected together a numbe r of reference notes .for my 0 wn use .. These proved so useful to me that 1 thought it would be nice to have them ne rmanentlv available, in book f orm, so I arrang .. e d for their

I ~.

publication under the title of H,ATCHER'S NOTE nOOK.

. ,As the supply on hand sold out, the book has. been reprinted from rime _ to ti me, n ow, nine y'ea.rs. after the boo k' s fi rsr a ppeara nee, the publisher's stock is again nearing exhaustion, and it a~rclin becomes nee essaty to prin t a fresh su ppl y, For tha t reas 011 this seems an a p-

~, dd t 0; ddi .. 1 b .,

propriate time to a _. some chapters covering a -'.' 'bona su .. Jeers.

'which my experience. as head of the National Rifleman's Technical Service has shown to 'he of interest to members of that association and to readers of the Ri j1e,"lon ~

Accordingly, aU of the original rnareria] of H·A.TCHF_R,:'S ~'OTl!llOOtC has now been reprinted without change as Parr One, and four new chanters have been nodded as Part Two which will zive much im-

.t'" ......

. ' f ~ .. 'I 1 I' h··''- I Tl ·

:"_ "'.- -. . - .... , .Ai - " _" _," . -," ," ::. . . '-'iII ",' .~ .' . . i '. . . , " .. - - r". r:. - .. ' _', ,'-·ifo -

portant 1.11 ormation not Inc ucer In t te original \. 0 urne. I, ne orig-

i nal ind c x is retained at the end of Part 0 ne and an in d ex 0 f the ne w rna tcri a 1 appears at the end of Part Two,

First of the new chapters covers the development and adoption, of :3;, I1U';\V n on ... co rrosi \,.!C p ri m er, a, new rift e a.11 d 1 H::}C hine gu n cartrid ge, a, new service rifle, 'and a, new all-purpose machine g ... ·nn bv 'the Army,

, ,t'" . '" "

as well as the development and marketing of a. number of new rifle

cartridges by the commercia 1 ammunition companies,

The sec and new Ch;1 pte r covers, '1: he subl ect of explosions and, powder fires, as well as, the behavior of ~n111111niti on when i t i~ ex ...

] d d- id 'J] herwi 1~]";'· T'h

p ,0 ten, acci .. enta. .,y or ot lCr\\']:se-~ wrn ,e It IS not m a gun. .. ae many

inquiries on this subject that I received. iron I 'Police and Fire Departments state and mnnicinal o"i 1'1 rh 0 1'" ties ..... "'1 Ji fr readers of- rl e

_' ". .iI" _,_ 'LoU, ,.. a·:: ,: ,I, I, IllI , .l'_ ~ ~1i:1.il ~a oll~, ',.', .",. .(~,:, .. (~ ,1011] 1'3,u' :.I!.-;:), :,. :~1'

magnzi I' e caused me to Ina ke a 1~ rge n um he It o f inreresri n g ex periments to be' able to answer thei r questions wi th ce rtainty, The in~ formation thus developed is of great value, 311,d is. so important that it should he preserved permanently in. convenient form for reference ..

The third new chapte r covets th e f asci nating and ]itt! e understood su bi oct of w hat happens w hen a b ull er is n red straight up, 1Vlany ex pe rimcn ters have fi red b ul I cts vertical t y·' u pwa rds an d tried to 11ote' their rem rn to earth but 'J" n 111'. ost i nsra n e cs su - ,"'1-, bu lle ts 5):" mol "

, _" '" L . ~~ ,.,_,.. __ , _ 't.~, ,,"""" .. C 1 ~.IIl .. ,J .L :1PI,V

disa,ppea.r 'into the: wild hlue yonder and no sign of their return is

d d Tl ' 11 11 4' d d" I'] d d- b

ever erectee ~ . lie reason JS here exp,J3.uu: an··~, we I, c oeumcnteo :'y

rhe results of official tests taken f rOUI Ordnance, files",

'The fourth chapter, on the subject of exterior ballistics, is again [he result of my urgent desire to have available a handy 'bound reference b '.:' 0'. "·0, ok c for ",': -'-h', ich ' I" c ..... n reac rh w . be, '. n J' '\IV','f1n,' t to m ak te an -I Y' of a n urn be:' " er

, " W ,II. , ' ,3" lvi' , _ , ;t,,~., _ "~ , " ,__ _ ,,_ , _

of simple but necessary ua.U:iso C calculatio ns arising' 01]t -of Sl1,C:h, q nestions 'a5- \~r.ha;r is the - ballistic coefficient of a newly designed bullet' of which I have just received a, samples If the chronograph shows a certain Velocity' at 25 feet in front of the gun, what is the real muzzle ve1.ocity~ If it loses 'I' 2.5' feet of irs oti,gin~d, velocity in, the first

'.:" "" '"ds how 'l'~t "'T"']-'I .,. 'I· '.' ..... in rhc n-'~t h . rd red ..... ,. ·d·'· t:l ... " , ..... "t~

,100 yar. c'- 11 ,,0), nn_Cil '\~1 , It . ose ,]1 _ lle.l ~e:~, "u.n ·_re.· au:. ",ue nex_ .. ,

'Ii -- - -

'~'I1.at will be its time of High.t: over any given, distance and how

m u ch will t he bullet d ro P he I ow 't he li nc of depa rtu re at va ri 0 us ranges r And other similar questi ons,

A- h: · I Ed' - f· f 1 f

. -."' _",--,,-,_ "'I i ,.' r ' JI!l .• ~ ... ';," '._ -. '~T"- -_-'.-." -- .,- ", '._ - i ·.··'111 .1<:-'" ," ," 'I

, S recnrucu ,~ J.tOI., I 0 [en recei ve requests ror t J'e name 0" a

book on exte ri or ball isti cs th at wil ~ give such info rrna rion, and I am always distressed to have to reply that the, books that 'I use ,for that

'1",:,.-·,·_1-"" -. ,:,': ",c.-,--, of I .r, .. -- and unobtainable 'T' -l..- ballistic tables and

~ orx are OUt 0, print anc uno aman c. ue. arusnc tar es an

references that I use are contained in, six' diffle'rent books, and in, this new chapter I have endeavored to include material that will enable m e to th rO"~V' those si x books a wa v and never miss them ..

~

The best exterior ballistic tables for use in small arms work are those

0,£.-:' lfn' 'g,"n~~ publish d',' ,,-"7': ';,' ~."'-' ,,'1 .. 'O·:",,-·,·d'~- .' ..... ;" •. ,y.-, 'D"e: .. '·mn····.-,·t .~ . the

" iI. _ :' ,a.u,OJo, ph ll;o, ,e· years ,ago ~ lJI' " Ile ... 1 C ,Rance ' .. pa , . ~ J::n. .1 n I, !I1e

nov 1 out-of-print Artillery Circular ~1~ Ingalls' highly' useful 'Table I has been included in full, together with all abri dged form of his

T·'lI'l',"Iie· II' In' add 1""';'0" .' the 1'1,'.- t o· , '1" . "n-, d '-. rincinle ... 1: :-. tte -,~ ,-, t • .], l' .. rlcs

.;:1" I -" -a. er , ~"-, M . .II., e 1:-l,IS, If)! 11, ' P m IP, es 0.[ exterior 03 IS IC~

h b d ,", "' 't"fl-" d f h '"' 'h ,"

. .. v - -', .' ,.- ,,' 'f .", . -'. I'. -., .-.' -._ . "," -I' ._. li .l ..... , ' .• '-. - "," - I~;'",· .'. -,' - --.' , ' ..

, "a e neen stat eo 1 n a S1 m pu tc OHn, tog et er w 1 r a C ompa ratrv c

fa bulari on of 'the ha rd-ro f nd basic retardation funcri ons 'as dere r =' mined bv ... several different experimental n.rl1t("tS in. various countries.

~ti,-- '1j::r'I' .-,,' J r'T .. ~.','. ,;i'-di';'-"'''' of T":"',-, A···- -'. ~L'~' "RI~II" ,c-:'.-,-,: .. ,.1:' C,-,

n'lf .. "l" a, ter -s .. --.o,\,·e" e ,ttor 0, '. nc; l1le~,lcQ.ll,~,~!,d!:lna/n,~ 011 wnose

great knowledze and excellent [udgement I rely greatly, has been

nl.n~'~ h .-,11. ',f" -I] ·:C·',·, l' '~ 'F'l' \t_'f .. r- /' •..... : ·0"'" ",d-'''·'·,·''- . "- C'" "':' .. -.' ','-", U·-· ·S: ,ii". --,' -",_

-_. v.;~I!I., ,CI p_ n" , ... .0,,' .IE" __ ,',~ rlarnson!, . F- na.nce .a,rps, .... ' ~ _',. ~'1.,nn,,~ 1 c-

ti red, of T be A meri c all.' Ri fl eman edi to ria I staff, has rna d e num C rous

val rabl - .,' ~r' -t '. ~,.. . ...J' ·h·· .... .. ,~, - . ..J ,--,. ~ '1",,- ii' - ,. . .... , - ,,"" "" - 'L,

. aruame ~ugse,srlons,~ ann "as pomreo out set emr errors m my \VOrK

that without his, help would have gone undetected, ~1'f.., Horner S.,

-

Powley, of Shaker Heights, Ohio, who is extremely accomplished

in rhe field of exterior ballistics. has: been of incalcula ble heln to me

:1~' n fll \T effo rl""">L'" 'it",o'·· ,0' b ~'~" " b--, ,it" ~ .' nd e' rs-' _. t- ":~ ,- d~-'" c· , :. ..". ,:f' to. 'h-- \;;: C-' , b:- . ~ .' ..... ' t - -,.d'

, '- - '~ ..... " .. I!;.~ ~. ' '-,<idn a . c~u .. e.r u, .' ."JUI. lUg 0, ." t- ~n lee., ar~,

has furrus'he:d 'me '\"'al,uahle nlateri.al '\Iihic-h ] ha"vc: tru.:Jnde-d., To 'these t'-hre'e men ]' a,fIer nT\"· si ncere tha "'ks, fo r the assist~nce t'hey' have'

~ ~'

]- ~,

,so g"enerol1S: )T ,gJ',.,.en ~

"F 11 Ch 'It.. 'V"" 0;.

a .s: .. :"urcu, ···.····Jfglma"

Ju1,y', I 9.5 7,·

JUL1A 'S S'~, HA.TCH'~lt,

M-"· G 1 vrS'A R· m d' . itt or en,era, .. ~ ... ,I .. ' •.... "." "} .. ' "e'ttre.·

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is, a pleasure. to acknowledge HI}" indebtedness to the llTany friends an d ass ociates who have so '\V i 11. in g Iy an sw e red. 111 v req. ,- nests for as-

~ ¥

sistanc e in the pte p ara ti on 0 f this VV 01' k.

Charles B. Lister, Editor of 'The American Rifleman, sp'ent much time and labor in reading the first draft of the manuscript, and made .:: numb e-r' 0".- -f ~'-'. tr em. e Iv 11:';, •. il , . ~ b .1-,.' sr ag. est 1+ 0'" n ." w h ich resul te-d in a, C Ol1'1-

a ,_. _ ,. "'x _ 1.. " a u a - e SUb _ _ .Jo , L1I ••

plete re-arrangen1ent and rewriting of the book. Richard. Gordon J\1c~loskcy made a number of highly constructive suggestion~ as to form and contents which were 1110St ·grateful.ly' received 'and put into

~

ex e ell non,

Invaluable technical information and assistance was freely given by a number of rny friends who will be mentioned in alphabetical order as follows: Alvin H~ Barr, of the National Rifle Association Technical Sm.1!'; Lt. Col. Calvin Goddard; Maj. J .. C. Gray· and _ Col. Samuel G~ Green, of the Ordnance Department, Illy son, Lieut. Robert D.

'H-'" t l-.·. ,-'" ...., eti .. -" dr hI +., the N'" r· ~ M·, S' t··· ',1-':- '-F' H', ','0'0·"

_.a cner, now on ac vcu"--J In "e. avy; .Lr~ ·.an.~y-. 0 ,',

Small Arms Maintenance Expert for the 'OrdnM.1CC Department, Col.

~ti!d J~~:~tt~t~h~b~~~e~ fi~~oI~n'v~;~un~a~:t~!;t~:::~~

Engineer and ammunition expert; Capt. Melvin 1Vl,. Johnson, U. S" 1\,1. C. ~R<I' e minent arms designer; A1r. F rank J. Kahrs, of the Renting ~ ton Arms Co., Mr. Fdwin Pugsley, of. the Winchester Repeating Arms Co.; lvl,aJ .. J. J. Reen; Capt. Philip B. Sharpe; 'CoL Rene R+ Studler, Chief of the Small A TIllS Division, Ordnance Research &

D ,.. ,1' -.,' - ,t S: . - j". . • - d . .- I . ...........; -- - fr ~ ,.' d :, d _..' '. ,.'- 1··- r C'· J

e\ e 0pnlell. . erv ice; an. 01Y . 005\-11TIe rrem an counse o~ ,_",Olr

Townsend \Vhelen .. ,

It ,s'nouId be understood that the opinions ,given herein represent nly own view'S, and are not necessarily the views of the Chief of Ordnance

or of the War Department. .'

F alls Ch urch, v a., July 8; I 947't

JULlAN S. HATCHER,

Major General, L~",S.A., Retired,

CONTENTS

PART O'NE

L Brief History 0 f th e Spring fie Id . ,. i .• • , .• • , .• , ~ ~ • • ~ •. • • • • " J

2, Brief History of the .Enfi.eld ~ .. ~ ... _ .. ~ . r + •• + , , ~ ••••• " 12

3'. Brief History of the -30-'06., the .. 30 i\1 I!. and the .. 30 1\112

Cartri dges ., ~ , . . . , . . . . . . . .. ~ . r - •• r ~ •• • ~ r • + •. • + • ~ ~ • • - • ~ J 9

4. Automatic Gun Mechanisms .. - . ~ · . · + • + • + + •. ~ ~ • - • • - •.• - •. .. 32

5 ~ Notes .on .1VIachine Guns and T:heir Development .. ~ i • • 70

6.. Th~· l\.-1ilitary Semiautomatic Rifle .. ~ , , ,. ~ ., " ~ , , ~ .... · ,. · .. ,. 139

7 ~ Exper im ents wi th 'Barrel ·0 bstru ct ions ,.... ~ . . . . ~ , . + • + ~ I 80

8. The Strength of ~lili.tary Rifles . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ .. ~ 198

9: Receiver Steels and Heat Treatment _ ~ . ~ _ ~ ~ ~ .' ~ . ~ + 212

' •••• r..' •••• ~.J r. _ .' •• ~. r .. 3 .. +.+~

J r. Block That Kickl-s-Some Observations. on' Recoil .. , .. , + " :253

i ~L The Theurv of Recoil

....

• • .. Ii • iii .. • lIP. • ~ • • .. .. • .' • +. iI' ~ + !to I! • • • II!I • •• •

"11i"~'I-.'~ .1- •• -Ii !Io •• -I ....... i.~.,~ .. " 1Il·!I., II!! ......

T 4. Gun Corrosion and Ammunition Developments .,,' r ~ • • + 314

J 5 The Pedersen Device __ . _ ~ . _ . ~ ~ . ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ - . _. - - . 36 I

J 6, ;\f ores nn Set T ri-ggers ~.' . ~ ~ .. ~ ~ . ~ - .. - . ~ ~ 373

r 7.. Random Notes. on Various Sub] ccts "', ~ " . . 38 I

J ~ The Men Behind the 'Guns + ~ ...... "' .• ~ • - ••••• ~ • ~ • • 38 I

2 <i National l\1a rch Ammunition . ~ .. - .. r • r ~ • ~ ••• ~ ~ •• •• • 385

];; Caliber ,3D International Match Ammunition .'~. ~ .. " 38R

4" Palma Match Ammunition · ~ · .. ,. · · ~ · ~ , ~ ,. · ,. " , ~ , ~ .. . 391

.,.,. N ational Match Pisrot Ammun ition . ~ . , ~ . + ~ F ~ • .• ~ • 393

6. Dimensions of Cartridges .. ~ · ~ . ~ ~ .. ~ . ~ ~ . . . . 393

7'" Ace-nrtley Specifications ," ... '.,. - · .. ~ · ~ · · ~ · · ~ , , · · 394

8 • Primers ..... ~ .. , · · .. · · , .. · .. .. · .. .. · .. · .. ~ , + • • • •. • • + ~ .. • - • • - •. 394

9~ N omenclaru re of Cartridge Defects ~ - ,. ~9 5

I o. In terior B al] i s tics ., + • ~ ~ • ~ • • - • • - • ~ .. • i • ~ , + ., .~ ,. ., .• • .• .• 396

11" Muzzle Velocitv vs, Position of Cartridge when

~ ~

L d·· '1 .. ··9: .. :.8

.. oa '.' .l ng .. + ~ • ~ • , ~ • ~ • • • • • - • ~ ;; • .j • • .. • .. ~ , ~ ••• , , • , + , .J'

12. Effect of V ariations in Powder 1~en~pera.ture ou

1\1 uzz le v el 0 ci ty . .' ~ ;; ;; . ., .' ,.... .. . . , . . . . + .. ~ " ~ • • • .'. ~. r 398

1.3~ Distribution of the Hea,t: Ene:rg'y' of Powder .,., .. , ,. ~

14 V-·,lnn;"[y! - "I.7jC Barrel Le n O'It"'l]-

, ~ ,'!I;;"."""'"""'~_'_': ,,~,. '".:I,;, _', 'I, '.'" .b!!;."" "' .... ,. ~ .. - ,. ,., ,~ .. 'If ~ 'I' '.' .,. ., ., ~ ,., ~ ,.

15. Tables of Remaining ,r elocities, Energies and I~~ orrn

Factors for Ammunition .. ,! ~ • ~ ' •• ~ • , ,. • , .. • ' •.. ~ ,;

I 6~ Ballistic 'Da,tft 4,'" 'Ii • ~ .. • .. .. + I' ~ .. 'Ii ~ .. '. • '. ~ .' • .' .. jo ~, .. '" • • • ,. .. ;

)'7'4' Rule of Computing Ordinate tn 'Trajectorv '. ~ .' ,. ~ .

'1:8'.. F'Ol'J]lUIa for 'Wind Deflection '. ~ 'II' iP ," 4 ' ... '. 'i 'I' '. ,t ~ " , ••• 'P

19. Relation Between Muzzle Velocity and Instrumental

'VeIocl''t)! '" '" ~ ... ., ! , .' •• ' ... ' • '. '.' " ' •• '. -. " .' ....... ' '. , .' , ... , ••

2:0.. Mil VS~ Minutes '. ' ... ~ . ~ . ~ .,. . .,. .' .. , .' ., .' .' .' 'Ii .. ~ " • '", .' '", • ~ •• COon} pa rison of 1\, ng lcs of J) epa.rt nrc 0 f '. 3 o !\.1. :1

Ammunition "' .. '. ,: ' .... '. ' ..... : . ~ . ' .. ~ ... , '" '" ~ e ~ ••• '.

Bullet Penetration in \; arious 1"1 ediu 11lS .. ~ ~ • + ••• ,

Bullet Lubricant Formulae ~. 4 '. ! .... ~ ••• , • ;; , ... ' •• ~

Identi neatio:n Codes, of German A.F11JS, _A 11 nnunition

and Optical Instrumenr j\tak:ers ,. ~ ' .. ~ ,., ,. ,., ,~ . ;, ~ " ~ ~ '. '.

Headstamps on U'. S~ Service Cartridges .' '. ~ '. ~ + • ~ Army Test Procedure and. W ea.p ons N OI'1e 11e la t ure Ai e thods 0 f i'vl eas urin g' Ch amb er and' Bo re .,..., ~ . . ., Reference List of Numbers ,1'\,1 arl(ing Changes in G: un

Desi gn or h',1::anu facture . '. ~ . .' " " ~ ,_ ~ ,. ,. . ,. . . '" . ~ ~ '. '. . .

2, 9, Overloads in Revel vers ~ .. ~ ' ... , .... " ...... · '. " '. '. " . 30.·

,l,l ..

22.

.,. 3'"

- .

24'~

."L ... !J ..

,,,,00'

, ... o~

Target Measurements ..... ~ ; ~ ~ .' . ~ . ;, ;; . ,. , ; +

W'e'ig' ,hts, of '\\l e:ap" :():ns ., ~ .. , ., ,~ , ... ~ ~' . ~' r .' ~ ~ ~ ... ' , •• , ., ~ ,

'," I

, ,

Weights and ,l\ilensurcs" English and i\letric. "".,. ~ ~ ,. ~

Amerlcan and For.e,ign Caliber Equivalents ~ .... '., n, .,

34. Value of S 1 for Temperature and Pressu res ""." ,3

3 z.

3 3·

~ . ,"

J ,S . Ca rtridge :D j mensions and I denri ficsti on, Ta bl es

3 Inn .. '7"7

'],t\(l 3..,"7

400 401

4°,; 40_$-

404 ,4004

405 405 40-8

,4(J9 4US 4[6

419

'4'!' I 42,2:

41,: 4:2'3 42:)

4%7

4" J J' "

1,8. Record of' Accidents eo th e 'U. S" R ifle T\!{ ~ 90] , 191 7 to J 91! 9 442;

Index .. , '. 'I' ~ "" ~ ..... " .. '. ~ + ' ... ~ " .. ~ ,. '. '. "' " '. '. 4 '" ~ ... ' '" •••• ' ...... ~ '. '" • '. ~ • " • 4,83

P'ART T'Wa

'19: Recent Developments ..... ',. + .' •• ' • , ~ • ~ ••• ' ;, " .' • ;, .' • ~ • • ~ • Z 0., Bullets F rOln r he. Sl{ v . '. ~ .' '. ,. '. '. .' .' ~ ~ . " .' '.' ., '.' .,. .' ~ '" '. '. . ,. ~ .' . . ., .,

-i'

Z :[,. Explosions and Powder Fires - , .. , . " ., .. ' ... '. " ' .... , ; ' .. " - ~ ~ 12; " Exteri 0 r \ BalE sci cs ...... ~ . . ~ . . '. . . . . . ! ~ • • • • • ,. • , , , • " • • • •

lndc'x .. ~ ., . ~ . '. " . . ., . .,. .. .' , .. ~ . .. . ~ . . .. . . .. ; " . . ~ .. . . . ~ .. , ~ " . " . . '. .' .

491 ;' I: r

riO

.'

,542, 62"

PART ONE

I

f H f h S f ld U S

" .' ill -,' . I ~', -, '1---" .•... ':-: I. '1:'-' I·j ',-- Ii I ; :' i : i '-,

Bne .. istory Ol the .. prIng Ie .... . .....

Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1903

'1'- ~ the S,f.ulnish. American 'W:ar of ~ ,:1898, out A,rm,~' was_ a,r.~,n~ed ,I . patti,)" with I{r,a~', '. ,.' J O.ll'ensen t. ,30 caliber re~.eatiel~s and ,partl.y W irh

I I I I!' -!!!II _ " '., _ '. ",'

[he old .• :JS calib,el' .. pringfield slngle shots. w .1 lie t:b~ Nayy u~~d t~e

Lee Straight PuU rifles In a caliber caned, ,6 InRI 11.,S~ N ~, w hich It}

,i nc he- W'- i"II ~S-' e oual ['J"\. '," ,0' C··' a ,1. ~b' ". e .r

____ s Ai; .. l' IV' '-3 ... ,iII, ..

The lVIause,J,'" rifles used by the Spaniards proved to be formidable vlenpons, and !J~jned a rep~tation,.·which caused our weapol~s ~tO be re gard e d so cr ~tllc1l11y that imrned ia tely after 'the war the Chief of Ordnance ordered the preparation of the pilot model of a new rifle. This gun ha d a 30 inc h barrel and was fitted with a rod bayonet housed in. the stock beneath the 'barrel. . The mechanism was a modi

c . ... '0" ~,,-,-. - f- the l\·~,;'IIIUI.;:>e·'t.'" ..... erie ,- .. it i.,.,. d t -, -, ". 1- I' ._ro.1: .... :,,-: 'lug- 's: <"II,t- t- t~Q fron 'to' '0":('

nca on 0 rue It':.I~_~ ;). -,. .j;;IO"!J,.I,,n, n nac ."woQ'Iio.,.,Klng,,' ,~-, UII;i' ,~.'_,_II!-. "

rhe bolt instead of' one, at the: rear ~'S did the Krag. The: rimmed cartr.idge W11S fed from ,5 shot: clips into a. single row 111,a_ga,2';:ine extending below the stock.

The pilot model was .£0 rwarded to tile '\tVa r Departm ent on, ,A.ugusl:'2..5 , 1900 for eX;9J] tina tion, a [tee ,\~ hich it was tested at :Springtiel.d hy '4 board w h ich on October :2 '! t '900", recommended -ch'at rhe form of

I-I, .. ",",';' ," - -·1 . " ]- ':-1 b':IL , .. ], ,,"', ''''''d:-~;!: '1'-'1' - r -1-- .;- ..... -,..- .~",...l. ,"'- 'r ". '1'· :' .'.

i[ ne Ill:Jl,gazule ~,1 U U ,( . '. e en ange . to.a, · 0" [lie, ca r (1, llll,g,es. ,\,0 ie m ~

zig -zag rnanne 17 '; thu S RV uiding the ne cessi 0/ of ha vi 'ng the :rn:ag~az.[ n~ project below the stock" and that' the rifle should use cannelured cartridges, ,A, new model was then made which was basically the same as the 1\1 1903 Springfield except that the barrel was 30 inches long and the rod b ayon et was used, After cese, _ this rifle was a p-

.. -"''''d' f- ..... e I" ifac .'::1 he Model -·f 1" . I

prove: __ or e,xperlm_:n:ta, menuracture es t e L- oce 0 ,.9n _!

The construction of 5000 of these guns was authorized, but first the machinery had to he changed, and this took, _<1 long time, so it was not 'until Ap-ril 7', ] 90-1 that an appropriation of $; J. 700 'W'i);,S: made {O.l1' the: manufacture of '100 experimental ri.fles;" (Thirty yea,li's later afn order was. gi-v'e n for the 'production, of 8:0 experimental Ga.r'3'1la,S at'

i ---"'---)'" -

. -, "" . . I '. . - " . . .

N ] 000 g,p,l,e,ce .. , ..

. _ The ,100 l'ifl,es were tested, at Springf eld Armo ry _ on F eb. lO" 1903" bya board ,.\v~i-ch recommended that the barrel and bayonet each be shortened Six inches to pe,nn~t the .g~n to be used by' the mounted services as well as by the Infantry, 'and thus avoid the necessity for

b 'i

a, car me,

I

2

O .... t- d '" f B'· d" G" 1 \"I,7"~II~ C '.

_ n 'YI:C r'ecomnl'cn _ anon 0. " ;r..l,g,a:Je:,l' .,', ,cacm, " ~Yl lla.'rn' -tOZler..,.

Chief of Ordnance, this ,D,'C';W' model was :00 June :l'9,t 190,3, approved ~'S: standard by the Secretary of War and designated as the U, S .. A!a.gazine Rifle, Model of 1903, Caliber ,,30;;

'On, June ,lOt '90'3, orders were given' to begin immediately the manufacture of the fixt ures dies, to 015 ga:uges, etc", req u ire d for Illaking 12.5' of these rifles per S: hour day at SprmgfieId Armory and, 12;5 per- 8 hour- d.ay a,t Rock. Island Arsenal, The folIo-wing month these ,instruotions were changed to direct the 'manufacture of sufficient fixtures, etc .. , for mak log 400 rifles per :y hour da.y at Spr lng·field

Armory, -

These fixt tires, etc. ~ w ere made wi th such ra pi di t y that (IU anti ty production of the titles, W;:1$ begun in November, 1904-; 'and continued without interruption until after the close of 'World War 1.

Vsrious changes w ere: made from rim e to time: in the c.olnponenu~ 0.1' the rifle and the methods of mannfaetnre, some of the mo re impOfta.'Dt of which 'were as follows:

During rhe fiscal y\ear of 11904, the first ,year of manufacture, JO~ 50-3 rifles were made, These, had the rod bsyonee and claw-hammer rear sight, During this period the cocking piece and safety' Jock, were redesigned so that the rifle might mcre sarafactorily meet the requirements imposed by the Infantry;" Drill Regulat~ons. of that time.

~D u[,jng ,'[he fiscal yeax ~ 9OS" (starting J lllljr ,11 I. 904) 4 J ;9()5 t,ifies with rod bayonets were made, On Jan., I, r, .1.9'0;,5'1' work on the rod, ba y~net W'3$ stopped, following' a, letter dated Jan .. , 4; [ 90S,. £'[,OI1"I P're5ident, Theodore Roosevelt to the Secretary of War, which stated in, p'a rt: "1 must say I think, the rod bay onet about as poor all in ... , vention as I ever saw'. As you 0 bserved, it broke off as soon a'S hit with even moderate violence. It would have no moral effect and

llughty little, physic:al effect, .. ii, <I, This ramrod bayonet 'business

does not make me t'Wnk we can ,aiford to trust: too m uch 'to

'[he' nr'y" :,.,

"_ .' :,,' ..... ' ,t ~ !II,

The Army 'was then experimenting 'with a trowel shaped combination .~ayon,et and intrenching tool, b~t this ide~ was dropped" arl~ a knife baJ::~nct was approved on Ap1'l1 3. I90~ by Secretary of War Howard I aft as the 1\10 del ~ of I 9-OS i All rifles were altered

to take this new' bayonet, , ,

. In this: period also, d~ work 0,"0 ~"he: r'e, ar sig~t was s~pendedpend~ lUg the OU[COlne of trials o:f an improved s]ght, which was finally· adopted. ,A]l rifles equipped 'with the old si,ght 'were cban,ged so as to have the improved model,

The cartridge used with this gun was known, as the Ball Cartridge, Caliber '130, Model of U;>03. It had a rimless case and a, 22,0 grain round. nosed full metal jacketed bullet, with a muzzle velocity of 23:00 feet per second. In the meantime experiments had been underwa"Y wirh a sharp pointed bul let of ligh ter weig'ht and, highe,r ve:'loc-ity,.,

~rHE, SPRINGFIELD, U~ S~ RLFLE~ l\IoDEL 1903

.,

J

On October 1.5, this improved cartridge was approved by the Secretary of War, under the designation of' Cartridge, Caliber .. 30, Model of 1906. It had. the same. case as the older one" except that the neck was shortened. 40'1 inch; the bullet was of tile sharp pointed or so ... called .spitzer t)rpe, weighing 15'0 grains,. and having a muzzle velocity

of ::l7 00 feet per second, ., ,

This sharp polnred bullet did not ex tend. as. far forward. as did th e older r-ound nosed one, and it therefore became ne cessa.ry to alter the design of the, bullet seat in the barrel of 'the rifle to fit the changed bullet contour, During the months of November and Decem ber 1906 and january and F ebruary l 907, no rifles, were assembled, o\ving to the necessity ofrechambering the barrels to flc the changed ammunition. All rifles previously made were afterward hrnught hack to the Arnlory and. rechambcred. This was done by taking out the barrels, cutting them ·.off at 'the rear end for a distance of two threads o f the b re ech sere w ( two ten th s of an j nc h) t rethreading, putting back the barrels, and then . reaming the chamber [0 the' new size"

Up to the beg'jnl1i.ng of World '" ar I, there ha d been manufactured at Springfield Armory a grand total of 606,924 rifles, In addition there had been manufactured nearly a third as many at Rock Island Arsenal, USltlg tools, fixtures, gauges, etc" made at Sp~ring,field Armory

. and furnished to Rock Island,

The production of the iVi 1903 Springfield Rifle, from its adoption up until the beginning of World War I was as follows:

Production Page 6.

On February 10, 191 8, at rifle: 'N 04 800,,000, a major change was made in the heat treatment of the receiver and bolt; which resulted in a rifle of far greater strength than, before.

On May 1 L~ 191 8.~, at receiver No, . .285',507, Rock Island Arsena]

4

Tns S.P'RIN(;'F]E't:D, U'~ S~ 'R,U:tl'L.E" lvl,oD'EL I9()l3 5'

adopted, an improved heat, treatment for carbon steel M 190 J. receivers and bolts" Around August J, 19.1 '8, at about receiver N o. 3 19,9,2, T" that arsenal began usin.g nickel steel for part of the production of receivers and bolts, but 'at the same time continued to make these pa,rrs of carbon sree I also,

On A"p,rH, r, :I: '9i'i. 7 ~ at ri ~ e No, 1,1..'7 51,7' 6, ;l Sp,rmg'fieltl Armory changed the, rna terial jn til e bol t un d recei ver to. nickel steel. The: receivers in this series, while not quite as strong as. the double heat treated O.DJ!S which preceded them", still had ample strength, and the manufacture was simpler, as the complicated double heat treatment was avoided, In ch,anging ro the nickel steel, another advantage of the double heat treated receivers and bolts was lost, and this was, the surface skin of very' 'Ita rd metal which ga ve a, stlpcr.b urea.ring S1.I rface, and made for a, 'very smooth 'w'Or.k.ing action, without rhe "stickiness" of the relarivcly soft nickel steel. These nic kel steel act.ions1, are", however, highly satisfactory everythi.ng considered In the rare event of a fail urc, it occurs by a g rad ual stre tc h in.g m t 11 er t ha n b yr a su d d en 'I" nptu re

,.~ ~ .. .,.~." "\.r.-!!I

Ni ck cl s tee! rec e i vers an d bo Its of r i fi es nurn bered in the 3,000,000 series made by the Remington Arms Co, during World War 1m were S urf ace ca rb n rized, n ra king t hem qui te hard 0 n the outside a nd rh us avoi(li,ng the stiick'iness shove mentioned.

DUIc]ng the y,cars after World, War I, it was the cus.tonl_ to umke no each -year several thousand rifles which were especially selected for

.f. "'. . of _

use a t the Na tional J.vla rchcs. In grener~I these were the re.gular d f.1es,

with star-gsuged barrels, which simply means that the barrels were measured l~;ri!th ,:1 device called a :star~,gaug'c; 'So that any' not within

1~Ma,jiof Harcher, explainIng to Expert Stock Maker Taylor, ehe dendls t)f lh~ new .,22 (an bre Springfield,

· ~ About dl~ time eha t E ueope b lazed into - war, a ynun g office r {) f the' UnI ted State's A.tnly was becoming known as 'an authority on rapid firers. A:s rhe war progressed, he l urned ~,llis at tell, tion toO m i Ii tary sma [1 it rms, and ha v iillg' been ,in teres ted in, ri Be and plstol :s,h,oodl1g '(I II, hls 1 ife, :snUn be'l-afne ICVen, a". more pro"m ineli),.~ ~bum~n faeroe ,In ~,he develop,M,ene of OU r a,t rRy ,dd,es, than he had been In his ",o.(':k, Wiilh, ,madJ:inc: ,IU.OS,.

'.'. For die f'bree years past, w'hjc.b have seen,. du~ grea(~st s,tlriJ.des InUl<Je:in pe'r.'~ f,ecdog: tbe most aC(111 rare nf weapons fuJi" our ri O.enl!e-n" )1:~jor .J 11 ~iian S~ Hatcher has been i,ccive1y concerned ~rid~ the production of' super ... tlccu:tate rifles at Springfie ld A rmo l"Y ~ He has served wid:} the Ordnance branch e f the N ai,tiona I Ma t(h Sta.ff s of 1,9' 18; 1919, 1920 and 1921, ha is pef's,nna 1. ty ccmpe ted in the marches: and applied his practical Irnow,i@d,ge of the needs of the :dl1etttnft, thus gained., ro the ~.~oble',m;~~ producing .,f?f the ~a,tiunal .. and Inecrnatlonal Aiatches, 't~,e be,5t: P()S· ,~:I ble we,apoil1l s, bl ,add:. ~ on ~ )r[ a,I(~t Hascher has been it membee of lhf'ee boards :a,ppoiillt,~d to select alll'uuunhion· Ior tbe' N:j,uion;a.l. ~fat(hes.~ and ha s con I,ri Ilu.I:'f'd s..:::leal; fi~ articles to dle: "Ency:cJoped,ia IEhitlllonica/ ~e Satuli,d~:y' ,E:l,eni:n,g POS1',/ "Tl:u:~' Sci .. endlic A'll!t'!',ric,Jol' and 4ji Arm,s and the ,Mao.," ",~,

F','om the Febtu;:lI,ry 1~ .19'2'2 ls.sue olf ·'·'Atms and the Man .' "

6

.

l~lf\TCH,ER.js ~OT.ts,BOo.K.

to 1 era J1C es coul d l~ e t h 1'0 ~v n 0 u r. "I n add ition, the a ctions were ca. refullv firred for ~ooll trig"",g';c.r pul! 'and the' best possible functioning .

.; ILi" ~ , ,

A tone rir n e the Narlo nal i\i[a rch rifles we re made wi th head less

cocking pieces, the idea 'being to get a. faster firing pin action, The regular firing. pin required ~005 7 second to trl vel through its six-tenths inch. faU, while; th e headless pin required ~0049 second, an advantage which was verv likely more imacinarv than real, It was found that

, , "., ,,) "', ' ,. 'a"'" y. .,' ,- "- ", _",

the lessened mertia of these headless :h,ring pins encouraged ruptured

primers Of' primer blow-backs, and they were declared dangerous by r h e Ord nan ce De pa:!' n uen t and discontinued ~

Se ve 1~ 'I diff erent kin d'S of pis col grip stock were tri ed 0 n the 'National March Springfields, and eventually one of these. which had undergone extensive rests by the service boards was adopted as standard. in place of rh e .0 1 d strai g h t grip s t ock, This new stoc k was t he on e submi tted for test under the designation of "Type C," Besides having ,ft pistol

... " " I' .h fi' , , h "d f h k

grlp, It onutted tne nnger ,grooves on. tne ~a .· .. 1(;$ 0 t ne stoct .'

cO I'h is: was standardized on, - ,iVI.aTch 1:.5, .19:2;,8, by· Ordnance Con 1 m ittee ~',,1.inute No. 6H60, and the rifle so altered was known as the ,~/J 19(),3 A,I, . . i\ [',of course, stands in An,n y nomenclature for Alteration I ~

, Alte ra t l on }. is. one w hich is not seen by the ordinary user of the I'vI :H)03. It is a stripped barrel and action 'Used inside a tank cannon for subcaliber practice; the only interest it 1:10.5 here is to let the reader know what the 1\1 1903 A,l is, and so fill the g~1,p in the record.

Along about the: 1930"5 .. , the Ordnance Department made 'U.p a few thousand Spring,fieJd rifles with sporting stocks: and LY'Jl.lan No, 4,8 rea r sights for sale, to ehe mernb ers :0 f the :N ationa I, Rifle A ssoc ia tion, 'This wa s kno wn as the Ri R e, Caliber " 30, ,)\1. 1903, :Sgr1 e N ~R,~A,,,

Some heavy barrelled target rifles were also ninde up on sporting type stocks. These were 'known as the Rifle, Caliber . .]0, ?vI 19()3~

S J "'-1"

ty e t.

Occasionally a SpI"ing-tield ,1\11 1903 '\vUI be seen that has an ejection POl'C In [he: left side of the receiver and. the words 1\/]ai'k 'I -on the receiver l'jng'~ This is, one of the rifles that was made 'up for use, with the Pedersen Device during che latter part of' World W'a,r I,

During' th,~ early 1:9JO':S~ the rifle production at Springfield ,AI'n1.01~y' '\'\1 a s con fin ed to rep la c C111C 11 t parts for use in 0 verha ul, pl us a few Nati ona 1 1\-1 a tc h RiB es ass ernbl c din th ose vears ·\V hen the mate h es were held. By 1936, the Armory was beIng' tooled up for the production of the Garand, and no. Spdngfields were made that year, tho\]g.h a few '\<vere made after '[he too"ling was completed,

Ordnance :recoJ:d.s show that in each of' rhe calendar vears .'. - which

' ,- -". ,.... - ,,- . , " '" ., .,. .. . <L " • . ' S lD ,. . "

, ~i1I' , d'" '. fi I' .. ' .. ' .. , , ' "

- . iii· I" ..•• . . . ,,' ~ - ". -II ",,'., .. :. ..:, "',"[ ",' ",," - -. .. . " " - ["" .-

these rmes were Ina e at Spr utg, :e, d, receivers produced at the

beginning 0 f January had serial numbers a,ccQrding to the list which. follows:

""',

J

Year

Serinl number of receiver Prod uced at start of Ye ar

Year

Inn7

!f.'''''''' .

2;69,45,. 3:l1,8~1. 3·5H.~oR5 398,: 76 456,376 501·t04l11

53,1·,52~ 57,0,561

595 ;60 [ 620;[ ::. I

631;;8'26 761 .. 1;8

105' 1" O' 92

, ''''.:-

!191.'4 J92S (9.26

J C),2 7 .918 H)1.9 !()Jo .(9,; ~r 19),:2

1'91-~ 1934- 19'3;

1908 1909 J9'10 E''9 I I

] 912 191.3 1914 191.5 ~916 [9,17 1"9(:8

1919 1920 J.9Zl

I T I 62150.1 .1 ,Z f '[ ".,00

Serial num ber of receiver Proch. ced at start of Y ear

1,1 39;64 I 1,252,3,87

J ,.:2 6 r ,,48-,

l,167,.·IOI I,17°,30[

I ,l, 74,,765

1,,2 R:S ,2,66

J ,305,90 [ 1',338,406

,[.,.3 69,761 '~~.O~h026

J ,42 5 ,9'l~·

J ,44] ,8 r z

1.,491.,532

In 193.'6, during the tooling up for the Garand, production of the Springfi.eld w, ~5 suspended; b~t it was resumed in a ~,n~,~l11 w·ay· in l'937· The fas.t receiver made was In October 1939~ and tt. had the number

.r ,,5 3 2 ,87 8.. (I

On November I' 2., 1941" the production of Springfields; was ~.,gain resumed at the plant of the Remington ... Arn .. s Co., Ilion, N,. y~" and. rhe first rjfl·e produced by' rhem under this contract was 3,,000.,:001. There are therefore no Springfields with numbers between 1,534;878, the last one made at Springfield Armory, and 3 ,OOO,O{) 1, th,e first one made o.n commercial contract during W orld ,;V ar Il.

At first, Remington made the ordinary ~I[: '90}, with SOJTI.e options as to the form of stu ck and other details, ,They- started rnalcin.g _ receivers and bolts with the same 3 ~ % nickel steel used in the Springfields afterward changing to 11 chrome-nickel-rnolybdenum steel with only ~,lO% 'to ,.4.0%, nickel, or on the averngc, about one 'tenth as, mech as f..ad been. used formerly, but with the same amount of chromium that is, .20% to '40'%), plus '9' small percentage of rnolvbdenurn.

In the effort to gain increased production, this firm immediately began . studies and experiments on design changes to make manufacture simpler and easier. One change was to. omit two of the four ~:-rOo\res

, I,.,;

used in ,riil.in.,g' the barrel, As it was found rhar there was tittle differ-

ence in the performance of the t\VO grooved barrel and the four grooved one, this was approved. There were a number of other changes, and one which was a distinct improvement was the provision of a receiver peep sight.

,I;,) a

On wlay 21, 194z, this simplified form of Springfield was approved for 1111 anufacture under the name of Riffe Caliber + 30, Model of

190, A 3. . .

IOther changes on the. A 3 model are;

Stoc k,~ Simil ar [0 that 0 n the '03 t exc ept tha t the pisto 1 grip is optional

Barrel Guard .. Replaces the handgnard of the 'o)'J also 'covers. the space formerly occupied by the rear sight.



..-f'~ .;fJ' oIiJ"'..

..... ~

~':---,,~ sorscr: j._Jo/JS"~~~

'0'

/1

..... /

~- ~,_- - 1-

,iii,

Forms D.,f rifling used in the }';11903 Spriagfield dfles~

Left : standard four groove rifling used previous '(0 1943. The grooves are three times as wide as the lands, and the rwi s t ~ S one turn in ten inches right handed r

N ominal dimensiona ate: bore diameter, .300 :i nch, grnove diameter .308 inch; width of grooves, .] 76] inch, However, these exact dimensions are rarely' encountered, - as fhe manufacturing eolerances permit the bore to be anything fr011\

.. 2995 inch to .3015 iach, with groove's from ,.167 inch to .177 inch, and a, groove . diameter from ~ 30 7 5 to . 3D') 5 inch.

Rigbt; two groove rifling approved in 1943 for use in the l\o[1903 A.3, ,rifle and Ior replacement barrels for the b1[ 191.7 Enfield. This is simply '{he four groove' ,rifling wirh two of the groove's omitted,

Upper Band Assembly. 'Is made of sheet .rnetal stampings, i"'he bayonet stud hand, which replaces the 11pper hand of the )03,. is shorter, solid on top, and has tw-o bayonet 111011116ng stud hands on the bo tto m. Th e stackin g swivel an d .i ts b and are :; ta In pin gs.

, Louier Band and LO,!~;N,;,vr Band S'wivel.. These are made from sheet

I ·

stee stamplngs. .. .

'Trigge1~ Guard Magazine Assembly, This is the new nomenclature

for the, stamped, staked, and welded magazine, trigge.r guard and floor plate.

Front Sigbt Group. This is composed 'Of a flat front si,ght pinned in' a slot in a ring t)~pe sight base which is keyed. and pinned to ~he barrel Hear the J.111JZz1e .. The front sigh.t blades are furnished in five heig-'hts from 0.477 to 0.537 inches. In tal~geting the rifles the proper height of blade is used to make the gun shoot as nearly as possible in agre'em,ent with the rear sight graduation,s,

U' .. S. Rlfle, Caliber .3D. M1903,A4-Snip«:5~ Weigh t (wi thout sight) -8 pounds, 10 o ua ce s. Sight magn ification- 2 Y2 P~]W ee,

'W,e,i,ght (with Model .33'0 'W',eaver Sight) -9 pounds, 2 ounces, Eye HeHef-3 to 5 inches.

. .. .

tx1e,igh,t (w,hh Lyman, Alaskan Sight)--9 pounds, ,6 ounces,

10

H"" " N' '

, ATCHER S . "OTEBOQK.

}lutt Plate G1"()Up. This is made of stam pings",

Butt, Sw.it.'Ci Gr(}lJP~ This is, made of two plates welded together with the swivel berween them .. ,

n I G- '1 '11']- il '. ~ b ,. IJ L h' i h

D ou s. - r(}ttp~ 'VV ,,_f ~ e It is i aSIC~l Y' tne same as t,: a £. 'or tne 1903,

some :p':i,rts d:i ff'er ,i n _ de:si~'I.l a.~ 'W ill not ,in,te.r:.han,ge: wi ~:~, ~:he: I: 903., .

FoUower Group. This IS made from a stam,p.lO,g, but 'wIll, interchange \'.V i eh the same part ,f rom the :l. 90} ~

Ser tal Numbers 0 f I be f .90 J A J" Be fo [~C th e ,ilp pro val 0 f these cluJ.ng'es the Rerningron Arms Co" had produced 3'4,B,.o8~; 1\-1 l'90 J, Spr.ingfields with serial numbers lying between the numbers 3,.000;001 and 3,348;o8~;~ 'They continued to produce rifles" but these were now of the [VI :1903 A - 3 type ly-ing wirhin blocks 'Of serial numbers assigned to this firm. These blocks of numbers, not all of which were used hO'\VCYC1~ "1 re as follows:

, , . , ,(__ 'I,;,i __ • _ _ , ~

3,348,086 to 3 'J607 ,999 inc I us ive 3 ; 7oR~looo to 4,,701,999-

4,992 '100 I to ;,784,,000

Rifi.e' Caliber' ~';Q ill0'd:e:l' 1: !JoJ A, 4~ On J une I4.t 1943-; ,t he, I 903 riff e similar to [he A, 3. but: fitted with a telescopic _ sight was approv'erl as, the Rifle Caliber ;,30, Mudel. 'of :1:903- ,A, '4'r. 'The sight used was the Weaver 330 J'-po\v,Cr tele,~copi'c sight" sli,ghtl,~' II 'I odi f ed, and called by- the, Army rhe ,l'-1 73 'B, r ~ Redfield Junior Mounts were used. to attach rh ese Wea '\J er Tel es,cope si.g hts to th esc Sn i per's Ri ftc's;

Th e r j 'R e, cali b cr ~ 30, :\1 J 903 A 4, \V 1 til Weaver tel esc np i c sigh t. and Redfield Junior ~~iount~ was made by the Remington AnTIS Co.,

with serial nnm her's in the blocks gjven belo w: -

3'~,407 ~o8 (3 to 3,427,.087 inclusive

,~

4199'2~OOI to ~997,o45

"z' Z

-"4'tOOO,ooo to . r 4,,0{)'!,. 9 ~ 0-

Sor in g/ie t d lvl ad e bJ L ~ ,C'4 S1111t h,- C',OY ona 1'~y peu» iters, Inc 4 1'; his fir~'n was the only other besides, Remington which produced Spl'ingfield Ri fles du rin g . World ,. "l!' 3,1" 'II.. This pl~~lt started 'on, the, produ-ction. of j\tl 1903 A, J r~f1 cs, on Oct, 24" l 942, and :3C mail y' began to turn ou r ri fi,es in vo III me ear Iy in 194 3 ~ 810 cks 0 f nm n bers we re ass,igne d to this firm as follows:

3 1'608,,000 (0 ,); 70-7,999 inc] u sive

. 4,708 'tOOO to 4,99 ::, .ooo ~,~

Production at 'this plant stopped February 19, 1'944, with rifle No, 4'~45~83 I; after ~, total of 2341580 rifles had been produced, ,,~~,g-,a~n it will be noted that not all the numbers were actually used, as the total produced does not agree with the difference between the serial number of 'Oh e firs t and the' :1 ast r jfl_ e. 'This is be ca n s e of rh e ] oss 0, f numbered receivers through rejections, experimental tests, etc, .

THE SPRINGFIELD, U. S. RIFLE, Monsr, 1903 r r

Piincipal Dimensions and W ei g bts of U ~ S r Ml,igazine Rifle, Model of 1903

Barrel:

'Dimensions

Diameter of b ore it! ito • +. .' • .. .. • • • <II Ii • ill 11'1 'I'! ~ Ii ' •• iI .. • + .. p. ' • .. + + • • '.. .. .. ~ .. !I I! .

Exterior diameter at muzzle . ~ . . ~ . . . . , . . ~ .. . ; . ; . . . . ... + • • • • • .. • , • + ..

Exterior diameter at breech ;. + • • ' ' ... + , • , • • + ~ , • ' • , • .. • , • ~ • • , " • • ~ • • • ~

Length of chain her an d bn re . ~ . . ~ ~ ~ .. ~ . . . . . . ~ ~ . , " . . ~ . . . ~ . . . , . .'. . . . " 'Length of barrel, total .... .. ~ . . + , • " ~ • • • • • • , • • • ~ : . • , • • ~ • • • ~ r • • , • ' •• ~ • • ~ J ,~~ngt h of tra vet of bullet j r1 bore .'... T , " " , , • '. " , , , _ • T , e _ T , _ _ " _ • ~ ~ _ - ,. Diameter' of chamber, rear end " .. .,; ~ + • '0< , • , ; - • + .' , " .... H , , ~ •••••• ~ ••• Diameter of cham her, front: end . ~ ~ . . ~ ~ . . " . .'. . . . . , . . , . . . , . . , , . . . . . . ~

Diameter of neck of chamh er, tear end '. " . . , , . " .' . . ' .. ' . , , . . T • • • ~

Diameter of neck of chamber, front end .. ".",."" T __ • _ • _ • - - • _ ~

Length of body of chamber .,. ~ ,. + • • ~ ; • • • • , T • • • • • •• ' .' • • ~ .. • " , • • • ~ • • • Length of shoulder of chamber . '. + .. , • • • • • • • • • • • • , • • • • • '.' ~ • • • • • •• r • • Length of ne ck of chamber ..... ... ~ . . . . . .. , . . . ~ . . , . . . . . . . . . . , , . . ;, ;, . .

Length of chamber, total .;, +. ••••• " •••••••••••• ~ • , ••• + + '.' • '. ~ .

RiBing: '

N umber of groov,es., 4.

Twist, unif orm, one turn. in ........,..".. ~ . '. . ,', . . , . . . T • • • , , • ~ , ; • + + ,

W idth of grooves .. '. . . ~ +. • • ~ , • • r ; • • ~ ~ • • , • '. + ; • , • • _ • , • , .. ~ • • ' • • • ~ • • • .; •

Widtll of' lands 4... '. . ; ~ ~ .' . . . . . ~ . .' . ,. ~ . " , . . . . ; . . . . . + • • • + • • • • • ~ ~ • ~ • ~ •

Depth of' g.ro·oves '. ~ . . . . . . ~ ., . . . ~ . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ . . . . . ~ +. • • • + •

Height of front sight above axis of bore , ' .. ~ .' . '. + • ~ ~ + •• + •

Distance from top of fro L1 t sight to rear sid C 0 f h:~:a f, le af raise d

Stock:

Length, \\1' lth bu tt plate 4......'. ~ + ~ , • '. • , ...... + .. • • ~ •.• ~ .. , • • • • • • • '. + .' • • •

. Crook.,.i .e,~ distance from axis of bore to hee 1 of bu tt +. - • • - • • • • ~ ~ • , .'

Distance from trigger to butt plate ...,... ~ . . . . . . , . . ~ T • • • , • • • • • • ~ • • •

Length of gun complete ~ ~ . . , . . ~ .' . . . ;, . . . . . . , . .'. , , . . ; . ~ r • ; •

Sight radius. ....... ,. . . i '. ; • , + ~ • , • • • .. ~ • '. .. .. • • .' • • + " • • + • • , .' • • • • • • ! • • • • • • .. .. • •

lVidth of single .diyIsion on \lr/ind~gc scale . ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .. ~ ~ .

...

Weights

Barrel . . r. i'II • • • • -!II •• • • • ~ • • +- iI !I .. + I!- • .. .. !I 'I! .. !to • • ,!! .. !! • ~ .. • .. .. • !I .. ~ • • ... •• • • .• • • II • • • .. • • • '.

Barrel, with rear si g h t base an d: f n mt sight stu d ,..... '"' . . ~ ~ . . ~ . . . . . . ~ . . ..

Butt plate .. '.",." ~ . . . " . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . ~ . . " , . . . , . . . , . . . ; , + + + • •

R ~

ece 1ver . _ ~ _ T + T • _ • , _ • • " • • T • • , , • • T • • • T , , • , • • T , , • , _ • ~ _ _ _ - ~ _ " , _ _ ~ • • • • • •

,Bolt m~(:hanism '. + ~ • .. .. !I ,II .. +- • Ii .. .. • .. .. • • + + ~, • ,~ .. Ii + + ~ • • + ~ .. I ~ !II • ;&. • • • .. .. • • • • • .. •• • I

Inches

O .. }O D·.6:[9 L.14

ll·19 :4..006

'-'[ .. 097

04716 o44l o·34l_1 0,.3405

1·79'3 0.16

0'·396 2.3716

10.00 0.,[767 0.0;-89 0.004- 1.05

Z 2:.1254

4o .. l.66

i.089 [1; .. 74 43 .. 1 [ ~ 21.115,4

0.01:6,

Pounds l·79

3

o.l,6

0..98

I:

Magazine and trigger guard - . ~.' . ~ ~.,. " .. ~ ~ , . " , , .. ~ ~. . . 0+44·

i\1agazinc mechanism, including floor pla.te ~ , , . ~ . . . .. . . . 0,,11

B:llyonet ~..;,. T T , • '. " _ • T T • • ~ ~ , • • .,' '. ~ ~ • ' ... , • • _ _ _ ,_ T _ _ • _ • T - _ _ •• ' _ _ " • - ~ ., ~ • • • • I

Stock . '. + ~ • , , • • • .. • , '. • • • ~ .' • ~ ... ' • • • • .• + • .' '. + , • • .' • • • • • • , • • ~ • • • ~ ., • , , • ,. • • • • • • • I .. 58

'Ha,nd gU:Jird .• r • • • ~ , • • • • • ~ " • • • • • • • • • • ; • • , • • • • • • • • • • , • • '. ~ • • " , • r ~ • • • • • • o~ I 3

Fron,t and rear bands, in:cjuding swivels ."."" ... , .. , ... , ... , _ , ... '. ~ .. , O~:5

R'eax sight" not includ iug base ..... . +<- • • " • - '. • • , • ,. • • , • • • • • • • " • .' ~ • • ~ " • • ! '0,,10

Total weight of metal parts ;,.',." .. ', .. , . , ; .. " ; ; , .. _ , .. :' ... , ' _ . . . . . . . . . J.JQ

o il.er rod thong C'3,$e, • '. ~ • • ~ .' • • • - • • • • • ~ • • • , • • ~ • • • • • • , • • • • .' • • , • • , • • • • • • • ,,19

T omI weight: uE ·:trn l, iuclud 1 n g {)j leT ~] 1 d th tJI tg case, with. bayone t . ~ . . 9, .. 6q

Total weight of Olnl, in.el u ding oiler and thollg case,. ,vi thou t ba YODet • '. 8 .. 6q

vVe.ight to compress rn:ainspring T'''' ~ +,' >+ • ~ + ~ H •••• ~ ., • ~ ~ •• ~ •• ~ + .". ~ + , • ~ 16 to 18 T,rigger pu H (measu red at mid dIe -' p oin t 0 f bov..· of trigger) .. ... ~ .' 4 ... i :3 to 4 ~

II

B·_ ,ill ·f" Hr • rtc -. " £'- t- h 'E:- -'-f·'· -- ld 'U-i' S"·, ,- R"rr·flr.· -

."r,le- . IS ory 0' : ':,9 ":-D, lei r,I_I '.~' Ii ' ,', 1-: ,e

C 1- ib 3'-' 0····· M- _.' d 1" f 19-':"}' 7

" • ',' • ", _.:; I •• ', .'-'. ".- '. ",.--.... I .' I

_ a, 1 ,·er iL_ _, - - Or e 0- ,','-

I~N 1~~7 _t~,eBriti,~h. adopted t~:e, Lre~-:E!1:~eld.,[ifle, t.hat no~ is: " nown as the Shorr ,Model ,I .... ee- En field, ( SJ\tl.,L-E.)" lIsln,g' a rimmed cartr,jdge of ~3r03 caliber that. somewhat resembled our old Krag cartridge,

Three years later, 'they began the development of a new rifie to permit the u-s'e of a higher powered rimless cartridge with inlproved ballistics, Bv 1914 the: new rifle and cartridge had been perfected and

_... 1 ' d

had l1.nderg,o,ue the. officia trials and was about to be adopte .. ' under

the name of Rifle, En field, Caliber ~17'6r~ Pattern of I: 913,.

The name Enfield carne from, the fact rhar the ,rifle was developed at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock, ,in 1\4iddlese.x,. [I miles north of London Bridge,

At that period Britain became involv-ed in World War I, and time limitations prevented the intended change to a new caliber of SU1.al1 arms cartri d ge.. As the nc e d for r if cs was u rg en r, existi ng pl ants in England which had previously made the ~303 S.,l\~l.,L-E .. were pot into h'igll gear and production of the, old model '\\"2S ste:prped up to the max i m u 01: possible.

T~}.~$,~ however, did not seem to be enough, so Britain turned [0 the U. S ~ for further su,pp lies of small arms, and placed con tracrs for the establishing of three huge rifle plants ..

These were the enormous plant built at Eddystone bya newly Ineo rporated firm, th e Remin gton Arms Company' of Delaware, to have a capacity of 6rooo rifles pe,r day, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, New Haven, Connecticut, :2000 :lriO~es a day, and the

R- . - - + . gt- - - A' . _. 'C' "1 . ." 'I' 1"1 i' N '\.1' ... ~ , .. ' ~'tI- - .. , ,'" d'" r

cmm .. .. 1 'C?n .". rrns '. om,pan" .~on1"· ~ I. ;0,;, capilclty, ,3000 'fl. es per I, 3J ~

The riBre to he made in these factories was the Enfield, Parteru of 19 14, (the .z 7'6 Pattern 'f 3 converted to take the ~ 30.3 cartrldge) which, while it did not work as "Tell through the magazine as: -the

~ 1 id d ·'1· _] "1· II "d

rtm.~ss CarrYl.ge, was an .i stu ts a gOOl,! nlllfa.ry sma. arms cartn, ge~

These plants proved to be more 0:1' less of a disappointment to t be Brit ish, for th e,y were slow g'e£ ring' too] ed up an d. in to full p 1"'0- duetion, and by the: rlme a satisfactory volume \\1":\5 achieved, the British had overcome their- rifle shortage bv production in their horne plants. By the early part of 1917', the B·rirish had started. reducing th ese co ntracts, and before the 'U" S. entered the war on April 6 of that year, large lay-offs we're taking place, and the remainder of the

'I' ., ., -

[J • S. Rifle, ca JibeI' ,.3 O! 1\r 191 , I

H.ATCnER,"s NOTEBOOK

work on these, contrac rs 'was to be tern. j nated by sbo ut June r,

June :2 T, and July II., for the three plants respectively. ,_,

TIle rifle that was D;e,ing produced for the: British was of h.igh I Y advanced design .. ,m,aking it -the best: military rifle used ,jn World "rar L Though, it 'was basically' a ·tVpical &lause,r, it was improved in. several respects, and had. a. bolt and'receiv1er of h.igh grade nickel steel _,that gav:e it, a superbly strong action. 'The well protected pe:e,p s"ightt, '~!,olln.ted on the receiver, close to the shooter's ey~. ',:ith a, ffOn~t sight' likewise protected by strong 'steel ears, gave a ,Sl,ghtlng combination

:~~a~~~r~~::~;~~s~~:~~~;{::l~:~I.;~~~I::i~:::::b~:

cock on the closing motion, 'This '\VlS [0 make the extraction 'easier in rapid . fire, when the _ heat always tightens thil1g~ up., With the Springf el d." the 'work of cocking the fi ring mechanism is ad ded to that: ()f extracting the cartridge, wirh the result that unless very hard brass is used" the bolt becomes 'very' d.ifficult 'to open 'after a few rounds of rapid f re, This feature, considered 9 gre at advanta ge by the British, was in general not liked iby O\U peolp:~e' who, were thor ... oughly used to rhe Springfield, which cocks on the opening of the

bolt, '~

Tbe ~ 303 Enfield had a se:t_ of aox~lia,ry long range sights fo,r musketry work at' ex treme ranges., These were, attached to t he ~efr side of [he rifle, bu e were om itted in. ou r 1\1;; J 9 J 7 ,t

When we entered 'World \Var 'I 0'0, April 6" 1'91'7, we had on hand about 600,000 l\1 I go 3 Sprlngfields, an d some J 40,000 I( ra g'~. Sp ri n g~ fi e 1 d An no.ry had a, ca pacity . 'Of . 1000 rifles per day, and 'R ock Is la nd Armory could mrn out 400 Springfield Rifles 'pel" da,y' .. ,

With the rapid 1l1.OU iliza tion of :Ol1 r forces, the need for rifl cs wa s ur gen t; our new Iy inducted soldiers were actually using broom stic ks

insrea d of rift es for their basic drill instruction ~ .

.. It wss obvious therefore 'that these th ree ,g.reat ri fI e pla n ts shoul d. be gotten into production at the earliest possible moment, making rifles for our own use. To convert' them to rna'l{f the Springfield ri~e would take months, therefore it was decided chat we would use the En field, but that first it 'wall Id 'be converted. to use our ~ 3 o- 06

'"'d-' cartric 'ge"

The,' only reani' poorly deSif.",~,ned feature on the _t.ifle 'WIS the, ejector, w h ich had the e:J ector sprin g_ formed in.'teg,r.a,l with :it by m Uling a slot in, _ one side and letting the thin put thus ·separa ted act a,s th e spring,

'Th '.. f 'b '1,..· ~ 'b L 1-' h riO ;o....:i.. 'I'

n ~s o._~t-en ~ reazs In service, but tortunate ,r it: e eJector wirn us

.. is ch d 1

sp~lng is cr e~,p an',c e,ns),," to rep ace. _

v 'h'" ·n 'I B--:"' .. h d heE 0" ld E'- "fll'· I, h id

I,'O,F' 'I: ns nne r ole ,..rIbS., use: _ ten', en 'type: (),'_ ,n"lOg', _WIt' '''',~,' e

lands and deep grooves which had been, adopted :3.S a resalr of 'years of research to obtain a fnrm of rifling that would best resist ~he severe erosioa and barrel wear of the hot nitro-glycerine powder used

Tu F F,1.\'VIF;LH; U r. S. RUTLf,;, ~'dODE.L ['9 J' 7 15

] n the Bri tish se r \0' ice' . This ha d a l.eI11: 11 and. twis t, wi ttl ,n ve 1 ands and five grooves of equal width, the, grooves being .005S inch deep in, a bore: of ,~3:0 3: inch d ia meter,

We retained the Enfield form of rifling, but: changed the bore, and groov'e dimensions ['0 suit our own bullet diameter of ·~30B6 inch, To accomplish this we changed. the bore from ~ ,3 03 i nell to .. 300, and made the grooves .005 inch. deep instead of ~no5R as in the .:30l.

Left. :' For m. of .dfUDiI used in the M 1917 Enfields. There :a,,'(: fi've Ia'nd~ a.lod lhre groov,es, and Iands and g:,r:OO:Yf,S ate of eqaal width. ,N omina I di mensions tall for a po,re of .30a. j nch, the' same a'!!i for the Splr.lngfi'eJd. Grooves are ~oo '5 inch deep" and have a twIst of one turn in ten inches, left handed, D'uring World War J]~ many 191.7 Eafields were rebarrelled with I,WO- grooved barrels, with tight hand twis'4 the same as 'Used in th e M 19·0.~ A 3 as to fo on and d i menslens of tiRing and direction of tw,bu ..

Right ; ,Rifling ,of the ~~MedQ.rd~~ type, as used in (he Model 99 (:£959) 7. 'min J a panese .rifle.. Grooves are 4006 deep in the cen tel, 'and have' a twist of I mrn j n 9.5 inchc's, righ € handed. Ot her Japanese' rifles, and pi s tols use a :si.mi Ia r form of rifling.. Thl s Metiord litling ",'as developed in Ens land, and 'was used in theLee- Medo.rd .Rifle~ bur was S"U perseded by ihe Enfie.ld fo rm or :d,fti ng to per,mt t:

100g,(£ barrel ]ife·co . •

'This g,a,ve a somewhat t.igbli:cr barrel than. W'3S, used on the Springfi eld, as \ivill be seen wh en it is remembered th a t .i 11 t he !\1 J 90]1 the (TfOOY'es; are three rimes a,s wide as the lands, while in rhe 191'7 'the ~Ild·:··s and 'g .. [-'00· '!IJ·~·e ,. ~'IIi11~e ~.ip:II~·1

J:R .: .. ' :113.:",', .' .. ', .,'.....$ R~, _- '~1 UA,_·.

In the ,Nl 190 3 S pringf eld the bore d iam eter is . J 00 i nch, but 0 n I y one .four th 0 f it j s 1 e ft this s ize, The other th ree io urths has the g roo ve diameter of . j 08 inch, so that the average diameter is ~ 306 inch.

In the 1'9 I 7 the b 0 re is. lik ewis e .. 300 inc h, b 11 t this comprises one half 0 f the en tire insi d e surfsc e, instea d of 0 nl y one fourth as in tlu S ri - 6'- eld The othc ..... half si ts of . '0'· ovcs . nd as they are

t,., e . p In g -: ..•. ~ _" ,C '~ <, I. 'W"'_ -con, S I', . 0 g r' ,.. S t ,3;,..._ ." "'. _._ , ',..

.005 deep, the equivalent groove diameter is <i3l0 inch. though as eac h groove is 0 pposice to a 1 and there Is 110 actual pl ace where the

g- roove diam e ter ca n 'b e rneasu red d irec tlv ~ Wi t II 11 al f the bore' ha vin g

~ ~

3 diame ter of ;, 300 inch and half h a v.ing' a d ia [11 e ter of .. 31 :[ '0 j neh the

3JVe'ra,ge would 'be: ,,30 S i nell as aga inst ~,J 06 in ch for the ')0], Springfield.

16

W·hl1e this .is, as shown above, somewhat tighter than the rifling' we had been using on the M 1903,. it was adopted because after .careful tests. ~t seemedto give the best results for. that form o.f rHling with

the diameter of bullet we were already uSlng.. _ .

This has been gone into at SOi"l1C length because 'we so often see in print the: erroneous statement that the 1.917 has a bore that is too loose for our bullet, because we "used the. British dimensions" when we: took uver the manufacture of the. Enfield,

The starernent that this is not so is from lirst hand knowledge, because during a large part of the First World War, I was Chief of the h1achjne Gun and Small Arms Section, Engineering Division, Ordnan. ce, or in other words; Chief pf Engin eering and Design for Small Arms for the Arl11}\ and had personal contact with this matter at the ti me these rifle s were b ei n g ill ade,

I ~.. '. hi "'1 d

t IS lnterest~ng,: to note J11 t15 connection, LIar: rnanv tests mac e

. .

during the y·ea.rs since then have shown that the' 1917- barrels win

al wa ys 0 ut wear the '03 Sprin g:fi eld b arrels, .A t this writing, 1\1 arch, 1947, there is serious consideration being given to adopting SO Ole such form of rifling as that on the Enfield for all future smallarms manu-

facture, -

At the pre.sent time, not all 1917 Enfield Rifles have barrels of the t)rpe described above, for some were rebarrelcd with 4 groove barrels having a right hand twist, of which the 'Hi-Standard lVIaonfactu.ring Co., of New Haven, Conn .. , made 6I~250' and some were rebarreled with 2 groove barrels, of which johnson Automatics, Inc., of Providence, R. L, made R 1 ,57 t ~ Recent Ordnance tests show that the a·ccuracy of all these barrels is comparable, but that the 1 groove barrels g1 ve sligh tl y lower pressures w ith high powered hunting loads. ·The difference is not, however, great enough to give these two-groove

barrels much advantage over the four groove typ·e·. _

During the First World War the three plants mentioned above turned out a. total of 2,202,429 Alodel 19 I 7 Enfields, at a cost of

- .

approximately $26 each"

U '5' R: '[ i" 'Ii' I? l' iii O'!'u!" 'l' 1 91 7

_ ~ ~'iIi ~ :"""~ .JL;,~, ~ ~-.I .. .: .u.~,_. ,~ .. :.', ....

of Unit ed Sta: es Rill e " '9'7

P1i1U;ipnl' Dimensions 41Jd W rig'btl' ce. ,"30, .M odel

Barl'eh

Diameter of bore

~. !i'<!I=i. !I1tl1li. jI •• '. r I •• 'r.'. _ .'i ~ r~'ii •• ,,~,! !.,I ;a;

Exterior diameter at muzzle . ~ ~ . _ , . __ . ~ ;, , , .. , " .. , , . , , ., , ~

Exterior dIa meter at bree ch .'", ,_ , __ ;, .. ~ ~ ~ _ . , .. , .... ~ , .. " .. ' " ' ", . 1

Length of chamber an d bo rc ,( from Isce of bolt to llluz:r:J.e). , •. ' _ • .. . . • 'D,ia,me'tef' of chamber, :rearf end ~ ~ .' ~ "' .. ' '. ~ ;, . . ;, " '. + ~ .' .... , , ~ " • " ~ ., a, •• , • ~ " • • Diameret O'f chamber, fron tend .. ~ ,~ ,. ~ ~ . ,. ,. . . ~ a, • ,. , •• , • '. .. • ,. ,. r • '. ~ .' • 'n ., • ~ ;, .. Diarneeer of neck of chamber, rear end . , .... ' .. ' . " ' .. i ' ••• " " ;,,' ,. " ... ,_ ,', , • '. " Diameter of nee k 0 f cham her, f rout end .;;"....,................ , .. ,

Length of body of chamber ~ . , . , , . ," ; ' , . '., . " i

Length of shoulder nf chamber .' i • , •• ; i •• , ".' • , .. , ••• , ••••••

Length o:f ne ck of c hambe r .;,.. _ " . . . ' .. ' . . , ,. , .. . . . . " , . . . . ,. " . . . . . . . . . .

Len ot:h ,(·",.f·' .' ',h'··· 'm .. IIL. ',. fI.··'.iIf .... ,n

. _ ..... . =,,,", , _JI! _ C _ a. ue Il 't .... O ... ,~I!i~, .,'".,',.".."'.,.,. ,. "' .' " " .' • ,. .' .' • , ~ • _ _, _ _ ,_ _, ., _ ,', _, _ ~ ., ~ ,

Ritlio,g:

N umber of groov'cs~ 5 ~

Twlsr, uniform, ] eft ban d,~ ,():rlC turn [If], ..."......"'.. '. 'i • '. " • • '. '. , • '.' • '. '. ,.

W'loth of grooves ... i' • • • • • • • • • " • • • • • • .' • • • '. • • ; i • • • • • , • • , ,. • • • ,. • _ • • • • ,

Wid th of Jands iI Ii <iI .. oi' • ill I !ii Ii ~ !I !I ! ~ 01 • I I • • • .. • • • I "' ... Ii • • 'Il .' = r : - :- ,_ 'I 'I - r 'I = ~ "' ~ • i

Depth of grooves, ~., ... , ...... ' .... , ~ _ ~ ~ ~ .. , .. , .... , . , ..... , ... ,', _ .. ~ . "

R f:ig ht ~ ~:f f n ~nt s~iglru: :.lIt u'r,rc, =ilJX is of bore (mea n) ,.'... _ . . _, _, _ . '" _ .. ' . . , Disc~,nce from 'fOp of Iron r sight to rear' sid.e of 1:c~ f , le~ f ra ised

St'(l-Ck:;

Le[~gtb" with butt 'plate . ~ ~ " 'i 'I .. 'r • '. ~ '.' '. + + " '. '. , ... , • '. ' •• ' , '. ,. • " ~ ~ • ,. " ~ • ,_ ,. ,. ,. ~ a,

'Croolct Le ~ distance f rom axis of bore tu he,e] (,~ r I ~u tr '" _ ,_ _ _ _ _ , . _ . . . " u

Dlstauce from trigger to butt plate .. ~ . ~ . ~ , " , _ ., . "' .. _ . ,.

Length of' gn n comp 1 ere . '. " . . . . " _ . . . .. .' " . . . ,. . , . . . , , e , • _ _ ,_ • • _ _ • _ • , • • '.

g,igih:r radiu,s, ~ ., , '.' . , _ .. ' ~.~ " .' . , . ' , " , .. i ~

Sig':l:n ,ra dins; (b~,ttl e' sight) . + + , • • .' • ,", ., • • ~ ., • ." • • '" • • • • • , ., • • • '" ., • • • • • ., • • •

\V,ei'ghts

l~l.lche~~ 0,,30 0,60

I ". i!

•. J -

04716 °44'~' IO~'14i~

,o~'34o~

1.785 tl.16

o·3~()

HJ,.

O.o9V'i o.o.;),(~

0.00:,

~.o6

;,~, "'I,~: '~' '"lH

:!;...;- 46, . .1

" ], '7(~ 3, Ii ~{]9

I[ lb. ,: (U .•

Ba YOJ,let . ~ ~ '. ,. ,. ~ . '. " '. '. " ~ ;, '. '. . ; ..... ' ' ... " ~ . " ., ,., '. " ~ . ,. ,. . . , .. , , '. + ~ .. '. ~ ~ ~ •• ,., ,.

C)ii,er ,and, thong C:,lSC .......'.. '. ,. ,. • '. " • • '. , • i • ; " '. .' • '. '. ~ '. '. " .' '. ~ ~ • 'I

'I'ot:al weight of arnl with (Jilc)." and tllong case and bayon,et . ~

Total ,"v e igb t of arm \vith thong case "Vl1t 11 0 Llt bayonet ~

\V' eight to' cOLnpress nUl:.inspring I' • ' •••• '. , ••• , , ~ ~ ••••• ~ • _ ~

Tr",gger pun (m,easll.red at' :m i d'dle oJ bow' of t d,g-g'er) ' .

; oz.,

.'

~o Ib~1 .l uz. 9 '!bs. ~ ~17.

If) rn ,8 IDS.

4'% to rJlh lbs.

Ilion

:Srr~ng:field Atmory

14~9B6 89,"79

Before A ugust, i 9' r i ,'''''''".,;.. .... '..'''. ~ , , , " , , , , " · · ,. . · .. · , ~ !, , .. .. -\ug; T,~ J9~~i to Dec~ 31" ISH7 .,' ~ .• ~ ~ •... , , " , ,. " ,~.,.,' '. ' ... ". ~ ~

I'91g

january . + + , • ,', , , ~ • , , .. ; •• '" ' , ' ••••••• ~ ~ •• 'j • ; , • ! • ' ••

Fe bnJ:af}' ~.""'.."",'. ~ . . ; .' .' '. .. .. . '" .' " , " ... ' ~ .. " .' . , , , .' .' .' .. .. .' , .' .' ~ .

,M:arch '!o II!!' • • ,. .1 • • ,Ii .. .. oil ., ., • oil 01, • I, .. • !. .1 • • '!II ~I • II 'II • II rIO ., • • .1 III • • .1 .' • [Iii a, ., '. I!, • • .1 .'

,,::~

~pr.u ..... ...... T ,~ + "Il !ii' • II il 'Il 'II .' Ii' • ~ Ii' • i' 11' 1i' ~ ~ ~. ,~ 'r. 'Il f. 'r ~ ill • .. ii' • .1 +l .' Ii' ~ Ii! Iil ri [ill r!i ~ ~ ~ Ii ~ .1

,~,!t AI. \'!II,,'T, '

I~I~ II! 'Il ~ ~ + + ~ ~ ~ - - - ,_ - - ,_ - ~ ~ .. ~ - .. ~ ~ ~ T i' ~ 'r ~ - - - ~ - ~ T r '.' '. - .' 'i ~ ~ ~ ,!, ~ ~ ~ ,~ ~ ~

,J'llne ~ , . " . " " ~ ~ " " ,. , " " . , , ... , . . . . ~ '!' .. ' ..... ' ,. ~ ~ ~ ~ " '. '.' ~ • • ~ " ~ t ........ ' ~

,J,- 'i. III ii,,,t

ul.; ~ ~l • r 'I" ~ '. '~ 'I" ~ - '. II "I I. 'r. ~' •• 'I! 1'1 • I .1 • II •• '. 'I" 1'1' • 'I' II' • ~ ~ .. I. I. I ••• 'ill liI'i + ~ -Ii 'i I~ •• I~ •

Aug!l'st .. .. '..,..,'.. ... '.' ' ... '. '. ,', .' . . ' .. '. , .' . - . ; ; + '. ~ " '. 'j , ... ,' • • .. ~ • " ' , ..

~~~~~er .. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :: : : : : :: : : : : : : : : : : : : :

Nov " ~ '-9"!' J 9' J 8: .....".; ~ .. . , , . , '. . . . .' . ' " . . + .' .' , " .. , , • ; , , .. ~, • ,~ • ' • '

8It8¥3. '98 "'4";

. .", .

68:-,404,

D_ .... -.,0

IIJ' ;1"'\1'0

Sf,92,9 :lO~I'l'O

l.35P8o uJ6~59S

. 110,058

IOO':!i.14 30,6:;9

:r ..... ., ""6"'" ~,"' .. '-'~,. ,',

R,oc'k ISland \fie al

! • . •

,i.. n ..

l' ,6,80 :z 1:,.330

7,680 2",60 4,2,0

5',50. 619 ,., if1II3' 8"--

~"""'-" .'.

1,,5'97 ,.,Bi 3

3_156

, .

B'oS

~:6,,,666 41,41696

,[8",0.69 18~~~1' l60,~,68'2,

]' "0. I: 16,

jI - t - -

J8Si004 198,:1, ~ 3

:'48"J07~ :t1o',3'S6

%3l!~l8 2::t.6,6S'3

:'!':"1_.Anj ~,' ~ ""...' '

Total., " ~ ~ " '" ,', , , . , , , ; , , .' , , ; .. ~ .. ' '. , ., · .. '"", , .. ; . , .' .' . ~ .' , "', , .. [ ~ dh ,,908 46.5,,80 5 45 ~541 26S',6z" 4,.,2)' l' ! ,506.,],Q7

:zII~' • o.

Note: EddystoD,CI! '~l"_~,ch~er't and _ Ilion p~ants turned out rbe En'field ~ VI" "'ile the Splingfl.eld A,f!'10'FV' and the Rock ISland. ,Arse,n,al produced the SpringficJd.. The monebs marked by :I, drop' in the prOduction, at S:prin,gfi:cld and. at' 'R,OC'k Isla.ad 'were months in wh h:h the c'omponenfs manufactured were ,I.1O't assernhled 1 J1U '\' 'eriC used Ior spare p:a,rts,

j~:OO 32,660 4,:1,,:100

43i600 4.J,6,~,8

l+:~49

:)$,700

'''I! ..... n''·o·· I~"~"~ ~ ,.. •.

31,t,;5° 33,700

9~IOO

.,.':! u9 .... '''',,;.1'-,'Q .'''''''

6 oro '7-

31,453 3~8'Si 4;9,1))8

30;37'7 54.471' ,52~'5 oo',f['3

65)J44-

58.,01''''

. 1 ~

;,3,563- [6t338

m

A Brief History of the .30 .. '06, the .30 MI and the .30 M2 Cartridges ...

W HEN, th~ M_ 1903 rit1~ was first adop.ted, the cartridge desi~ned to go with it had a rimless case, \V hich, except for very mmor changes, is the same as that. we have now, "[he bullet was of round nosed shape, \veighing l zo grains, with a muzzle velocity of 2, 300 feet per se$ond.

In, T906 we adopted a lighter bullet \veighlng 150 gra'ins, having a sharp or "spitzer" point, and with a muzzle velocity of 2700 feet 'per second, This bullet had a cupro-nickel jacket; and a core corn'pose d 0 f I part tin to 39 parts 0 f Ie a d~ The maxim um rang e was given in the handbooks as 4700 yar·d~ ..

For use in long range matches, the commercial companies furnished a cartri d g'e w Ith a :1 80. grain b ull et, ha ving better ~ w in d b u eking qua lities and longer range~

, In 191 1 to 19 I 3,t when I was a lieutenant of Artillery' stationed in Florida, I did a lot of shooting, and. one of the things I tried ,vas to see how far I could shoot a Springfield. rifle along the beach, To rn~v disappointment, I [ust never could seem to get it to shoot as far as the book said it would,

As Chief of the Machine Gun and Small Arms Section, Engineering Division, Ordnance, during World War I" I decided to solve this mysteryt so I gOt one of 'lll)r Mexican Border Machine Gun School assistants, with whom I ha d often colla borate d in similar experiments, and set him to ch eck rhe range ta bles, This 'vas the late Lt. C 01 Glenn P.. Wilhelm, and the work was started at Borden, Brook' Reservoir near Spring,field Armory, and later was continued at j\1 iami, 'then at Daytona Beach. The late noted firearms writer, Capt. Edward C'. C rossm an was on e 0 f Col, W ilhelrn ~ s assistants in tn is w or k, as was l.Ily brother, JV{ajor Jal,nes L. Hatcher, 65th, Artillery, who was firing his 9~2 inch howitzers on the fortress of Merz the day of the Armistice

- ,

an d returne d to this co un trv i ]11.l11 e di a tel y aft er ward. The troo ps he

was to take back to France were cancelled in view of the Armistice, and while waiting for another assignment he worked on this project with Col. Wilhelm, This started him, on a long and brilliant career in the Ordnance Department as a. small arm.s expert.

Col, WilhellIl and. this crew' soon found, as I had suspected from my Florida experience, that the . ]0-'06 bullet would not go any= where nearly as far as the book SAid it would .. The maximum rang,e

19

20

1 I ' 1'\

_ r" -.. - .-.. .... .'.'. I I ' . ".

, .,t\.i CHER S. 0 l.LHOOI~

was found to be J 300 to 340.0 yards at an angle of about 29 degrees, and the same up to. about 45 degrees, after which the, range began to sh o.r ten,

When the reason for this discrepancy was investigated, it was found that the original 'tables of fire had been made at Springfield Armory as a result of test firjngs at Longmeadow, ,along the Connccticut River not far from the Armory ~ Up to 1 zoo yards" the results were quite accurate; beyond this range, the target became harder and harder to hit, and had to he made larger and larg,er. Th en, eve n wi th the 19. r ge st p rae tic ah lc ta rg cts, so m e b nne ts W 0. til d. be on anJ SOUle off, and the center of impact had to be more or less estimated. When the r::lllg·e. 'went bey-'onu. 1800 vards it became impossible to get results, and the figures on out to extreme range were then calculated. according to the best information availab lc in those days, which, however, was not good enough, The fi.gur;es: for the extreme ran ge were about .3 8 % too big ..

. , . ,

) . ,I.

. Beginnings of the Investiga ti on to {he ck the small arms range sa biles; Borden

.: '. Brook Reservoir, i\1.as5" 191.8; Center. Lt, Col. Glenn P, Wilhelm. Right, nearest : ~". dl~. .camera, 1 t. Col. \'~\l allace L. Clay .

•• .co.... •

When this lo,ng range firing progralTI 'was' initialed, I felt certain that sooner or later our forces -:in France would demand ·grea.te'r runge in th e Sn1aJ] Arm s ca rt rid gC5.; as the 'H ea v)r )\1 ach in e Gn 11. was being much used at that' 'period and Cx.trC111e range was an important characteristic, I had been head of the Machine Gun Schools, first

on, the Mexican Border, then att Sandy Hook and. later ~~I Springfield, and had just written a book, with Wilhelm and Malony on Mac hine C', 'I U' 11S'" their ractics fi·· re co' .ntro 1. etc . and f - e It that when the

& -- ---- '. , ,. .iI... ( ,Iiw. ~...__.-, ",.... " , _ li -. 6,.","i ;!; __ .... li. . '_ .. ,." '11''' ,L, .. ~ _

users of these guns in France found that their bullets were inferior in str:~ldng po"ter at :Iong ranges to some others, trouble would start, So [0 be readv \vidl $f}111C kind of solution, I ordered ] 00,000' rounds

J '

of I ,Ro l!r~ i n rn I 'I a Ile-h, ,~Hnl,nu n itiun, ~lnd n~adc: :I,",;lng,e fi,rings with that also.

~, ,~ ~,

":I. :

.. ~ ~ i

: . . ,"

! ... ~t -

_... ..

Col W'ilhe-hu! s Ba Hi s tic S t~l,ti on a. t Mi ami i i1 19' 18" 'Officer in cente t 0,£ toppla.dorm under range. dock Is M:1IJ.jo,i[' (now Colcnel) J~fnes, J~. H archer, brother

Or the auth '.'F

~_"'"' ,~,,_ ,OL"

Our ..:I\,rn~y· had practically no machine guns, when the war started so we armed our ~~i]1"s't troons in France wich British. Vickers g,ul'ns

~ . -

and wi th th e F ref) c h J-I ot c h k iss ~ ~]~ he \7 ic kcrs used the ,,303 ,NIn rk '\TII

Co,~. WHbelm"s Bad,~islil: Station, Davtona, 1~:la,.,~ 1919.

f iring the. 30 Caliber ,r ifle w.i th Swi ss boa t, ta il ed buljets for maximum ran ge,

1\ :S,!lTF.l" HTSTORY OF TH'E SERVICE~ CA,RTltlDGES

""iI3

.... ' ,

cartridge, ha,ving a 174 grain fiat based bullet, and, the French. Hotchkiss use d th e "Ba llc D, ~ , a so Ii d b 1'"0 nze boa t tailed b l1J le t w,eig hing ab 0 ut I 98 grains,

Very so on. the us er S 0 f t hcs c guns f ound th a t these b ullets had an extreme ranee nearly so(t9rJ greatct than did our ;30-~o6~ When the Vickers and I ,rotc hk iss g uns gave way to the new Bro wnings, and. the troo ps found rhs t tTl if Y [co u J.d no long er lay' dow n barrages at tile same long ,nulbYCs as before, '('tlble[gl'~lIllS came - back hot and heavy demanding' that somerhing be done about: it. r ortunately _ we were already well al,ong toward finding out what our arnmunition "vould really do and 'W hat j t wo uld n' t~ - an d rh e reasons ,£'0 r the condi tion ~ An offieee from lOY office who was in 'France: on ttrn.po,ra.:r.y duty told them about the: 180 grain !\..]ateh bullets we were trying', and immediately a demand was cabled back for some of this: to try, and it 'was sent. \Ve were then told 'that a, long'er range for our Sfl13U a rms cart!' idzcs was ne ccs sarv an d work was started on developing

.!;,;.;' ~ , '

such a cartridge, Not long afterward the Armistice of November I I,

1918 put and end to the work for the time, _

In France" the Fiske Board, _ with Col. Farl NlcFa,rland; }Vlaj. 'Lee O. "'right, and Lt. C'oL J~ S. [-latcher as Ordnance Members, visited each Divisi on, Corps, a nd A rrn Y headq uarters an d interv iew ed the Commanding General as to the actual characrertistics that should be ernbod ied in the ne \\7 cartrid ge, I t: was d ererm i ned t II a,t rhe same

-,"'" -,' :' ~ ,', -.1 -'", 'ld b ' .~"" id - d f' -~ b rh .. ft, and -'," "·1 '", -,,- ''''', and

ammurunon S1l0U' .:. oe P[QVl" er "O( .' otn rr e ano mac nne gun, ana

that ,it: should have thelongest possible r3,ng't aud the t1attest possible'

trajectory' that would still permit it to be used in the rifle, .

After the end of t he '"tVat:., the development of this, ne w ammuni tion proceeded, with much advice from 'the Infantry 'Board and the Cavalrv Board, and with, some of the, experimental tvp·cs being tried

~ ~ ,

out at the National ,IVlatc,hes at Camp Pe-rry e;J(C h year.,.

I n connection with these tests we ha dour att ention directed bv Col. Lucian B4 Moody to the Swiss Service Ammunition, which had a 174 grain boat tailed bullet of the. same diameter, as our O,\1"n service bullet, that is" 1308 inch. Very early in the ganl,c CoL 'W'~ L. Clay, Commanding Officer of Frankford Arsenal conducted a series of f flngs with this a 111 munition tha t showed it to be irn m ense h .. ~ su perior to ours at long ranges,~ 'Conveniently enough, these Swiss bullets could be loaded. into our own cases and' fired in our gun,s~

CoL Townsend Whelen suc-ceeded Col, Clay in command of FrankFo rd A rsen 41.1., and 'M13,de np a series 0 F h n 1 lets with boat ta i Is from 1 deg'rees on up ro J :2, d!egre:es, taper~ 'These were fired at Aberdeen Proving Ground, and it turned out that [be 9 degree bullet gave: the: 'I) est perf on nan c e.

A,1ean:tiollt'" in 19l3:", ] succeeded Col, Whelen in charge of 'the Frank ford Small Arms Ammunirion Plant, and. in I 9l (' the tvp,e E

.J ., ,

9 degree' boat railed bullet was adopted as standard for both rifles

:- .. :

.;:

.': >

.y; :'~ ;. -'"j-.

.:~ • ~.: l.· ...........

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... ~'. I'"i'

t.: !~: .: :

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, : .. .... '~".: "~'.

' ..

.. .-.-:

:-" -:-:.

......

t· :-':'.' :~.; .. < .•

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.......

-: .. .; .... ;-

V V'

w ~.~ r:
., .,. : ~ .. , >, .e ...-,
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N ~: . ~.
,~ -:-:-. ;-. ..

...

0: .V··~·

.....

.. -':'.' ... ~.

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.... . ~.~

.. ... '. ~-::-: . ~

.J.:

..... .;.

.... :-:

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.... ....;. ..

<,

.;;-:

v-, ~ ..

.... -:- :

'-. • ... _m •• ».

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i. _ ......

· :.. ...... ;.: .. y;...:~

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_,_~,-:-._.«~ ... ~..., _.Il'-'-"_'~""_"___

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.··.1:: .::::::.~.~

The' Ballis Ii c S"ta don at and measuring the hei gh~ -0 f

Daytona" Fla., 1919., Ar;rairlge.lli~IH for. obtaining, the 'On net ho ~ e above ~:ha t 0 f ~b e bore.

the

'!"n'tll"'I· ... "'.l' 'ol'? .~

of

departure

by

'firing

A, ,B,R, I E"F E-IlsTORY 01-~ TIlE. SE:R.VICE CARTRIOOES 25

an d machine guns, and the arnmunitio n was called the .. 30 calib er 1\1, r, The bullet: had a gilding metal [acket, and a new and improved ogivc, of '7 calibers radius, -giving it :3, sHghtl}r better form factor than, the very similar looking o,give on, the 1:906 buller, The muzzle velocity' was 1700 feet per second, and rhe extreme range was 5900

yards; 'as against ].400 for the 1906" . '

- To- get 2700 feet per second muzzle velocity with this heavy bullet a.-~d, still 'keep within a desirable: pre~l1re r;ang-e was found to bc_ so diffic.ul~ ,that many lots of powder were, eliminated; as a result, Cot Clay, Chief of the Small Arms Di vision, pushed thro'l,gh a, reduction of the, velocity' to 264.0 f .. , s. at: the mu zzle or 2: 595 at 7 B feet, This reduced the extrern e range to about 5500 y'at dS4

The old .30-"06 bullet bad been m,ade with a c ore. of 29 parts lead. to I part tin; this 'was found to be too soft for the boat tailed bullet" which, in the early samples a,t least, seeined to requi re 3 very' hard c ore, so the metal used. \V$S 1 part antim on y 'Ito 7 'parts 1 ead, The' ~3o-'o6 bullet had a cupro-nickel jacket, the ·~I I had - one of gilding metal, hence there was no difficulty in distinguishing between them by appe:ar.ance. The bullet on -the "06 looked silvery" the 1\.[1 looked

like g-old. -

At this rime we had on hand. about two billion of the war-time j30~'o6 cartridges, and as ammunition is, perishable, the policy 'was to use up the oldest ammunition first, keeping' the newer for war reserve, Thus th e shooters on ArnlY" National Guard and Civil ian title ranges had. to use rhc old war time .stuff" while '\vishing fo.r the ha.ppy day' to come when they' could get some of the good. new ammunition to use.

FInally about 1936 that wished-for day arrived, .and with it trouble of an unexpected sort, The new ammunition had so much Ionger range and c,arryin.g po wer that it: began to shoot b,ey·ond the previous danger zones of th e- existing ranges, The N ational Guard Bureau then requested the 'War Department to make: up some ammunition like the old '900, to use on the restricted ra.nges; and the: order was given to make up 10,OOOJooo rounds. of it.

This short ran.ge ammunition was made as much like the 1906 as possible. It had 'a I 50 grain flat base bullet, but the jacket "vas of course made ,of gilding In eral instead of the old cupro-nickel, ') r was, however, colored to look like the 1906 by the: use of a. stannic stain, so it could be de distinguished _ from the M I. The ogive: was of the same shape, as the; M I" and. differed a bit f.rom the shape of the 1906, but the di fference was so slight as to be imperceptib le,

Some of this am -- nirion reached the Service Bo ·a,-r':d"s. which 'bY,D.'O'W

_ I, ., _ _ G" , mUlL I _ n, ",",,(lI ,. ,_!;,. . , __ _ , WT __ . . __ __

had lost all of ehe old World War I machine gunners who so keenly felt the, inadequacy of our ammunition in 19184 OUf soldiers liked the

1- d "1 f h'" M-' d- ld b It d'

iesseneo recou 0_· tt e new ammunmon. ... __ ore roun -- S cou n ne earn,e.

for the same weight~ etc., so the sugg,escion was made and carried through, that it should be substituted for the AI r. In 1940 this ammu ..

WATERPROOFI'NG APPL~ED IN NECK 8EFO~E lOA.OfNG.

-.04

....... ~ .. "~- 3.34 .----~~-+-----~~-----~___.iI

M2 I. ~23 - .040

-=---~-oIiIIIi

M2 ALTEANAT1V'E

ANVIL -

SE:Al, CASE VENT

PELLET

CASE

CU~ PRIMER-

CRJMPEO AFTER BULLET I S IN SERTED -.OJ 5,

...

2.494 .--~----~---~~

NOTE- PRIMER TO BE SECURED !N POCKET BY A C'IRCULAR CR'lt1P ·JO IN T BE TW EEN WAL.lS OF PRI'MERAND POCK ET WA'TERPROOFED WITH A 'V I StB L.£ MATE RIAL.

CA·RT·FUDGE BALL CAL ... 3·0M·2 _Ii 1M2 ALTERNATIVE

JACKET

aLJLLET INSERTED B·V PRES~URE ON·POINT

SLUG

Cartridge} &11, cal. .,30 M2 ,(GUded) and ;.\12 alternative (Steel Sodceted) ..

- _.~_"~-.IIF- ,

,r.!

_.......... -

(I

~----~- ~- ~-- ---~",....,....;;:=- 1.9,48, - ----.- -----

~ REFERENCE .

W~TH MAX,. DIA.~

---j

~,----------------~,"71 "~~--------~ I,

~'006

~_~_"~~'F~~-~~_ 2.,0542 ~--~~~--~- -~-~--~- -~-~'I .....____, __

CA,$E

CAR"TRIDGE ,BRASS ANNEALEC W! 200~G,R:S.-20~GRS. .OIMiEN$IONS GIVEN AT I,NTE,RSECTI:ON OF' LINES

\

-

\

\._ \,

AN ~NCL., TAPER NOT TO E,XCEED ,0,02 6 ,ALLOWA,BLE ~N NECK, DUE TO V,A,R'IABLE EXPANSION OF BRASS

~'

;,

~~-----------=----~~~----~--~~------~~:

U'N.' UI RLE=- D' :

~',_I ," - -_.- - - _"i ...... :

I '

~~~----~----~~~~-~~~~~~' '

§[ ~VA'V'77:rr;~-,.......,.,.. __

o~

1'0 CD

o t;t')

:,

0--2-0-

I .". • ,

. ", ._ ..... ,;.

_ CANNELURE, :LOCATE-O 'TO SUIT

f- OVERALL LENGTH OF CARTRIDGE "I

t(,NURL'fNG TO S'U:rT MFO·R 'S,~ P:RACTICE



)(

U)- -e

- -

- ,

Otlllll:: riIi'!!.

-- ,~,.

", I

'. . I '

- ' -

2.IR.-~05

, (7CAL.,

............... ------~- -JACKET

B u I ~ e t,~ Bal], ca,libC-f ; 30 M2~

,A BIU,EIf HISTOOY OF THE SERVICE :CAJrf[{,IOOES 29

nition wirh some s.light further changes, was standardized as: Cartridge, Ball, Caliber ~ 3 a !\Ii 2.

By the tim e this arn muni ti on was stan nard ize d, tin and antimony were ,getting, .scarce, and it was found that it was satisfactory to make the bullet core of Iead 'without the, addition of any alloying material, As the lea d used is: secondary lead, that: is, reclaimed- :fro~ batteries, etc., it will have some hardening material in it, but: not much. This results in a slightly increas ed bullet w'eig ht 0 f J: 5 z grains instead of [.5°,. The muzzle velocity was also boosted from 1100 fi S ..

to 28'05 f. s. . -

'\¥,hile 'we were go.ing' bac kward, the Germans were going to the . opposite extreme, During the first World _ War, their standard infantry bullet weig he d I 54 grains, an d V;.' a s a. fiat ba sed typ e, with a cone

shape d depressio n in the base, .

For machine ,gun use dut.ing that war, they developed a. boat railed b 1L1:1I et 'w'e,ighing ] 96 . grai 115", This was ad opted by them as stan dard and was rh e one us ed in the, recent war.

In our own A, rm)T ~ the ten d ency is defini rely to use armor pierc ing ammunition for everythin g, and - to do away with plain ball, The Armor Piercing' Ammunition that we lise now is nearly' .identical 'with that deyelop_ ed immediatelv after World 'War ] bv Cot CIa'y··-, known

~ ~.

as rh e ,)\1 t 92; 2; • Ou r pre's en t type .is 1<:I1O'\Vn as Cartr ltd ge" Arm or

Piercing, Ca lib er .:; 0, Jvl '2 • i~ b la ck tip on th e b ull et in dicates that it is armor piercing" The bullet ""eight is '[ 68,5 grai.ns~

r;barnc,t'eristic't t;f sbe V:ari01l.f. Ty:pe,$

- -- --

Type

JV1uzz]c InstrnBullet '\T elocirv mental'

- - - J: ' - -

weigbt foot - velocity

grains. seconds, ,@:) 3 Ft~

Instrumental velocity '@ 78, Ft.

Muzzle Energy Ft.. :nls~

- - - --

'Cal. ~.Jo-'~06 .. '" ~ ... ' ... ~ ... '.

Ca:~~ ~ 10 .l\1:i. ~ ~ " + .' .' • .'

C'aL .i,o 1\12 . ~ ~ .' , , .

Cal, .jo A.P, 1\1: .

] 50 :2"700' 2:655 1.
'1'''''4 S·' :;ui4\,i' ~USllO ,l<600'
J ,"" .. '
]52;- 18°'.1 "'7 -., 27',40-
-.) ,
68 ~ '1.77; 1730 271;'
I . ',5' 2419' F'r", ~b" 2675 F't .. , Jb, 2656 Ft. Ib~ 2)80 'Ft, lb.,

30

Hl\TCHER.'S NOTEBOOK

, I ~ I 'Tables of Fire

..

Range" yards,

C 1 ,~~ a'. .. 30 .... 'u\)'

Angle of Departure, Minuces,

1,00 100

300 400 500 600

700 800

'900

1000

.. I. • !II ... + .. !II -I.' .. • ... .. • • • ;a. .. !o ,I • • "!o .. • • "" • • I • • I. • • • 'il • • • • • ..

~ r.~~ i .oP.~~ r I ••••• r."r.~ r. I' •• 'r.~'. _ iI-i. rlli Ii .... +i .... ~ ~+!!!II

• r.. _ .-r. ••• '1 ~ •• '. Ii ..... Ii "'1 Ii r.~ ••• +.~ r. "iI.Ii+~'!lIi" ~ FI!-II!!!II

•• "!I~. "'+!I!;'!o. I!++". !I"~. !o.'! !I!+" ..... !I~ ••••• ' ..... ~r..

.. I I ~ ••• ~ ••• 1. Iii

r i ~ • 'r. "I • • r. "I • r ~ ~ e r. + ~ ~ r ,j il ~ + ~ iI r. .. .. ;. .. ~, • !!' + ~, !! !II -! .. • ~ II!! •

1l1 ' "1 ••••• "!111i I '1i1++!11

I II! P "I' !II !I p.."1 P.I'!II •• P.'P •• ~' I r. !""I'''I'!ii'!!' P"! - !"-- - -"!""!!,"!;,; ........

!II .. !!, I! ,I! + iI'iI ...... I! +. !I'. I!++ ...... "'I!". !Io!l !!+ •• "!I II!!' ••• ~. lOil .' •••

2;~6 5·.1 8,;

I] .7 15,·8 20·7 16.·33 1:4 39.8 . ,48,,3

Range Yards

Angl~ of elev, Time of ffight

rn m utes seconds,

;\ II '.

1 v 1 'lXlm,Um

ordinate feet

Angle of fall minutes

100 200

300 400 500 600

700 800'

900'

1000

l·i' 5·4 .8·4

[ 1.8

15·9 10.25

'1:.; .31 3Q/7 :;6.8'

43,,)

0+12 0.25

0·39 O~j4

o·io '0.88

• • +

0., 0..6

l·'7 2.0t

3-·09 4.56 .

6·45 9.00

2,.' 6,,1

10,.1

UI'.g 20 .. 1,,'

21',3 3.5,·'8 ,46'·l 95·9 74·3

1.07

I· ~ .... ' +"" J

1,;0 [ +75

r :!. •• ~

Rai1~e Yards

Angle of ele v. 'Time of Hight

. · d

mm ures secon .. s

Maxlrrmm ordinate feet

Angle of faU

. -

mmures

100 lou

30G 400 -;00

600

700 800

900

1000

2;04- 0.12
5·,1 0.15
~.I o, ,N
J [.5 o·~3
co,
I:,~ .,; 0.10
20.; o.R9
~6.o I.I 1
3.2·4 1.35
40.,2 I.6!
49 '~ 1.91
: ~'-,: r. ••

0,,3- ali I.2 1.8 JAl 5 .. i 7~2.

10.8

1S'·3

34 ,5.8

ro, I [ 3·5 20~3

304 4°~5' 57,4 74·3- 94~5

A ,U,ltl£l-' Hrsron Y OF '.1'] IE S,tltV ICE CARTHIl.lGES

Cart ridg C; Ba'll Caliber ·.10 Armor Pier'emg M2

Range Yards

Angl~ of elev ~ Time of .ffigh[

rmnutes seconds,

Masimurn ordinate feet

Ang~e of fall minutes

:zoo 400 fioo

8'00

lOOO

S .r [ 1·5' [9·li 30.7 4.(Ll

0.2.4- 0·5% Q~81 I.}O

, '~+.82

0·3 1.1

3.0 6.g

~·3·5

5t1 14 .. 5 1.9 .. 7 ,~4.o 90 .. 1

Table of Fire for the .. 2~ Caliber Long ,Rifle' Canr,idge

- . --
Dropat ~lidrangc i\.ngie of
Range, Velocity, Energy, Tim,e of d'· departure,
targetT or mate
yards f. s, fr, lbs, Bight se c. inches inches minutes
0 ],,[00 IOZ
1.5 IIJ70 95 0.068 0.89 0·').4 3·5'
50 [,o:N) 89' 0.140 3,,[7 0."98 7..6,
75 980 84 0.2;14, ,8.06 :.18 lLj
100 950 79 OL29::l ~4~8i 4.08 JS~8
.I. t5 '910 75 O·3-T:' 2...1·73 6.78 :0·5
rso 890 7·~ 0·455- 3-6~ii4 [-0..0,2 :Z4,·9
I' 7)' 860 6 .... 0.,541 51O~SO [4.2,0 29, .. 6
j
lOO 840 64 0,,630 72.'9), [9~IO 34,3
:!1)' 8[0 6] Q .. 72O 93.04 l8.J.o 19""
.. -,
ljD '790 5-8 0 .. 812 118.21 31.87 44'-'
. "'
1:.75 770 55 O~9ill hl'·2o 39.87 50•8
100 750 52 1.005 1 ?7~]:2 48.·69 .55 .. 1
-- --- . - T'able of Fire .f 01' the Cartridge, B aU, C sl, .'1-5 ill' ~ 9'1 I

Range, Yard,s.

Time of Flight Seconds

Drop, Inches

Deflection due to drift, inches (To the Left)

---------------------~,.~-, .-"-.-------~

[Q 20 JO 40 00 gf)

roo

0.037 0·75 0 .. 11.3 ,0.15 [

0 .. 229 0 .. 3°8 0 .. 388

. '

0·3 Ll

:t4 4 .. 4 9 .. '9

dlo

28.0

O.I

0,.2 0",3 04- 0 .• ,8

] .. J Z.Q

IV

A G -- h

utomatic '.-_'--un Mechanisms

AN' automatic firearm is one which fires, throws out the empty - cartridge, and reloads itself when the trigger 15 pulled, Strictly eut omati c fir earm S: '\v111, a lso lee e p 0 n Iir ing as - 10 n.g as the tri gger is held down; but the term automatic pistol, or automatic shotgun, etc., is of ten used to (~,e:sj gna.t e \\1 hal t is 1'1) 0 re p:ro per 1 y c all cd a s(:'mhnlt01_nati C or seii-loading. gun, 'which 'is: one that unloads and reloads itself but. w hie h fi res. on ly on e shot for eac h pun 0 f rhe trigger ~ Th us on th e G overnme nt auto marie pistols the triggler m us t be released '3 nd pulled again for each shot fired.

'The first automatic firearm was the Maxim machine gun. Machine guns were known for m,any y'ears before the advent of the Maxim gun in ,I 8 :84, but these: 01 d er machine guns were han d- ope rated. In other words, they were: worked with a cran k like a, sausage grinder ~

~ -

the cartridges 'oein,g fed into a hopper, or feed-way, by one hand.

while the other one turned the crank. In 188'-0 S:ir Hiram .\t1a,x-im constructed a mechanism in, which the barrel nf the gun was allowed

L~

to kick back for about three-quarters of au inch when the shot 'was

fired, and thls hack~i-fl.rd motion was utilized to unlock the breech, eject the enlpl"y cartridge ~nHJ feed a new one in, Maxim's gun was, therefore. w hat is known as a recoil-operated jrun.

.r ., ~

It was not very long' after this '[hat J 011 n !\IJ r n,f"O'\vHing, a glln.sutith of Ogden, Utah, conceived 'the idej] of making an automatic gun rhar would operate Hke a little gas engine. 'H,~ bored a bole in the barrel of the gun- about a foot from the· muzzle and fitted this hole with a piston on the end 0 f a s win ging lever ~ When th e g'un was fi Fe d, the bullet first passed this little hole in the barrel; then the gas under verv high pressure struck on the piston resting in this hole and drove it downward with jzrear force. This piston was on the- end of a lever

........ J _ .

whic h was swun g downwa rd and to the rear by" the force of' the gas"

operating a connecting rod 'W hich worked the. h reech mechanism . . ' 1 'his gun ',"vas said to be gas -operated. The in vention of the Colt gun by Browning in I 8R9, \V~,S almost immediately followed by 'the lnvenrinn by' Baron Von Odkolek, in Austria, of a gun in which the gas ac ted - on, a piston moving straight to th e rear in a tube under the barrel, This, gun, also g~s~ope'rated, was subsequently developed into the Hotchkiss. l\1,ore about these inventions will 'be: found in a later chapter'.

As soon as tit e f rsc successful mae h inc .gu n was prod uced, th is "Vef}r fact turned the attention of inventors to the subject of automatic

32.

34

HATC:HFiR~S NOTEBOOK.

:fi rearms ~ and a.1I n ost im U1 edia t:ely there were a la,rge nurn b er 0 f i:nventions produced along this line. l\1any of the early efforts turned to pis tols and somes nee essf ul one s sue h as the A'iauser, Luge,r, an d Colt, were soon. produced, All these guns worked on the recoil-operated

· .. I ·prlnclp.' e.

. Dur ing the half oentnry" that has cla psed since the . automatic machine guns first demonstrated their SUCCCSS1 there have been hundreds of a ttenlp ts to make machine guns" sem i-au roma ['1 c rifles and auto marie pistol St a no th e patent offices and war d epartnlents of the world have been. inundated hv a constant: flood of inventions of this general c a teg ory ,. I t is. really -' am azing to see the diff eren t: in.genious devices that were thought of in. an effort to produce a successful sem i a u ton] a tic sho uld er rift e. !vI 0 s t m 0 dels of sue h guns were ei th ~r recoil-operated or ga.s-ope.rated, but there have been dozens of models based on novel principles, such as operation by the. movement of the primer in the cartridge case; inertia -op era ted shoulder guns in w hich a sliding weight remains relatively stationary while the gun recoils; guns with movable butt plate resting on the shoulder .of the firer and operating through a sy'srcnl of rods to unlock the gun when the kick pushed the- butt plate aga,inst the firer's shoulder, guns in which the breech was held stationary and the barrel allowed to move forward,

d h h ~. . ... 1 f hi ~ ·]1 b d 'b d ·

9,11 rn_any ot ers, rr e p riner ptu ones 0 \V uc II V\ L . e ._. escnne In

detail fa ter 'I •

M h i h hani f 1 hi .. 1 d ~ h

uc O~ tne meet anism 0 t ae mact Joe gun IS involve - In t. e

lockin.g· and unlocking of the breech block, 1\. Wgh-pow·ered .rifle cartrid ge generates a. pressur:e a f 50~OOO pOUll ds to the square in ch when the gun is fired" and this pressure, acting on th e head of the cartridge case, tends' to force the breech block to the rear. According 1 y., w 11 en high pressure cartri dges are II sed, the b reec h block. III us t be securely locked to the rea.r end of the barrel in order ro hold. the cartridge in the chamber of the gun during the explosion, However; the force of the explosion. of a cartridge is gone in a very small fraction of a second .. The high pressure. of 50~OOO pounds to the square inch lasts less than one- rh nusan dth of a second and then dro p:s rapidly off tn zero ..

If we had a fairly heavy breech block, it would not move enough to do any harm during the 'vcry' short time the p ressure I asts, If the weight of the breech block could he chosen correctly, it would he possible to make a breech mechanism in which 'no locking device would .be nece5s'ary+ The pressure 'On the cartridge case would be [ust sufficient to give. the heavy breech block enough movement so that the breech would open· after the cartridge is fired, and if the pro~e'r spring were put behind the b reech block it would close ag.ain,

.p idee i h '

PUSI' In.,g a n ew cartrr g'e In tit t - e sam e nme

A,UTO~\L\TIC G'UN IvIEeHA~IS~1S

35

B J oui-bac k 1M e c b anism s

Actually this type of breech mechanism, called the straigb: bkn»back system, is perfectly practical for low-powered cartridges, and such mechanisms 11,]"e used 011 almost all pocket automatic pistols and on cali b e r ~:2 2, I .. isto Is and rift es. The breec h bl 0 ck is sim ply hel d ~gainst the heal o.f the cartridge by· a spring'~ and when the ,gun, is fired, the powder pressure blows the bullet out through the muzzle w ith v'~,ry great ra pid iry j' and at the same time pu shes t ~ 1 e breec h

b t" k b'· . k , irh :':--- '. rh -. ...~ 'h '.. . "d' .,', ... "':h' C:: .. d .... -.. ftei

, OC.·' acx wirr JUS,t t. e Tlg",t ,s,pe,el to extract t·, if: nreo case 3. tel'

the powder pressure has: fallen to zero .. , If the breech block is made to u 1i ght. i t wi~ 1 open 'too q uic lei)! , and j.f it 0 pens 'W hi le p,ressn.re: iis still in the cartridge case, the c-artridge case wil] be ruptured and, gas \v ill es ca pe to-the rea. t.

Calcula cions and experimen ts ha vc shown t ha t f 01" the caliber t,3() cartridge" such as. is 'Used in the Springfield rifle, th e breech block would have eo 't\leig-' h in the neig .. hborhood of tw en tv-seven pounds to

- ~ ~,

operate sa tis factorily on rh e b I O\V -b ack principle. As the Springfiel d

rifle itself weighs only nine pounds, the use of this kind of breech mechanism is obviously impracticable for a semiautomacic shoulder rifle using'. the Springfield cartridge, where the '\veight must be kept down to the lowest possible ,figur'c,,, Moreover, such ,3 breech block is entirely .,too he"a,~'y for even a machine gun, u.sil1,g the full powered A flll,r rifle cartridge ..

However ~ straight blow-back guns powerful e.l1.0'ugl-i for 'I11I'D'cing have been produced but, these gun s are considerably less powerful than the Army ritle, The most powerful hunting .rifle built on the

bl b k ~"" 'I • h W-·' h If' I d: "'B hi h

.: oW-Q,C,_ ~ pFlncll"Ee is t, ,f,:i me "ester' se '.-]O('L 'log £1; e: ,\V .1C_.·. was

I . d lib .' t . h id

'. 1'- '. I", ~'.l.... _,. ~ '-1 .... :-'1; ·I·' .... ·~ .... -.: ~ _.'. ': '_. . ,., .•• -. -- ','1-1'1 ;-.; •• - ," ,-"',- , .• "' ,'1

mac e m .. ;) 2:, .. 3.) t '. J' f an .4°] ca ,1 iers wrn ~ a strs I"g, ,t carmoge

s haped so mewha t 1 ik e a I arg e pis t 01 cartri dge ~

Even though the. mechanisms of the blow-back type do. not seem to be suited for military machine guns or serniau tom aeie rif es, th e straight blo~v .. back principle. "vas ap~1i~ed, to t.hc, Springfield ~ifte i? the production of the Pedersen device, described elsewhere in this volume. This remarkable \~/eapon was an automatic bolt for the Springfield rifle, enab Hng the rifle tu be conv er ted in a few seconds

. · ~ · b~' f f '. f 'I • t

into a semrautomatic gun. c,apa.le 01_- : 1'"]ng' 'Ott,Y S 10tlS w itn one re- .

lo:adin,g and h.av'ing detachable magazines so tbat after the forty shots were fired. new magazines containing' forty more cartridges could be attached ahnosr justa n tly'.,

The applica tion 0 f the blow-back princi pie to th c; rnUi,rary' rifle in this case 'was 'made possible bv the fact that instead of using the f:un

I. ·r

'powered m it ita ry ca rtridge, th e d evice used a, cali be r .3: 0 pisto I car-

t:I'idge of very much the same size and dimensions as the cartridge for

1 lib .' k .' I b id bl

tne canner ~ 32 autornanc poe cer P-lsto ~ut considera ... y more power-

ful, The device Wi1S in realitv nothing. more or less than an automatic

,.I.. -

e

BEF'OR'E, FIRING

I !

, !

I

I[IIII'I!IIIIIjI _:

:P ~ n ::: :~ '::=

."..

AlrrO.MATIC Gc N' iV1.I:CUA N IS 1\1 S

37

pistol specially s haped so that _ it could be. attached in the breech of the rifie in place of rhc regular bolt. The additional po,ver of 'the cartridge was taken care of bv a weizht attached to rhe breech block

f h "d'- .. '" U

0_ t ,: e ctevice.

Fig,", 1 is a diag-ranl showi n g the principle o f the Winchester self ... loading rifle, the most po werful blow -b ack gUll.. In ord er to handle the powerfu li cartri d ge use d in this .rifle, the bre ec h. b lock must have a

id bl f wei h ' .. 1 . i d d b 1 ,i ~

'CODSI ertu e amount 0' w'el,g't~ which IS provided by atrac lIng to it :;1

] b f · L_ ~ h I'" ~ '. d h I ~l d _.+ d

,arge oar 0: J ron W rucn ues 10:51 ,e r te ~10 ~ OW' 'WOO ten rorearm un er

the ba rrel ~ The '\,r:eight of this ]~lrge piece, of metal ly.ing'· insi de the forearm of ehe 'gunt, give'S' a rather curious: balance to these self-loading rifles, but aside from t his they arc very satisfa ctory ,guns~

Re:f_er.rin~ ~o Fig~ I, B is, the bte~~. block prope~, bn~ B; ~C'. and, D are all one ple,ce of metal, as the shdlng weight, D, ,IY1!lg inside the hollow wu 0 den. forearm of the gun is co nnecred to the breech b Jock; B, by the slotted section, C" which straddles the n~a.,gazine well and the ham mer. 'When the gu n is fired the breech block slides to the rear t ej ectin g the enlpty cartridge case and at the same time compressing the return spring E. This return spring then forces the breech block forward again, feeding in a. new ca.rtridge from the magazine. The rearward motion of the breech block also serves to forcerhe hammer cl,O W'~l into t h~ cocke d pos.ition,. The straigh t bloc\v=b~ck guns are the simplest of all auromanc firearms as regards mechanism.

[5', -\tlb·,·~· ~C' bine G. ~'~.I'~;'

" ....... ,._, ",1.11, _ ~ , UTI,S

Submachine euns are caned machine pistols hv the Germans, Thev

- ~ J

are wea pons: ,larger than , a. pistol and smaller than a riA e, in ten d ed to

be fired from the shoulder or with two hands from the hip, They use high powered pistol c artri dges, and can usuall y be fired e it her

full or semi-automatically. -

These "vve,apons were much used during World War II; and there are numerous ty'pes in existence, They have one, thing in, common, and that is the fact they arc built on [he straight blow-back principle, with 11,0 'Ioc'kin.g mechanism for the. breech, an exception be,.ing the

-]' d 'II T- IL '~ • L. h d d ~ d ""T"h- ~ h

ear .. ,y n1.O -:el ,~..lo[npson ~V'IU(~III au a reta_r;'_lng we. ge~ J. .',:]S-'.O-\Ve:vcr

'was removed in later models.

I ; l " I ". .,' b "I"' b ~ 1 d

t requires .itt e or no- Ingenur~y or ·englne~r111g a..Itty to ouil _' a

sub machine gun, and t he existing m ode! 5; exhibi t so few de sign features of interest tha t not much space will be ,given, to them In this

work, -

There _ is just' one outlet: for really fine engineering in the field of snbmachine guns, and that is in sirnplify.ing' the manufacturing proc',~ esses as was: done: by Col. Stndler in the U'~ Sol, M3 type'.,

HATCHER'S NOTEBOOK

'~B JO!"'w=F oruard' A..1 ec h anisms

We have seen, above that some methnd UIUSt be provided to hold. rh e breech b lock agajnst the barrel wh en the gun is fired, because otherwise the pressure of the powder ga,s pushing back on the cartridge case would drive the breech block back awa y from the barrel and let the cartridge out whil e t he explosion was go ing on, With the blow-back gon the breech block is allowed to 1l10Ve in this manner, but: is Blade heavy enough so that the movement does not occur too quickly, ~

. Instead of allowing the. breech block to move back, it 'would be quite possible to attach the stock and all the frame-work of the gun firmly to the breech block and then allow the barrel to 1l10Ve forward when the gun is fired.

In J 917 an inventor appeared at Springfield Armory with a machine gun, made to fire the l<..rag a.rrll,Y- cartfiidge, ha'ving the framework, of the gun solidly fixed and the barrel Loosely mounted so that it could move forward against: the action of a spring 'when the gun was tired. 'This gun operated, but it was necessary to grease the cartridg,e case to prevent the front part of the case, expanded by- the pressure', from sticking to the barrel as. it moved forward.

\\l hil e no tIl in g C~Ul1 e 0 f this eff 0 rt, it sh 0 ul d be noted tha t several

'-"

automatic pistols, notably the Schwarzlose and :I model by Von

Mannlichcer have been constructed on this principle, .

Retarded Bloui-bacle Mecbanism

We have mentioned above that with light cartridges giving 10\\1' pressure it is quite possi b I e to use ,,;r ha t is len 0 wn as the strai g h t b lowback breech mechanism, which depends entirely on the weight of the breech block to keep it from opening ton quickly. We also stated. that with the full power '"atlllY cartridge the breech block would have to ,v-eigh 'about t~verlty~~tVen .puunds -to prevent it from opening too soon, if we depended on weight alone,

T'here are other things that we can depend on besides "\veight to retard a b low ... ba ck action, In a s traight blow- ba ck the cartridge merely pushes the breech block directly to the rear so that the fun thrust is, exerted in the direction of the motion, . Instead of using extra weight to slow up the action, we can slow it up by arranging so that the thrust is. working at a mechanical disadvantage, in other words, so that it takes. more push to produce the same amount of motion or the same push to produce less motion.

If we ar.range the breech block like, the piston of a ~US. engi~,e so that it is attached to fl crank and connecting rod, It IS qmte· obvious tha t if the crank and co nnecting rod are exactlv 0.11 dead

. . ~.

center the b reec h block will be prevented f rom 'moving, and all

the. force will be: transmitted ro the crank shaft. If thegutl were

AUTOiVIATIC G'Ul\" MECHANISl\iS

39

made like this it w ouId never opera te at all, However, if it is Blade so th at th e crank, instea d of b e:ing 011 dead center, is just sli g htlv to one side or the other o.f it, then most of the thrust of the breech block will be transmitted to the crank shaft, or in 'this case, the pin supporting the connc cting rod; but there will be a certain Co~pollent of, it that win tend to drive the crank pin aroun d in a circle just as the explosion does in the cylinder of an automobile, If the crank is al~ U lOS t exac tl y on dea d cen rer wh ell the explosion s tarts, so little 0 f the force. in the breech, block is directly applicable at once to moving the crank away from dead center that the motion is retarded sufficiently' to enable the explosion __ to be largely completed before the breech block moves away far, The further away the crank goes from dead center, however, the more p ower the bree ch block has to accelerate the motion.

The. Sch warzlosc machine gun is mad c on this principle of the retarded blow-back with the crank and connecting rod attached to the breech block as described above. In addition, the breech. block is _ made fairly heavy and there is it very· ruong spring behind it, All these elements combine together to retard the motion enough so that full powered. military cartridges can be handled successfully, though the breech is not actually locked to the barrel.

The diagram of the Schwarzlose machine gun (Fjg. 2) shows how

the crank and connecting rod work. .

There is one queer thing, however, that is CO.1l11l10n to almost all, blow-back a.nd retarded blow-back guns, and that is that there is, a tendency to rupture the cartridges, unless they are luhricated, 'This is because the moment the explosion occurs the thin .front end of the cartridge case swells up from the interna 1. pressure and tightly grips the walls of the cham ber. Cartridge cases are made with a strong soli d brass hea d an d a thick wall near the rear end, but the wall tapers in thickn ess until the fron t end is quite thin so that it will expand under pressure of the explosion and seal the chamber against

. the escape: of gas to the r ear, \\'11 en the gun is fired the thin front section expands as inten ded and tight! y gri ps the 'V2,IIS of the cham ber, w hire the thick rear p orti on do e.s not expand enou g h to produce seri ous friction. The same pres.su.re that operates to expand the walls of the case In terally, also pushes b ack with th e fore e 0 f fifty t ho U:~ sand pounds to the square inch on the head of the cartridge, and the whole cartri dge being made of elastic brass stretches to the rear and, in effect, gi",es the breech b lock a sharp blow whi ch starts it backward" The front end of the cartridge being t.ightly' held by the friction against the walls of the chamber, and the rear end being free to move back in this manner under the internal pressure, either one of two things 'will happen. In. the first case, the breech block and ·the head of the cartridge Ina," continue (0 move back, tearing the cartridge in two and leaving the front end tightly' stuck in the chamber;

'H 'N

,:- _ATCHER S ',< aJ}~FlOOK

MAIN"*PR

": ", ~- ~ING

\ \

I PO,SITION OF PARTS AT INSTAN'TOF:F'IRING

CONNEC.I:NG RO'D

I ' "

'--RANK,

'BREECH PARTLY OPEN~ fiRING 'PIN 'COC'KED'



CONNECTING ROD _..CIR!A NIK,

, -

, i

, '

Flgure :2. Diag,~a,m of the retarded blow ·back closure p'l'incipl'0 as used in the Schwarzlese machine ,guo.

AUTOMATI.C G'U.N M,ECaANISMS 4i

or, if th e breech b~ oc k is sll:ffi,cien tIy retarded so tha tit does not allow a very violent backward motion, the result may simply be that the breech block moves back a short distance and the Jerk' of the extractor on the cartri dge case stops, ir, and the gun will not operate,.

Ho we Vier, (his difficulty can be overcome entirely 'by Iubricating the cartridges ,in some wa y~, In the Schwarzlose machine gun, there is a, "I i rrle ,pU:lI~ P insra lled in rh C: mechanism w hich s-q uirts :3,' sin g'l e dr'~'p of oll into the chamber each time the breech block goes back, In the 'Thompson _ Auto-Rifle there are oil-soaked pads in the magazine which contains the cartridge. 1~1 the Pedersen, semiautomatic rifle the lubrication is taken care of by coating the cartridge with, a light film of wax,

Pedersen SetniataO'fJ1,1tic RifJ,e

About the, year ] 927 1\1lr.. J. D,.. Pedersen perfected I, semiaueomaric t~if:l~ ~n the' retarded blow ... back 'principle, 'which rifle gave an especially sarisfactory account of itself in tria Is, It also has a crank and con ... necting rod as does [he Schwarzlose gUll, but the mechanical a.rrangement is somewhat different. The operation of the Pedersen ,rifle is shown in F j,g. 3. A is the breech block which is held g,ga.inst the head of the cartridge by the blocks B and G which are in line with each othe,r an d which transmit the chruse of '[he breech block to: the, 'he:avy pin" ,D, which go-es' through the receiver. These three p,a.r:n:s, A, Band G, form a. toggle joint, and. C~ the point of contact betweel~. Band 0, is just slightly" above the line of thrust between 'the head of the cartridge case and the pin, D. Thus when there is a very hea.vy pressure on the front end of the breech block Ii:, there is tendency for '[he toggle joint to "break' and the piece, B-~G', to move upward as ShO\Vf1 in the, cut: marked "Afrer 'Firing .. " If the point of contact at C' were directly on the line of thrust" the toggle joinr would remain locked and the breech would not opent but as this point, C" is just above the line of thrust the breech d.o e:s fly open as soon as the pressure com es on rh c head of the bolt, but this opening is retarded because the two pieces, lj. ..... G, roll on each ether in starting to open in such a manner that the contact 'po int, C, conrinues for SOUle little time to remain near theline ~o.f thrust, The shape of the rollinz surface is worked out very skillfullv in order to insure th is result. As the breech 0 pe:ns the spring; ,P', is compressed an d as soon as the motion is: completed this spring causes the, breech to

close again. _- -

However, like the, Thompson gun, this. mechanism starts to op,en while the high pressure is still 0.11, and therefore it was nee essary to lubricate the cartridges, Instead. of lubricating them 'with oil, each ca,rtr.idge was coated w ith :3 ve,[,Y' thin ,6:[U1 of hard wax which 'had :3, very high, meltin g 'point, so that the carr rid ges would nor pic'k

lllp dire when dropped as they' would if oily Qr grea~y;; I

6

BEFORE ,FIR'iNG

'. ,AFTER FIRING

.. - .

:fi,g,me ,3., D,.ag,rarn of retarded b,low-'back breech closure pri'nciple as used in, the Pedeesen semi'aulomatic rifte~

1

I'

A t:'TO:J.VIATIG GUN l\lECI-IANIs::\.'rs

43

There was a good deal of talk about the di.sadv~1lnt~ge of "luhrication" in this g U.l1; but af ter all, it seems tha t this disadvantage js 1110re fan c.i. e d 1:.h:£111 J eal, a s the car tr i dges. are not grea sy or (J il Y;o, Moreover, it has been found that corrosion is one of the greatest 'C3 uses of season era eking in brass car tri d ge s hells ~ a It d if this wax prevents the cartridge brass from corroding it nlay be quite possible that it wuuld eliminate dcterinration of cartridges from season

cracking", ,~

, .Pedersen ",2 76 c:~r'~t idge S in hi S ten sho I .. ~ en b 10 ck'" clip designed by him for his semiautomati c rifle" U ~ S. cal, ;; 30 clip .for comparison

Up to that rime, all the semi-automatic rifles. submitted for test had been required to he of .30. caliber, adapted to use the service cartridge, Mr. Pedersen presented very convincing '3rgum,ents to the effect that the ,.JO caliber cartridge was more powerful than was required for the shoulder rifle, and that to reduce the caliber to the ballistically' ideal 7 mm or . z 76 would result in a number of ad vant ag': es, to wit- savinc hi , weizht: savinz in \ ma t[e,', 'rial red uction

(-I, , , ,., , , -, ,.JI" _",.:_l .0' 'D ,.(1., Jl CI " l<", , ' , ,

of heating in rapi d fire; abili ty .0 f th e sold i er to have il. Iarg er num b er

of cartridges a. va j 13]) 1 e; etc, ~

Tl Add' d d f 'hi ". 1 di

-le.rrny' mac e: an extende S'i:U',Y 0 t. -]'S t}uesnoo, inc 11, In.g :;I,

".,,' , f~ fi- "'" rtliv ",,~", m ith • "',6" """"'6" md x caliber b -'11,,',

senes 0 ,rIngs at 1\ e animars wit 4.2, -'" ~"" J ", an" ~ 3 0 canr er ~ ui ets,

It was found that the ,,256 was apparently the worst killer, on account of the fact that the bullet had less diameter, hence less

r1.t. "'t'T

HATC.H.E&l'S N'O'TEBOOl{

gyrostatic stability, and would. yaw badly upon impact, and make very lethal woulds, The .276 was found to be about as effective, and as it had certain advantages over the 4156, its adoption was decided on for the new semi-automatic rifle that it was hoped would soon be adopted.

'Th tr ~d' sele ted 1 . d b ee de i' d b M" Peden e - vith

.ne CElI" ':.I!.ge s .. c. 13...', en 'S ,gne.y L r. . '. __ S -0 ",\y',:,

features ,Ina.kjng it especially suitable for automatic firearms, such as an increased tape·r for. easy extraction. The ammunition was first made with 11 solid bronze bullet \veighing I 25 grains; 'later with a 110 grain j acketed boat tail bulle e, The bullet diameter was ~ :845. The charge was about 30 gr.ains of duPont IM,R NOi. 25~ At one time a small lot of this ammunition was made with flat base bullets.

The Pedersen gun was made 'with what is caned the block cllp, This j s an a.n:ange,mer~.t \V hereb~l· a packe t of ten cartridges ,is shoved bo dily into th e magaz.l n e, clip and all. Afre r firing ten sh ots, the, clip autornaricallv jUfnps out of the rifle and the bolt st:rys open, ready for the next clip to be inserted,

After the Pe dersen rifle, using the s pecial ~ 276 calib er c artrid ge d eslgned by Mr. Pedersen, had SLlCC essfully passed the severe Army tests, i t se~me d 011 the po in t 0 f ad 0 pti on by 0 nr arm e d fore es ; but 'a high command decision was made not to change the. caliber of the service cartridge, and the final acti o:n to adopt this gun was neve r ta ken

Blish Principle

Some experiments by Commander Blish, U. S. Na V)", retired, led him to believe that inclined surfaces which would slide on each other un d er fig ht PI' essur e w oul d no t slid e "\\1" hen the pre ssure was h ea vi er .. He is said to have been srarte don this investigation through 0 bservin,g that when heavy naval guns were fired with full charges the b re ec h remained 10 eked, w hereas wh en. th ey were fired wi th light charges the breech had a tendency to unscrew by itself. Accordingly he took out U. S. Patent N OL I, 13 1,3 19', dated March 9, r 9 15, cover .. i~g the application of this principle to firearms and. describing his fin dings in de r ail wi th el a bora te dia g ram S ~

Utilizing this theory, the Thompson Autorifle is constructed so that the breech block is locked to the barrel by a steep thread. The pitch of this thre.~d is made, just steep enou gh so that the ~n ,will 'not unlock too quickly under the full pressure of the explosion. The supposition is that while the full pressure is on the breech block, adhesion of the threads on the breech block to the threads in the receiver will p·revent any' motion, but as soon as the pressnre drops sli gh tly thj s adhesion wil T no 1 onge r op erate and the threads wi 11 th en

unscrew, allowing the breech block to open. .

A diagram of this breech closure is shown in Fig4 4,. The breech block, B, has steep threads, D·; engaging the receiv-er, C. When the

A

o

c

BEF'O'RE FIR'ING,

Figure 4. Diagram of the Blisb type breech closure principle as: used in the Thompson AlttoriBe~

>
c
a
?'
1-"'1
>
t-i
-
CJ
C)
~
_,
z:
~
~
t:!'J
,[ n
~
lo-
Z
~
r.r.
~
tr. 47

B· l f h '1'1 b d ib d .. d h .' 1 1

I· '" = - ,. -. . ,~ '. . ._ -". " -. .: . ," : .. .-.- ." '.- . _ . -'" • I - --:-. . .' . , . -' .1', I -.'

soe 1 0 , t ese '\\; 1. '. 'e .. escnoe In turn" an '. as tr e suupest ex~l.mp"e

of the short-recoil type of action we will take the Service autorna tic

. ~ ~ . '] ·,1 '. ' . ", 1-:-" -: . '

. S' I'. . . ~ '0' '

pLto~ s town In .1:0'; .5,.

Co l,t A utomat i C Pi sto I

In t hi 5 in echanism th e barre I an d b reech are 'l n eked toge th er, and when the gun is fired the recoil drives them both back at one rime, 1-10 \;V ever, j t takes o111y' abo II t one-q ua r ter 0 f a n inc h 0 f motio 11. ro un lock the b reec It IJ 10 ck f ron} the barrel an d :1 S soon, as this ( UIC:-'q ua r rer ii 11 c h h as been corn P lcted, rhe barre l sr rikes sharply a ga in:s:t a $,[,0 P 3J n d rc ~ na in s in p oSI don: wh il c the b recc h b'~ ock eo "tin u e s on b ack rh ro ugh 'the m OJ ne nr uu 1. it nparted to i it' by t he 0 nc='qua rrer inc h kick, coupled with 2 residual pressure. that n~ay' rerna in in the ease,

The: action in detail is as f01].o\V5; (Refer ro Fig. ;: ')

R ~ f-'c rring *' o . • the d t·' ... zrnm '·1- a irk .. ed (~B efore 'Fit" in 0" "''''t -.' .' I'~ 11 be 0'" b ;=

'lip • , ~ I/. .' , - . ~,b.ll': .. " m" . -" JJi., ._ -" C'i' 1 W , ,""

served that the barrel, A, is locked to the slide, ,8 (which is in one piece with the breech block), by' the locking shoulder, C, formed on top of the barrel and fitting into the rOC1e8s,eS1 D~ in, the slide, When the gun is fired the recoil pushes the slide and breech block" ,B, to [he rea ran d as the sl i de is lock ed '[0 r h c barrel" 'the, barrel is: also carried to the rear. However, the barrel is pivoted to the frame of [he pistol by means of th e ] j n k, E ~ and as t he bar rel co n tin ues its rea rward n1,0 ti on, the top end of th is link fi rst mo yes backward in the arc of a circle and then dof\fo'\.vard 'around the lower 'pin as an, axis, This motion S'W IRO'S, the bac k end of rhe barrel downwa rd. and

. _ "." , ,:,;. . , . _. . . -t, ~ .. ,,,. ~ ~~" .: ..

disengages the: loel~ing~ shoulders in rhe slide, whic h continu es to the rear, leaving the barrel in position wirh irs bottom hag 'against the stop shoulder in the frnme. 'This rearward motion of 'the slide throws 0[1 e the ,enlp'ty' ca.rtridge and a t [be same tirn e com p resses the rerum spring, F, which immediately returns the slide to its forward position, at ·t he: same tit" e feeding a new cartridge into the chamber fro In ,th.e: .rnagnzlin e in th e hand le (n 0 t ;~h 0 wn in t'h e draw in g). As t he sl ide con, ple res its, f 0 rw a T d III oti 011 fit . str i kc s a~:ahj st . the rear en d of the barrel and ::D.S the barrel ,goles forward It· S\VUlgs upward through the, 'action of the link, cau,sing the lock.ing shoulders, C', [0 engage in the recesses, ,D" in the: s:lide..~

iWa xi'llt and B ro'-uJ'm1:1J{ .14 a chine Guns

These two guns a re a lso examples 0 f the s ho re- rec oi [ ty p·e of rncchsnjsm, but in a much more refined form, A.s described above for- the Colr pistol, the barrel :2:'oes back about one-q uarter of an inch c ~;rry in g' 'r he h re ec h b 1 0 clc vvit h ji t .a nd Stops wi t h ,~ bang' aga inst the solid shoul del" and lets t he breech bloc:: k go on to rh e rear by i!s own momentum, This will work wi til a low-po wered cal" rridge like that used in the 'pistol, 'but even so- the shock ('0 the: action olf

e

END OF RECOIL

,

" I

z q

~

., .

Au '-1--',t,", :11' 1;'TT;'C Gi' T 'f .... :r .\ I~ ll:'lf ~H- - .... , NJ'lS ''!L .[ Il.'"

'_: . y',,;,v,1i, l'!ii, .. .!i.', . ' .. ' '!L,' .• :"1], ~ l.lli:."'_"" ft . ~.J"V _ ''"j;

49

T,l!mlONl~H,

["l~J

TO·P '\IIiil!~ -iLJiftIlII;i1IN~ RE'. . ... "11' na:IJ ,n;:o " " _" ·Iii..-" ri:l}.~"'~. y s : _.,~ Y.lf"!'IIJI!!! "'""

ROI.LER tiAN!I)I_E AND R£COlL SPItiNG

flRINGPOSITmN

IR'I'J!I!!,UT ;iJI!!'ID- E- O· "r ftr~r~l.H!!'1II!Ii 4!il.Jllil\UfiIING· ,*,;;..;rIAN O' . I!'" BAI' [I iJ!I'i!!i '[U ... 1iP\) II! .)''W!I'J''l ~_' .. "".' "'~!w;l"'!Iiii."~·P!ll· ,~fIllU "_!r'"'w~f"IrUI-~

F~R'ING POSITI9N

'ENOOF RECOIL

.. . - - ... ..

""DOS- ... ~~ ,r;u;;.tIIJ"

~ .. '~~~-.'-~ 1:....,., 1 ~

S~Iio.u'I' .r'"ila",~ Iii. oiIIII!!!"ru iIi.'- . - ii!tiil..a I n,;..-.. ... nW"If' [ N~ ~~~NI""",

Figure" 6.. Dia,gram of the short-recoil type' breech closure ,pt'jnci,p,le as used in, the. M'lxim jJ],ac-l:iioe g,lla.,

h . . ... , .,~ ... r ' ,- .' "d' ,.: 'l . '1 ~ '1! ' . -" -, d - .- --, .. id I. . ~ '''''' ..... .' ' ...

t te gun IS SC\ ere, anc wnn a, llg~l po\v,e.r-e _ cartrn ge It IS .necessary

to resort to some device b" 'which the barrel is g,ra,duall.y brought to a ,st?P through trans f.erl~in,g its en.ergv to the breech block and then allowing it to be g.raduaUy a'bsorh'cd through a. fairly long

era vel o f the breech b lock against the return s pr lug. _. _

In. the lvla.x.im rnachin e gun (Fig. 6) the 10 eking of _ the breech

-I' 1" h d b havi h b' h b 1 1 ( 11 d· h h

IS a'CCOmpls"e:y ,_ ~ ,avlng r ereec -- 00 {: > ca. iec In ems gun t _ e

~"I- kH')-'" . - 1 - d . b ba -1 . - _.. t - 1'1" d .. - ... to..' . - . - h'

oc , attache to t [e,arre extension (caJl_e sn tnis gun t re

"recoil plareS';) through the medium of a crank and connecting rod.

50 :H"ATCHER"S 'NOTEBOOK

(called in this gun the "slide lever") as was discussed under the subject of retarded. blow-back guns .. However, in the 1\fax'inl gun thecrank is on dead center when the explosion comes" so. that the lock cannot move hack in relation to the barrel, and the thrust: of the' cartr i dge on the lock is transmitte d through the side 1 ever an d crank to the crank axle and thence to the recoil plates through which the, crank axle passes~ Hence the barrel, lock and recoil plates all move back together as a. unit, under the force of the recoil.

'On the right-hand end of the crank axle is a. handle with a, convex shaped bottom, and. this handle rests on a roller attached to the si .. de of the gnn ~ As the barrel, lock and recoil plates move hack to geth e r, this 1 III n dl e, w hie 1. is 0 n. the axis of th e crank, a] so 1 noves back, while the roller is fixed in position on the side of the gUil. An examination of the figure will readily show that this backward motion of the roller handle against the roller causes it to rotate so that the back end of the handle moves upward. This rotation of the crank axle bv means of the roller handle throws the crank and (;0'0-

of

necting lever off dead center and draws the lock a ,yay from the

barrel. In other words, as soon as the roller encounters the cam on the roller handle, the 'action of' the cam is to ShTU!' dO\V11 the barrel and t ran s fer 1 ts 1110t i o n in to an ac ce lera ted re arward 111 ot i on. of rh e breech block. However, as the, rotation. of the roller handle conrinues, the tail of the roller handle strikes on the roller and by [he ac tion of these t\VO surfaces on each other the rotation of the .roller handle is checked and the recoil plates are pushed forward, shoving the barrel to battery.

On the lcft~hl1nd side of the gun there is a strol~'R :~pdng .attacI~ed to' th e ex' tell (:'1 0' n 0" n ttl e ~ nd 0" f' the' c ran IF axle' 'T·l'11' C' reco .1: sp'rlna

~ " ,. ~, .. ': j"" " ,L" II;;. " " ' " , ",. " . \, (,.i:;, '. ..' 1,,"11 .'." -r ~, ,',', z::;

tends to do two things, first, to keep the barrel pulled into battery and resist any rearward motion, and second, to keep' the roller handle

;I

rotated so that the lock i.s in the closed position . .L~'S SOOl1l therefore.

as the barrel has been returned to batterv lJV the reaction of the tail of the roller handle against the roller, assisted by the pull of the recoil spring, a further pull of the spring rotates the handle back into the original 'position, and closes the breech of the gUll .. putting the lock back In the firing position. This action can be very easily- understood

from the diagrams. ~ r

However, the drawing does not show the method of feeding the' ca rtridges into the g un. They are suppli ed in a f ahric belt and there is a feed crank op' erared bv the recoil of the barrel which advances

, ...

a fres h cartri dge in to p osition each time the barrel rno ves to th e rea T'.

The Brown in g gun accompl ish es the same thing in :3. somewhat different manner, 1n this gun the barrel moves to the rear about five-eichths of an inch. There is a frame screwed onto the back end b

of the barrel. This frame is called [he barrel extension, and the heavy

breech bolt is locked to this frame through the medium of a

I'

"

B'EFO:R:E FIRI,NG

, '

I

I~ '::::!J

o

,

,

Pi,guu 7,.. Diagram of silol't teCOil type br,eech ,closure prind"ple :U woo, :in me Brownma: machine- gen,

HATCHER~S :\1'OTEBO{)K

gun is. fired the: breech block unscrew'S from the pre~.sure and ope,ill against the' ac tion of the return spring which immedia lei y shuts the breech bloc k ag:ain and cause s it to rotate in to the locked position when the threads engage each other, The locking of the breech block is assisted by the action of a knob on the end of the bolt handle which adds a sort of fly·\~/hcel. effect to the motion of the bolt and th us assists in 10 c kin g it sec urely ..

There is no doubt that this mechanism can, be made to operate as described, provided the cartridges are lubricated" but there has been S ome dis put e: amo ng en g-i.n e ers as t.o w he rher or nut the Blis h pI incipl e really' exists .. SU1TIe of them claim that this is merely' a retarded blowback breech mechanism and that as soon as the pressure comes on the end of the bolt it starts to unscrew; but on account of the fact that the angle of the thread is so slow it takes a great deal of pressure to unscrew it, and for this reason the bullet .is gone before the bolt has· unscrewed enoug-h to do any damaae. That this type of mechanism

~ J ~ ~ ,

actually opens while there is still considerable pressure in the cartridge

case is evident. from the fact that the glln does not operate satisfactorilv un less the cartridges are lubricated,

~ ~

'Thompson Sub-Machine Gun

Th e ~I i h 0 In pso n S 11 b -lT1 ac h 1 neg l~n l 11 L 11 ized to fir e pistol cartridges at a rapid rate fronl nlagar.ines holding 20.,. 30~ 50 or [00 cartridges, was also constructed on the Blish. theory, but instead of having a screwed breech block with a steep thread a,s does the Thompson Auto-rifle'1 ir s.in.1ply has. the breech resting agairut a vertical sliding wedge held in its upper position by springpre-ssure~ When the br-eech block is pushed backward a sloping surface on the rear end of the breech block resting 011 a similar surface of the wedge, cams the wedge downward 'as the breech block moves to the rear. This downward motion of the sliding \vedge is supposed to retard the breech block in its. rearward motion and thus assist in reliable functioning .. Owinc

..... ib

to th e 10 w pr essure in vo 1 ve d. in the pis t 0 I c arrrid ge~ it is not 'nee es-

sarv to lubricate the case.

_,

Recoil Operated Guns

It has already been mentioned that the first machine gun, the Maxim, was recoil-operated, and that the barrel 'moved hack about three-quarters of an inch. A gun in which the barrel 1110Ves only a short distance. and the breech block moves through the rest of its travel from the 1110nletltl1111 imparted ro it by this [notion of the barrel, is called a "short-recoil" gnn.

'There is another kind in which the barrel moves all the way to th e rear alo ng with th e breech block and then lea ves th c breech block back in the rearward position while the barrel goes forward. This is called the "1 ong-re,co il' , type.

..

flA.TCHI~R;S, NOTRBOOK

vertical sliding bolt, called the breech lock, which is actuated by a earn 0 n the botton ~ of rhe gun., Thus \V' hen the h arrel and barrel extension are in t he forward position, '[he bolt is locked securely to th e ba r rel C:Jt: tension '. I-J 0 wever l' when r he ba rre ~ recoils ahou t onehal fine It the. breech lock cs I'll is drawn do wn 0 ut of en gag',cn len t '\V nh tile bolt and the bolt is entirely free fCOI)l the barrel and barrel extension As the barrel continues its backward motion it strikes ag~l'inst. the convex side of a curved lever, the point of wh ich rests against _ the breech block. The continued motion of the, barrel tu the rear s,\vlngs th ils lever backw a rd in su c h a mann er as to ,sr~,pa rate 'the breech b 10 ck f to m th e ba rrel ,;, in. 0 ther VlO rds, to slow up the barrel an d speed u.p the breech block, throwing it forcibly from, the barrel and at the sam c time ex trac tin g rh e en raid g't; case. _0 f co u rse __ the. b re ech b 10 c k already had a rearward motion imparted to it while the barrel was

"I" b - L • ".' d ] d b- h .' &

recoi tng", but tH-1S motion IS mcreaseo or aceeierater .. :, 'Y' t- ic acnon OJY

the curved lever which is accordingly called an accelerate r ..

The mechanism of this ,gon.t which is shown, in l\"ig.. '7, will n.O\V

be described in derail, The b a rr el - A·····. ~~ screwed into the b iarrel ex ..

u .,."..._ . . . ... _.. , . . ,_. !! ' " iloJ! .,. . . . . _ ,p , .. __

rensi on", B", whie h extend s to th e. rear for several inc hes and cat r ies in a. slot: in its rear end the vertical sliding breech lock, C,,' In the ~ closed position the breech lock _Ca,lIlt 1)-" in [he. bottom of the gun, holds the breech lock u.p so that its tOp end en,g'3"g'e$ in. a slot in the bolt, E', and locks it to the h arrel ex tension ..

When the g,:-)lll1 is fired, tile barrel, A, recoils about .five-eig-hths of an

...

inch carrying with .it '[he barrel extension, ,B, rhe breech lock, Cj and

the breech 'bolt, E" an locked together, However, as the ,pa.rts 'I1'lOVC" to rhe rear che breech. lock moves off the high surface on the breech lock C31ll, and 'a transverse pin, through the breech lock strikes a slant ... lng surface on the 10 ck frame, G, which forces the breech lock down out of engagem,ent with the breech block"

J ust under the: breech holt there is 'an accelerator, F, pivoted on. a horizontal axis, As the barrel extension, B" moves to the - rea r ,it swi,ngs this accelerator backward and the' point of the accelerator catches in a no tch in the bolt and throws the ho I,t forcibly to the rear,

· h .. h" hid '. 'I l.. 1 ]

c nnrpressulg t :: e return s prlD g' w: '1 e. · ... immec late] y re turns t ~ ],(:,)0 r

.. f' d · ~

to ,I ts rorwar : pOSl non.

'While the bole is in the rearward position, the barrel, extension and lock frame are fastened together by the accelerator in such :3: position that the barrel canner move forward, However, when the bolt go,cs for\vll~d far enou,gh to .. strike [he accelerator, it disengages the barrel extension from the' lock frs rne an d a llows the, barrel an d barrel extension [0 move forward with the holt as it completes its merion .. , The forward motion of the barrel extension carries along with it the breech lock which rides up the sloped surface of the breech lock c am and again Io cks the: bolt to the ex fen s i on rea d y for fir-in g ..

The backward motio n of th e bolt _ ex tracts the e:m ptv en rtridg_ e

_ ~ _-

·A·UTO~I\II AT.IC GUN 1VIBCIIANIS.~IS,

. case and. the forward motion feeds a new one .in .. The top of the bolt has a ca ill slo t ill it: w hich 0. CtU:3 tes ·t he .Ie ver which feeds the bel t of cartridges in, the width of one ca,ttridge each rime the bolt moves

to the .rear ~ ,

./~ong- Recoil l"y pc.

The !on.g-.recuil~ type uf autnmatjc mec hanisrn, in which the barrel and breech holt, locked .(og,tther., recoil fo.r several inches, and then the breech bolt is held back while the barrel .goes forward, is used, for rhe Rem i.ng ton auto-loa d in.g rifle, th e R emington, Winchesrer and ,BrO'\lning automatic shotguns, and the Chauchat machine .:riB·t:.

In n typical gun of this type there are t,"10 return spr in .. gs~ one to return. the: barrel and a separate one to return the breech block .. The b rcec h block being locked to the barrel when [he cartridge is fired, the pressure on [he head of the breech block drives .it three or four

!h~h~u;~o~~ fe~; ~:r~!lj~!~n~~~~~:d bra S!~:i~:e:c~t~1o~~~:;~~d g~~~

to the rear and this rearward motion compresse·s both the breech block return spring and [be barrel r:e[u rn spring, When the breech block has reached [he limit of irs rearward motion, it is caught and, held in that position by a Jarch. The barrel return spring' then pushes the barrel forward and the lock o.n th e breech block is so constructed that when the breech block is held and 'the barrel is pulled forward, th c b 0 It 'W ill unloc k i tsel f f rom the bar rel an d ·3 llo w the barrel to go forward .. As the barrel goes forward, 'the empty cartridge, held to the. breech 'block by' the extractor', is ejected. As the barrel reaches irs forward posicion" it strikes. a lever which drops the latch and allows the breech block to come forward, feeding in a new cartridge ..

. Remmgton .Auto-.Loading Rifle

The action of this type. 'of breech closure can be followed in. detail hy' ref erence to Fig. 8 sh oVling the Remington auto-loading rifle .. The barrel, A, .1S supported in a barrel jacket, B, and is held forward by the coil spring, I, surround ing th e bar rcl, The breech block, E t has a tu rning bole hea d, D, arranged to be rotated by the action of two 'pins, F, working in cam slots cut in the side'S of rhe bolt head, D.

This 'Dolt head is arranged to lock in. the barrel extension, .D, by the action of the pins, F)I in the cam slo ts, turning the bo It head! There is a sepat~tl7 return spring, G, for holding the breech block in dIe _ for w ard posmon,

W hen the gu n is fired, the pa Its recoil 'into the extreme rearward pos.,i~"ion; as .S1ho·~,·'· zn .in th.' ·Ie. fig~re ,marked "End of, R .• , ecoil." A·t this . point th e breech block .IS lock ed In. its rearwar d pOSItIOn by th e latch, H ~ and the barrel then starts forward under the impulse of the barrel return spring, It A,s the barrel moves forward, it draws with it the bolt head, D, 'but this forward motion. of '[be bolt head. causes rhe pins" F"

53

I-

BEFORE

F E
~
~
;>
.....:t
o
::r::
~
~
,~
G'l
Z

0
~
t'j
t:d
......
'wi'
0
0- F e- ~ 'END OF RECOIL

Figur-e 8., Diagram of the long-recoil type breech closure principle as used in the Remington autoloading eifle.

AUTOMATIC GUN ~IECHANISJ\.IS

55

to act in the cam slots so as to turn the bolt head and release it entirely from the barrel. As the barrel continues forward it leaves the empty cartridge case held by the extractor 'and when the barrel .is entirely' off the cartridge, case 'a spring ejector in the bolt head kicks

~: ~~:~!~~e ~:k~J ~~n~U:f ~~:::!r~:~~?,t a~~ f::t~:~~ r:~f~~~

on the bottom of the barrel at the rear end strikes against the lever, K, which in turn ~sengages the latch, H; allowing the breech block to be: pushed f orward aga.itl by the spring; G ~ As the breech block goes forward it fe eds 'a new cartrid g-e into the barrel from the inagazine (not shown). As the bolt approaches its forward position" the bo It head, D J enters the recess, C, in- the barrel and then a further motion of _ the bolt causes the "pins" F" to act on the cam slots in the bolt head in suc-h manner as to turn the bolt head and lock it to the . barrel so that the gun is again ready for firing,

Gas-Operated Type

While the original machine gun was built on the recoil-operated. pr~ nc~ple and while nearly all automatic p isto Is are made on that principle, the gas-operared systeli.1 has also been 'a great favorite, especial1y with inventors of semiautomatic shoulder rifles, as it does away with the: necessi ty for mounting the barrel so that it can sl ide; which is a great complication in making a rifle.

One of the earliest successful machine guns, the Colt, invented by ~1r.. Browning in ,I 889~ was gas-9pera.ted. 'The Hotchkiss gun, invented ab out the same time, was also g as-op crated, and both o~ rhese guns have been used extensively ever since. During World War I the Colt gtln was modified somewhat by the Marlin Arms Corporarion, of New Haven, though the breech mechanism remained the same in principle} as did the . co ns rruction of most of the pares.,

A light form of the Hotchkiss, known as "the Benet-Mercie, was adopted. as the standard of the, U. S" Army in 19-Q9 and. remained standard until 19 I 6+ This also was a gas-operated gun.

Then at the, beginning of the World War, A,ir. Browning submitted a model of what he called a light machine gUll built on the gas-, opera te d princi pI e ~ 'This. gun, aft erward kno w n as th e Browning Automatic Rifle, was adopted and manv thousands of them were used

, J

during the V\oT or ld W us I and. I L While it is called an au to rna tic. rifle,

the reader should clearly distinguish between this typ,e. of automatic rifle which is really' a Iigh t machine gun; and th e: s ~m iautorn a tic ritl e which __ is a self-loading shoulder rifle to take the place of the. Springfield, Bear in mind that the ,,~ auto ina. tic r ifle" and - the' 'mac hine rifle"

are really light mac-hine guns"

While the recoil-operated principle as embodied in the 1\1 axirn, Vick en; and Browning gun.s: was _ more wid ely' used than any other, the gas-opera ted type as exemplified in the Colt, the H otchkiss and,

Hf\TCHl1a;s K01'JlBOOK

th ~i;(~' -1·';,., r I .. " ·1 in, erl!!·· .. ' . ~ rh DI' -, I :" ~..)" '.' '. d other .a ·.r '~

ne ~'U"U HI. macn . e Duns ant! tl e . rownmg, p.ren an 0 .. r "U .. 0

matie rifles, have been a close second in popularity.

,As mentioned above, rhe gas-operated, system has been the favorite. for sern i automa tic should er ri fi es, b UC: ·\V hi} e a great: rna nv g," u ns 'h ave

., .....; ..

been produced which ope'.rale' on this princ],p~,C', none of them prior

to the Garand attained any lustin.g popularity or wide use, Anlongr the more promineur carl)' ones lnay· be mentioned the Mondragon, ado pte d by the Jvl exi can (:i ovc rnm en tin 191 I bu t ne ver very exten:sively used; the "Standard' automatic shoulder rifle manufactured abour 19 [5 as a :sporting rifle, and the SL F,tienne semiautomatic sh oulder rifle used to a li mited extent by (he F,re-nch during the first World wo.

In the conventional gtls--operated system there is a hole' drilled jn the barrel, and some of the gas of the explosion p'asses through this hole and acts on a piston driving it to the rear with sufficient force to unlock and op'en the breech, One of the Irreat troubles ¥.dth rifles

-

of 'this kind has been the fact that it is difficult to control this ,g',a,s

under extrernelv hig. ··it p, •. iressure so as to Pi irevent it from operating

~ ~ . ,. I ~, •

too q'. uicklv, In the Armv rests of the ,1930'S. an. inventor named

",.. .... .

'White ,subJnitted a ,g9~ope,ra'ted shoulder ri fI e in. wh ich d If: front

end of th e gas piston is ch 0]] O'V and 'the g'as port is bored :11.0 t only' through. the barrel and through the' _g'as c'y linder, but through th e walls 0 f this ho Ll ow piston. so that as SOD n as the pi s to n star es to move the gas po.rt is ell t off after the manner of the slide valve in a sream engine,. Thus g:(lS can goO into the 'hOUOVi piston only before it sta rts l ts motion; 'as soo n a s if beg i ns to n10 v e the g:a.s sUp:p': lv is shut off and 'the ~s which is alreadv in the niston is sup-

. - ~~~ ~ I·

posed to act by expansion therefore producing a 'less violen taction

than would otherwise occur. So- reasons the mventor. However, other designers state that inasmuch as 'the grus pr,esstlre in the barrel lasts only about a thousandth of a second, it makes no cliff erence whether this cut .. off' action is used or not.

Another inventor who attempted to get awa,y from the brusque ac tion of t be gas is ,1\.1 r ~ H ndson, '\V ho i IlV en tied a rna-chine gun in wh] .. ch he used the ,gas to conrpress a spring which then operates the m echsn ism ..

In order' to gi.ve the: reader an opportunity to study the mechanical

",',' i"". of rh "."".' _. ",' ated b ' .. ' -h ,1'"",,, 4, .. d: ~,,,,, ""1't ... ,. ~]'·;tr· '~ It action 0.. rr e gas~operate, reec c osure m eran. ttrree uurereu

examples of this type of mechanis m will be illustrated with drawings and descriptions .. The g'UDS chosen for illustrations are the modified Colt, known as the M arlin, the Browning 911 t0111a tic rifle and the'

Garand semiautomatic rifle. '

.;l(f't1~ I in ,14 l1. c bin e Gun

The mechanism of the, ;'\-'larlin machine gun, shown in 'Fig 9,. opera res :3S f 01 ~ ows: Th e 1"3 rre l, A, has a gas, po.rt~, LJ, drill cd in ,i t

,,,.- ....

-.;::. '. -- --...,

••. - I •

AFTE.R F·IRIN.G

Figure 9. Diagram or the gas-operaeed type breech c IOStlre pd nci p~ e as used in the Nfa.rlin 111 achin e gun..

at: some distance from tlte muzzle. This gas port. communicates 'with a gas cvlinder 1 ying- un dec 'the ba rrel contain in.1! a, piston held in its'for~ard position by a :spring. This piston is ,at:tached to the bolt, B" through a connecting rod." F, which is fastened to a pin; G, ridjng .in a - cam slot in .a wing on the .butrom of the bolt, When the piston is forward the bolt is forward and the rear end of the

b 1- 'd- d b L .' f h .' G" . 'L 1

O~[: is « rawn "" own -V' the acnon ot t i, e p. m, ,',-' _" 1.0 tne earn sot,

~ .

until the back surface of th e, bolt rests against the locking sh onlder,

C, cut in the, receiver, When the gun is fired the cartridge is, held firmlv in P' '~' lace by' [he bolt, whic h is locked in p ... osition a2a inst the

~ ~ - -

shoulder, C!~ After the bullet passes the gas port., -D, near the muzzle

of the barrel, some of the gas rushes into the gas cylinder 'and impinges on. the l1ead of the piston, D., driving it violently to the rear, together w ith its. co rmecting rod, F J and 1:: he pin" G, which is in the. slot in the bolt .. , As the. pin" G, goes to the rear, the first action is 'to press on the top, of the: cam slot and raise the, bolt up: out, of enga,g'e-, ment 'with the shoulder, C, alter which the 'bolt is carried to the re :a: r A~ shown i - t .. he cut marked "Afte -- Firing." '1P~.l.:I~:c; rear W:3' ud mo-

, .. .. , i),a i;II. _ _ , _ 11. C'I;j, , " , __ "''I ., _i-l.. r ' __ . _ Jl '_ .:J' ,L"..... __.

don of the, belt ejects the em,'pry cartridge, The compressed return ;spring immediately causes the piston to move forward, car,ryin,g the b 01 t with it, until- th e s h ou ld er, C) is re ach ed, whe n the a c rio n 0 f the pin, G, in the earn slot again locks the bolt down behind this shoulder a nd the gun is read y for firing once more.

Brouming A 1ttO'l1:1t11 i c Rille

'The operation of the Br(Jwning automatic rifle is shown in Fi~," ] 0, In. this gun the barrel, A, 'has a gas port, B ~ and there is. a pist;n, C, l)ring in the gas cylinder under the barrel, This piston co nnects with the bolt, G" by means of the connecting rod, I). However, instead of being connected _ to the bolt hy means of :~l pin in a cam slot" the connection in, this case is by means of a linkage cons,isti:ng of '~he bolt Iink, E, and the bolt lock, 1;'. In the ,firing position rhe 'bolt lock, F, pr.esses a,gainst the shoulder, H, in the top of the receiver

and th i s holds the, b o]t n, ' rrnlv - 1~ '-1 pO' , s .1· 6, 0 !-}'-' ,- g- ,a. in s t- t 1- I - -, 1- [I. e -- : .d 0' 'f- th e

_ __ ~ _ _ _ _1 _ [, a _ ,le I, a , _

cartridge" When the ga.s jrnping'es on the end of rhe piston, C ~ and drives it to the rear, the bolr link, E~ draws the bolt lock down out of engagement with the shoulder, H, an d then draws rh e bolt to the rear" as shown in the cu t." ,,' Af t er F iri n.g .. ""

Q artmd Semiautomatic R,i{le

'The principle of the Garand rifle is shown in Fig. 1 r , which illustra tcs the gas ea ke- 0 ff '1.1 se d 1 n the first exa mpl es 0 f this gun i These early Gara.nds,~ instead of having a conventional gas pori drilled in the b arrel, ha d a muzzle ca"p; B, sere we d on to th e end, ...~f cer the buller had left the rifled portion of the barrel, some ,gas went down

Figure 10+ 'Diagl'am of gas-operated type breech closure' rU"i'ncipl,e as used in, the Drown,ing automatic rifle'.

, ,

I

"



BEFORE FIRING

I'

AFTER FIRINGI

Figure 1.1. Diagram of gas-oiPe.ra.u~d ~)!P~ breech closure prmciple as used in dle Garand semiaurernatlr rUle.

--_/ f ..

D

A

AFTEIR FIRING,

,
!
~
,~
~~
.....
.....
-
,.
~
>-
~
.....
(j
C)
r;
h/;:
~
~
r:;:i
: •
r ,("'j
r "'!'"
.-.
).-
z'
....
fJ',
~.)'!
~
~ 6:

HATC,HJ£R'S NOl'ES.oOK,

.

between this muzzle CI,P ',an,d the end, of the barrel, to strike ,0n the piston, C, driv,in,g it to [be rear 'together with the operating rod, 1);, which works the bolt through :3 cam slot and a lug, E~

The bolt is. of the ordinary rotating 'type, locked to the receiver by locking lugs en~agin~ in suitable. re~~sseSt As the p-is.ton_ goes_ ha~k;, the earn slot, working on the lug, E, first rotates the bolt, then car-

rie'S: it to the rear"

As, soon as the rearward motion is completed, the return spring pushes me operating rod £ orward, closi ng' the bolt and rotating ,il:' into the locked position,

'This rnuzzl e cap arrang'elll ent was soon '3 bandoned In favor of a, convential gas port drilled near the muzzle, Otherwise the, principle of the gun remai ns the same,

Bang PriTJC,ip'le

In, :[ 9 I I Soren H. Bang, 0 f the Da nish Recoil Rifle Syndicate, presented, a semiautomatic shoulder rifle to the United States Governrnent for rest, and this rifle functioned exceptionally well, The p- rin-

- ~ I

ciple on which it operated is shown in Fig. 1 2. ..

The barrel bad a slidin.g cap~ A" fitting over the muzzle, When the bullet passed out, some of the gas acting in the space between till'S cap and the end of the barrel, puUcd. the' ,cap forward :3S shown in the ,Ii'gore marked "After. Fi.rjng,.'~!" The cap, -1, was fastened to 'a connecting rod, ,8, which operated, a lever, C'F This lever in turn. acted agains't a g,liding breech cover, D, having in it a earn-cut a.eting' with a lug, E, on the bolt, III the position of rest, the bolt is locked to the barrel by the lockin g lugs, F, in the lockin g recess, Go' When the ,gll~ is fire d, rhe ,gas escaping from, the muzzle pulls the muzzle piece, 'A, forward, thus causing the lever, C'" to throw the sliding breech cover; D, quickly to the rear, As this cover goes to the J',e';J, 1"", the earn slot: acting on the lug, ii,. tUnL5 [he 'bolt: so as fO unlock' it and rhea carries the bolt to the rear along with the 'breech cover. .:There is a return spring 'under the barrel which is connected to the breech cover through a rod, H., j~.s soon as the rearward motion

is arrested, the spring pulls the breech cover forward again and when the forward '{notion of the bolt is completed the cain slot in the

cover ac tin g' on the: hlg~ E" again locks: the 'bolt to rhe rear end of the barrel.

Pr;'n:e1~ Ac:trHlled Type

Among the nlany novel ideas for operating a semiautomatic rifle, is the scheme for aUo\\dng the primer to move enough in the cartri d g e case to un.! oc k the hre ech m echani sm. If th e h ea d uf the cartlidge were supported around the edge only, Ieaving the primer free, the primer would 'move 'hack nuder ~the pressure of the gas when the gun, is fired, a nd if 'i t V~,1 ere a llowed - enou gh f reedom it'

A G rvl

~ '-'. . .•• ,.' '. . '", '1'~ , .. ' , .' '." , .

U TONIA I tc " ,(;, ~ r,' EClIA 1\, ,(S,M S

would be blown entirely nux of the cartridge case, However, it is. possible to control this motion and allow the primer to move back j: us t a few' J"u '0 dred ths of a n inch, u tilizin g this sh o rt but: PO\V erfu l motion to impart energy' enough to the moving actuator to cause

it to unlock the breech, '

G srand' s l1zvent.i on.

In the f rsr W or 1 d Wa r, john C, Gara nd a, n ra C hi ne d eSl,gn cr 1 ivin g in N··',c:W',.·O: York .. , began work 'l~n.'g., 0,.' n the d.' esizn of "I l~gh.·£ -~- -', .. hine g.' un

~, 1. '.' ''''':'''' , ,Y ... "",:, . ,,' ,.'3i .~ ..p;. II - ',_' Ina.cu!I,. ,." '

to be operated by' the set-back o-f [he primer in its pocket, The primer was to be allowed to move back slightl}!', and in so do-ing; if: was 'to rra nsm :it rh is, motion through the fi ring pin to an ac t uator which 'vnn~d o_pe',n~ the breech and extract the C1npt,y cartridge, after which the Kun w'?U~U ~'e rel~aded by th~' action of a~ sprin.g. which .had been cOlnp',ress ed d u rIng the first mntion, The {J ru ted Statts Bureau 0 f

Standards at Washington being anxious to ald the war effort, e.1TI= ploy-red Mr, Garand and provided him with facilities to work on the invention;

'When the gun 'was examined by the Ordnance Department in 19] 9; it was seen. to be exceptionally' well designed, and was consi d ere d tu h ~l ve 511 c h prom. i Sf that J\1,r. G, arand was hire d. a nd sent to Springfield Armory, where he has remained as an 'Ordnance Engin.eer

,

ever since,

Early' models of Mr .. Garand's ,gUll worked well in tests, bur iLlSt about the rime he, had. his second ~and much improved model nearlv perfected and ready for 3.doption.t rhe _ ty pe- of" powder wa~: changed fr~~ the 'o~d fast bu.mi~g :Py,~,o to theprogr'~ssi~e burning Improved A~, 11 ~ta,ry R 1 fl e po\ver 1 'I n \" h ich the first rise in prcssu re: was not

nearly so rapid. .

,Pv]r~ Garand was much disappointed when his mechanism, which up to now had done so well, failed to function reliably with the new

. ty'p,e of powder. He thereupon dropped the primer actuated sysreru and switched over to the gas operated. t.ype of gu.n for his future 'work along this line which eventually resulted in the production of the present U'. S~ Rifle Cat . ,0 !\1 I.

In spite of the fact that this rifle is not now being used, a, description of the mechanism is included here because the novcltv of this principle

rna kes it in reresring [0 any S l ud en t of fi rea,rn)'S~" .

R'eferring to j?ig ~ I: ,3'f II is 1Jh e barrel screwed on to the recei ver, B + C is the breech block containing inside of ita moving actuator, ,G" arranged to have motion imparted to i [ I)y' a sligh t motion, of the firing pin, ,F. When the gun. is fired. the nr.in g 'p,i D. moves bsc k about threehund redths of an inch. This moti on, is -ve.ry quick an d imparts a, considerable blow to the actuator, G" which travels rapidly to the rear,

The bolt up to this time has been locked to the' receiver, by the locking block" D;- bea.ring' on the shoulder, E" As the' actuator goes

Y-:X .. » -,

'<:.' ',«",,~ "'-}" ... -:..-..:--:-. .. -::::;:

'!--

#'n~J~

.................. :--

':.'

: ... -: ..

..... . -: ....

..;..; .... : ....

: .. ~ .. :-.«" :~

>,~ ~'N,';;;<i

..... ...... ... ... :.:.~

.........

~,'~::- z.s .. $. ~m}:M

..............

'~..:": • :;1. t . .?J. ;:; .....

, • ", ',oY< '..,.",.' ft

:::.~ ii:t ~zy. ~ ~ .. ~ .:", .: .. ' ~..:::

• • ...... J...

" ,

:.. .... ~ ..... :~.

,_, , :-,t,) i ;$~ : 'X.. 1

~,' <i' ,,«I::', x:

.............

'~

< :

.. ,.- :

;.. '.:'(-.

.... r ......... -

~A.".- :tt~W

~"h:dndi

..... -..:-:.-.x-.

:=...~ . ~. ~~.:.:'~ ~~ .. j' .....,........ ~ 'Yo' :::t,MHt{

L:

e ,

........ : •. :.;c:-: .. ·.i .... -:--, ,.....; .......

:.;::; 'W'"k' 1t~A::,~":

... . ~f' ~~ . .:_.. "'-:';

-.: I' ..... - ... .1..... • ••

"'Y "

x:~ ~:.; <:«,,:;.. , ....... : .... ». -, ...:......

, ,

. .... ~

G aran d) s fit!H

.'

pruner

actuated

.... "]' mm:

1920.

h

used

the service

""0

'"

caliber

cartridge.

IG ~[~lu.1d'~',s second prl mer aerua fed ,,::30, (1" f lber ,mod,el~ produced ~ it S[[lri:ngfi e ~:d A rmory 'in 19,2]. r t eH d nOH' use. a ru In ~:ng bol ~~ as d,~d the fir',&t model, 'The boh, wh i,ch movies haic-k and fOiclh in a straigh t: Iine, WaLS locked by a piece of srccl hing'fid, at i rs rear end, and fitted to be rifted or depressed by du~ motlon of an actuator Inside the breech block. W'hern, t'ta,e, 81lfi was fired~ the primer \\r305 allowed rc O'D.Ove back ~O 3;' inch, and ~h i smQ t ion, trans mi uled 'ch.rnugb rhe h.r~ n g pin, to the actua tor, opera [Ie\d the gen,

'UNL,OCKJ,NG 'C'OMPL;E ree BOLT AS,OU'T TO OP,EN'

to. the rear _ th,~: c'o.n1: ~s~1.rface lifrs rhis lockin.g.: block out of e,npagement \V it h th.e rec e rver an d the bo It then rn ove s to the rear w 1 t l.'l the ac-

tnator a_g'ainst the action of the return spring, which causes; the parts to' move forward again as, soon as the rearward motion is completed,

Caliber ~:J2 ,.iia'(:bi11r' Gu~n

While most of the principal methods of operating machine guns and sem i au to marie till cs ha vc been desc ri bed, ab 0 ve .0 n.e . can. never be su re w ~ ien ani 11, venter '\'1 j 11 com e in. wi til something en tirely new and different. For example some time ago a. desire "vas expressed by the ,A.rnlY for SOl.TI~ means of shoodng caliber .2 2 cartridges in a machine ,gun,~ It was desired to do rhis for two reasons; first; because it' was -rhought that hy' using' the very cheap and in-ex pen s ive caliber .,2;,2; cart ridg es fo r n 1 achine gu n practic e in time of peace, a great deal of training could be obtained without expending the expensive full powered cartridges and, conseq,uently",. much, monev would be; saved; and 'in, addition" it "vas desired to find some safe method of allowing troops to obtain antiaircraft practice .. with machine guns1, which in most rnilita ry posts cann Of be. ace omplished

~~~;l~~~;W;~e:l~~~ri~g~~;~::!~ ~~el~:~/l~;~r e~::a~:!.e of the

At first g'lauce. it: seemed very' difficult :[0 construct a machine gun that would work with the low powered caliber ji2l cartridge, but a young mechanic, David M" Williams, of 'Godwin" North Carolina, appeared in the Ordnance Office and o,ffered~ not to make a special,

- - - -- - - --

Figure 1.3. Diagram of primer-acrusred type breech closure principle 'used in an car I y ex peri rn en tal Garan d semis 1.110 ma tic ri fie,

AlJTOMATIC G'UN MECHANISMS

machine gun for .,2; i 's, but 'to lake a, heavy' Browning gon and operate its massive mechanlsm wi ch the .. 12 cartridge ~ This feat a p'peared. so absolutely impossible that the arms expert:s had not even giv'.en it any consideration, but when this young inventor outlined his proposed. method. of doing the ,job he was ,given the order ro proceed ~ In si x weeks he modified a Browning machine gun so that jt operated, in a nOI1U at mann er w it h th e c a.J ib e r .. ' Z z c artr i dges '\v,i th n e ver a malf nnecion, The Browning gun ~ 1S a rec oil-op crate d gun and. the calib er i,11· cartridge does not have a fraction 'Of rhe recoil po\ver to operate this gun, but Mr:. WiHianls accomplished his job by making the chamber

of- ehe g.· ... '.:.tI1 I":n "'" --ep'"'.ra.r:e: piece Irom the 'barrel som ewhat III the

11;.,""" u , , ;tIi, S .Q . __ " _ c _. ~ ~_ v , _ __ _ _

same w'ay as ·[,he cylinder of the revolver is separa.te front the barrel, ~rh.e separate chamber, ho·we~~r" inste:a.,~ of~ being outside the barrel JS in the form of it hollow pIston :titt1ng into the rear end of the barrel, When the gun ,is fired the gas of ehe explosion, g~ts into the .space between the face of the chamber 'and the rear end of the barrel, and ,nbc pressu re 0 f the gas ,is sufficient to force th e separate, chamber backward with 1110re than enough recoil . to operate almost any mechanism,

The' Col: Seroice kl'od,el AC',e ,~22 CiJiber Pistot

This .is another well known adaptation of '[he Williams Floating Chamber, It is a replica of the Armv .. 45 Pistol, M. 191 I AI., only it '1'(' mad J:lI, to shoot th e o rdina 1iV .., 2· Ion 'g ri £,le cartri dg ~ ,. r' hr .. o ugh

.. :.;;!! . - ,it1. _ ,.,.. ... IJI, ,1- ':. i..:. - .. . ,.I, .I.<a..ll. ... • .... JL. A : - . IL ~, _ ,a, "., 'io,;... . _ .-,..- .

the .... etion of the ft;O'iilt;riig'. ch ..... mher the ,. 2 , ..... aliber cartrid "ge. .. IS' - g. ·1~'1:!'\""'n-

_ II ._- ill. _-' ,_ ... 1 ... . II. _ : . ,d,..ll!l .. __ ' 411" ..,., '.... '~_". _4 iI .. · . .Ii. ,~u. . ..... _:' ,'" ,""" ,

enough, po,\V'tr £0 function the slide with enough, ene . .rgy [0 give if very good imitation 0- f the reco il e xperienced with o'!IC- tual 4· ... calib er

""'_-.:" .. ·.'v· ,,_L.·,~, I,:", " .. __ ',:-..;_', _"'-':, . _,' _'._._ ~' U .'If'{L~ I DF"-·'-'.IIi'_IIl· .. :'.) "". ~_ ~,I

cart: i dges., .

. The ut.ility ~f ehis gt;t.n is to giv:e pra~tice in handling the serv:ice sidear rn - - includine i'· id £~. pr··- ·ctJCC without the e x ·'p:··e-~s;:·:.e- of U:S··]Dg-··

- -- "'J ,1.,. __ - ',6, rap ., J1.[", 3. . " .~. It... !Il,. __ ,_ ,._ . .1..11:.. - .

the, full powered loads. The action of _ rhis gun '\:y jll be rea dily understoo d from. the accompanyln g illustrs nons.

The Sbort Stroke Piston Principle .

In 1940 the Winchester Repeating Arms Co, submitted for test

~i:t~n ~r'::ip~:.]· ta~:r~~a~~I~:~C ~!fd °rtra~Hi:~s~he short stroke

'The gas is taken off near the breech, where the pressure is very high. The piston is completely housed in the cylinder, and is permitred to move 'through a stroke of only about a tenth of an inch, At th e rear of it" stroke, it acts as 3; valve" and 'prevent.s the gas from escaping from the: ga.s cylinder except by going' back into the barrel through the port by which it entered the gas cylinder,

wJ~~, 0J:~:in~:1i:p:~~ :l~~l:t ;!'s: ~;~r~ti~~e e~~e~:ti:~ ~~on~

sharp blow. Even the: shore piston stroke imparts to the operating

r. ~, ...... Ii _ ~~. II .-,~'''!'

'_~. I II ....

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ill ~

,- r- _, _

--"J _

...

'~'-'-~'.

Diagram showing the action of the ,8,o~a'dn g chamber in, the Colt ,5,e,rvj ce Model A,ee., The barrel is p inned to (be receiver by' the slide SIO.1)~ and canaut nu:)'ve'~ UP-O:Q- firi:n,~ the pressure of ~.he gas on the fron t end of the movab Ie eh am ber dri yes it 1:::0 ehe rear uo til the lug on. the bo nom stri kes it correspondin g lu~ on the barrel" and ,slOPS the morlon, As the floating chamber rests against we breec .. h. block, which is part .oj the' slide, this motion is transmitted to the slide, which Is !thus

L ..,Ii.. .. d · f h ' .• 1 '"

tntlQwn to. me rear agams t •. ae acnon nt, e recou s.prm.&. at

me ~ same time co('k'rng the hammer an,d compressing the mainspnng,

A Ul'o.iVlA'I'IC GUN l'vl EGHA N1SMS

sli de suffieien t en,erg'y [0 cau se it to carry thro ugh and operate the

1 ·

1.11 eel arnsm ..

It is something like the action of a. croquet hall held under the

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,Ac'~ iun of '[he i1Joa IIllg d]aJllJliJe.r in dle Coh Se'J!V ice' ,M'Qdtd ,A(¢;,

U pper t 'Position of the pans 'at the ,blsUtn"p; of :fitifl,g~ The f:loaf'ing di" m ber wi th the cartrid~e~ ,is, held t'O,[wa.rd by 'the slide under pressure 0 f the IE'CQ,j I spring, The barrel is, held fa s t co the re oeiver and cannot move.

Lower: The gun has j ust . been fired, and gas pressure (indicated by arrows) acts 011 t.he inside surface of the cartri dge head and on the iron t f.ace Q f the cham ber to dr.iv'e the "ham ber ~ cartridge case and slide to th e rear, When the t10adng chamber has moved a. short distance to the position shown, it~ motion i,s arrested by a lip on the bottom, which strikes a cor respon d 1 n g 11 P on the barrel, TI'CJ momen tum which the slid e has acquired carries j t on to th.e. tear ..

foot and struck a sharp blow 'W-ith a mallet while another hall rests freely against the far side, The second baU win be driven swiftly aw,ay

'b· I. I '.' ·

'. y. tne ei asnc un pact"

T- I" + ._; I d in th W"~ I C,·· bi h .. 1

' ,.~. ···1 .. ······, -'-'."""J"' .• ' , ... ',,' ..... -', " .. , .. ".', .. vas

. .l.~S s:alne pl, Jnc.L p e was use J n t, e . . . me lester a.r. I ne \V , Ie 1 \\" .

adopted by' the Army in ] 94,1 a,s the U ~ 8." Carbine Caliber ~ 301: 1\1. I.

This system &18 the great: advantage of doing 3'V,3Y with {he long'

operating rod; moreover, the po\v'er of the ·gas impact. on the piston is: so g feat that t.h.e:re ,is Iittle or no danger of ha v ing t he: piston stick ftOIU JouUng .0'1" other cause, The gas, impact slaps the piston to the rear J / I 0 of an inch; then the opera ring slide, drf ven forward by the return spring, slaps it back again ..

v

Notes on Machine Guns and

Thei D"'1 t

.. ~ lell - . ·.eve.!"op:men,

G····· '. ,U,N'S which are capable of delivering continuous ~ire as long as .... _.'. the, 'frigg!e.r is held and while the ammunition supply" holds out are ,in the main called machine gu.ns\:t. rhough there ,is another nomenclature used in, our :.Jrluy for the' 'vtJ".yr Jiglht fuHy' automatic guns, capable of being fired from the shoulder" which are' called "automatic

• !Ill H disti ~ h d f" l "' ,. hi h ~

[1 nes, ". as: . isnnguis I. en 'rom tne serm-a u toma tics \V' ucn requIre a

separate pull of -the trigger for each shot,

"T'h'- ... cb . " ·1:. ._ ...... '1' ~. d '.', ·t· . ti".l . -. :.... to' .~. ~~ ... c .. ,' ;l, !_ .. , e rn ec amcas prlnc1p: es use .. , to opera .... e ~.!l1 ese au toma ac wea po ns

will be d esc ribe d in the followin g' ch ap' t' Dr' H.:_ ere w ~ p- r o"P"-··o: se to-

o " -_, _ • ",;_....',. _ _ ~ _ :".' t..: ,!I. ",.._: .. \"l' ': . :'~'. . . ~ . IIJII ":?w.' _ ,... _". iW' :- '.. ," ," _ e '

set down a,. v:ery brief history of thedevelopment of the .machine _goo., to geth er wltn S011.1e inf ormaci on on the various typles which ha ve 'been or still are standard 'w,eapons; of our ~lrnlyt as well as S0111e inforrnacion on the principal .foreign .types ..

lvlachine guns as a class are not a v,ery new in venrion, for some type of gu 11 'CQ pable of firing 'more than one shot at: a rlme bas been [he goa! of invenrors ever since the beginning of firearms history,

d - + . ~ f' hi I ,~ d' ,,' h d of '1

I - - - " t .. <!l" '"'. - - _. .' - 1: .. . . ~. , .. ,._ ..., _' _",. . _. . - - , - - -"' ,- - ",

an , n19ny ] nv en tions 0, 1:, S c ass \Ji ere rnec out in r e '. ays .., nl:UZZ e

't d d h " f' " f' ., ,. id h [.

loaders, an, -.. ,perl ;aps even, be: .orc that, r or ,I t ,IS Sal'. ¢i: ,at t nere was a

cross-bow used. at. the Battle of Hastings ,in, J 066 A" D .. , W hich was

l..~ f fi ~ .

capau,]'(=;; or rtn.g ten arrows 91'£ one time. _.

'F'roHfl the earliest days of firearms until the present. time, the effort to increase' the volume of fire. obtainable from a single weapon has been continuous, and this has resulted In. the production of an

· bI h f contri f hi hI"

mnurneratne .: ost 0., contrivances, most 0'. wr uc r :, were merey curios

but a. few of which were useful, .

In the era of the muzzle loader, the machine guns of that time usually took the form of a, row of musket barrels mounted side by side in a frame lik e the pipes of an organ, and arranged so that they could be fired one at a - time or all together These contrivances were cal~le~ "organ guns,." I n genler.al they~ we re 11'0 t rnnch of a. sue-

.C' [I'" the 16'" -"It ... J " ". ,iii ,'r' .... ", 1·," ".' '. nd '·1· . "'-. :.' ~ . I'~ ·;n , b .,- thi

cess, .n. rr e "IS P ace t .. I.ey were: tea vy an I C. U nlSY to 1 a noie. r ut n 1S

~:s ::~~~~alrb:::tfi~:~d:n::~~ ~~~:~. r~~u!aelai~~~ a!:~e a~

volume of fire for a short time, this period of use,~ness' was immedisrely followed by the :long' interval of maedon ne:cessary to reload separately C:IC:h of the muzzle-loading barrels.

A much improved. gun of this genera!- typ'e, called the, "Requa battery ~ ,,. was used in the late stages of the . America n Civil War .

70

lI1t I

The gun had a sliding breechblock which could be operated by a. lever ~ an d when th e brccchblock was opened the gun could be charged with special cartridges which were held in, a Jong strip, behind which the breechblock was closed by the lever handle, Each cartridge had ill the b ack end a hole whi ch ccnunu nicated w i rh a vent

in r he breechb ~O"IC' m,~. The 't,~en" ts were ,~'~ i con nected ·t';I'~'g'.'Niil"!:rie··· to; b :.. ,e' hole

IL_ . ""_:_'Io,,.,I'I,;,..,U.·.!._K... ,''If ,:~ 'f~"-' 'Ii... ,!!L.a.l .. ,.,!l" ..... _,L,'!;". .V:,iI;.,lbh A..y a bl,"

'ex'tending through [be entire len;gth of the b reechblock 'and 'arranged to be filled. with fine po w der, In the midd le 0 f the b reec h b lock W3:S a regular percussion lock with a, hammer, and fl., nipple for a, cap" 1':\,.:" h ',' thi ,,' .. "',, ..' 'fi'C .. ed , .'. ·R,·,,·· ,.,' ,,' d f" 'I ... " ' . -. " 'l_: '--d ,,'. .' en t .IS cap 'It" as ." re ~ tne jtam e s,_p:rca. _ rrum ('" ie cen ter to :var"

each end of the brcechblock, and [he. cartridges were ig:n:ited successivelv, The' rc:load'ing---:' co u ld be done with reasonsb Ie ra P 'lditv as an

J, •

rhar "was, n ecessa 11'" was to repla ce the strip'.. 0 f car t, ri, dq'cs" pla c c so rn e

. J '. I 01 •

eowder ~ .. , t"~f _. ".:,'""" ",' "~.' ,~ .. it·;'" ,t"1 ,':,'. :,1 .. ~, .. ,~'Ii- the l.'" . '1:'" .' 'd,:"' ".1:'1.,'

PO\v. er m rne COIH.UU_U,HCcl lng. cnanne, s, CJ)Cf(, I!..I,e namrner, an. pace

a new cap on the nipple,

Another old Civil War machine gun embodied the principle of the revolver .. This gnn used cap and hall ammunition which was

~~rJ;~ i~~~t:~pf:q~l~~il~~~'m~!~~h H:e;~d c~,I~~a~l~~~I~iSu::~~s:ll;!r c~~

barrel 0 f the gu n ,(1, t a II but du ring the expl 0 si on were hel d close

e, ,'h'" . d 'h' ba ,.'. ~ ~,,,_ " '~ .. '1"'" ,~,' 1'''' '~"'l" ,1,· "'h be - f'- .... --',. 1, ,'."

ne una [I re oarrei but 10 me w ,~t, ii rr, 1] ce rne CI, ambers O. :1 revo ver.

'T' ] f _. . '. b f'" 'I' '.'

,,' '. --.' ':::.",.' I" ..... " .. ',',-- ... :.''- " , Co.'· ",," .: '.. " , ' __ ".'" " ' __ ,~', .:--.,-.' "

o prepa,,[e t'l'e, _gun. ror action, :9 nurru er 0,. me containers '\t\ ere

loaded with powder and ball and each \\.":15 primed by' pla,C:in~~' :9, per-

• "Il ,- ,11_· . ' "I' " 'Il

C1USS10" ' . '. . ....'= .'" ,'" "'C,'C .. , ,.... . "...... .' ..... ~ ":.' , . , ' " ,- "',' :n

,', ' .' . n cap on the nipple, [he loaded. containers were d1en, paced 1 '

a hopper (),D, to:p of the g'Wl~ and upon turning the crank, the Ch:ilrges

\vre fed de '. ~ .. "" '.' '__' ,- I·. '. I ' ·~·f·.' ' .,,, .. 1 _"'" '-'.:!' 11", C d .',

, r ere ~ _ .". "o\vn, mro grooves on tile e.uge 0.. 11 I'ClIO VJng ,eY,III1 .: CJr

which carried them pas.t [he: breech end. of '(he barrel, where they were successively fired, ,e3l ch em p tv co n tt~r~ne r be i:ug rol 'ted ou t on the far side of the breech as at fresh' one was being led up., This gun had only one barref which Wt15' consequently subject to overheatinq

~ --~ !I!' ~

and excessive fanning' from rhe residue of the black powder which

was used in those' days~

The GatlinJ{ Gun

The ,first really pro ctical and successful In ach in e gun" 'was in vented on, November 4~ 1:'8,62., by Dr, Richard J~ G,a.tling'iThe G'at:ling gun, \V':3;S so mew ha t similar to, the [,CVO I ~v',er, ,gu n descri b ed ab 0 ve in tha t it used the san~.e genera [ t,rplC! of s~,oci. [:.:a.rtl~,~dg,es which .w,e~)e, fed from a hopper .l nto g:rooves rn a cy-I rn de r \\1 h ich was revolve d hy' a cran k on, one side of '[he ,glln~ ,A r one poi L1 t in rhe t ra vel the ella rge was . held fi1"ndy' against the back e·nd of the barrel by' a. cam mechanism, and tired as in the early revolver gu,n.;, but '[he G9lling g"lln differed importantly from [,he' o rher gun in that insread of" ,ha,ving only one barrel, i t· ha,~ six, one fo,t ea c h ,of the: grooves in the feeding' cylinder at the: breech, These, six 'barrels revolved with the, cylinder so that each cartridg .. e aftpr'onc· ..• e .• enterinrr the m AC· ,h' an is m , .-"1'· ..... ed

.' ." . "" _.... "0 t. e ,,,'1;;,0_ A. iIl..:" ., remaIn "

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in ] me with its, respective barrel until it was fi red and .ti~laU y ejected from the gun, In this way each barrel. was fired only on~e for each revol ution, and th c heating an d fo uling effects \\1 ere gl'catl.y. reduced, An additional advantage was the fact that hangfires were rendered comparatively harmless, as the. cartridge 'was always in line with. the barrel.

A.s this invention occurred during a. war, the prornoters found. an ~e,as'y \vay to demonstrate it by' brjn~g~ng the gun out on a battlefield,

and :fi ri n,g at an. a crual enemy",. ~. .

As soon, as th e self-contained metallic cartridges were ,i n vented, grea t i III provell1eltts in the Gad.in,g mec hanisrn were 111 ade and the number of barrels was increased" usually' to ten:

The Ga,rling gun was adopted. hy. tnfluy nations and ·c:njuyed a long period of popularity. It ',"13S ]'caJ.ly g, U10St: effective \\i~eapon and had some vc·.ry g'ood featnres, 'In our own service it was the standard

. machine gun as Iaeely as: dt'lf1:ng the Spanish-American War .. 'In theSantiago canlpaign both automatic machine guns and. the Gatlings were used side by' side, and the Gatlings seemed to be the lTIOrC

e Hective ~t·. eh ,~,'t tl~ me . -

_ _ _ Q . ~!!!. (~. . 1] 1 . •

l'"1he 1M itrailleuse

, .~ ur iug [he Civ H \-V = nlaTI.Y expe~i.mcntal ~~ns were tried, but as th IS was before ch e day's 0 f metallic cartridges, non e were very successful and all were considered freaks or experiments, as indeed rbey were, As the Gat) i.ng came 0 UI r near the en ('I 0 f the war, it passed practically unnoticed, After the \\73,r it gradually became popular, bur before it reached this popula riry the ,F ranco-Prussian \Var oceu rred, 8 n d rhc French invented. a mach ine gun c a lled the ~ 'Ill j tra.H1 euse," W' h i ch ~ rea ted a great sensation at tha t time.

The word "mitrailleuse" comes, from, the French word mitraille, meaning small cann on b alls or g.ra pe shot, Th e ,F rench now call all machine g'l1ns, by this name, and they also call a machine gunner a mitrailleu« (or gra:pc shooter). The name originated, however, with the, .. \S; ca pon which N apolcon I II used against the Prussia ns in I 870. This consisted of 15 rifle barrels fastened together into a. parallel bundle and encased so as to 'resemble 11 field gUll., The breech of the gUI.l coul d hie opened to allow a block conra i.ning .a ,5 cartridges to be inserted. Eac h .0 f d 1 e hol es j 11 t ~'I e {j lock re.gi.st.e.rcd with one 0 f the ba rre Is. A, f ter the b reec h was closed, a tu r 1.1 of t he han dle released the :25 firing pins, one after the: other, thus f ei,n.g a vollev of ,2 _) shots, which could be made slow or fast :n.ccording to the ~speed of the

. firing ha n dl e. The gu n was ca pahle of fi ri ng abou t J!; sho rs a m inu re,

The advene of brass cartridge cases ha d remo ved ] na nv difficul ties

: J

31:t'end.ing' the invention of machine guns'" and the mitrailleuse was

really a. _ formidable w"eapon.. This gun was adopted a yea.r or' two b efore the' Franco- Prnssian W ar, an d its c o nstru c tlo n an d opera don.

H ., N

ATCHER S . OT.EBOOK

were kept a deep secret. Though efforts were made to keep the actu a ~ details of the guns secret, th eir existenc e was wid el y h erald e d, and the French were told that they' had a weapon which would make them in vincible, and 'would render victory eas:Yf and SUl'CI

The. fam,e. of this !nve~tion ,and ~he' secrecy surrounding it:s actual use proved Its undoing, The Prussians heard of the wonderful new gun, and from what th1e}7 knew of the Garling and other machine guns they were sure [bat they had a, formidable antagonist. Therefore rhey set abou t: with characteristic ene.rgy and S'[ rateg Y' to. comp~"S its downfall, in which thev were most successful, Thev realized, that

J J'

the French were well supp jed with these. weapons, and that what

few machine: guns rhey themselves could obtain would not be sufficient to counteract it, i~cc'ording]y" for the' ptlrposc of producing 'a, moral effect, -chey scorned the Gatling ~lnd such orhcr machine guns as they ~ould have obtained, an~ fostered a cC?n~em'rt for all \veap" ODS of this class, At the same tune, they caref ullv instructed

. ~ ~

the artillery 'to concentrate on the mitrailleuses whenever they' ap-

peared, and t-o ins ur e th eir des true tio nat all cos ts,

In addition to rhis handicap, the mitrailleuses went into the war practically unknown to. the arrny that Vias to use them, They were kept abo ut as mu ch a secret from rh e arnly" as f ro rn the pu b ~ i C t and the result was that the personnel was unfamiliar with rhe mechanism, and that no proper tactics had been worked out, Wherr the, gun~ were finaUy' brought into action, the" were used as, artillery, and 110'"[ as infantry weapons, and the usual result was that rhev were quickly destroyed by the, German artillerv, In one or two instances the:v'

, ~

were used wl r. h e'ff ect, bu r in general t'hey we re a failure, Th e

German . s,tr~lteg.ic fiction that: machine guns: were use. ess soon carne 1[0 be believed not only by the Germans themselves 'but by everyone else, and the adop,tion of. ma("hi~,e ~uns by an nations was delayed for years by the fiasco of the mitrailleuse, the machine gun field :for SOHle years following being largely filled by the Ga.-ding gun~

It 'will be observed by" the reader that up to this time all the guns described were hand-operated guns, or guns ill which the muscular pow,cr of the op,era.tor was used 'by means of a crank or lever to do the. loading or unloading. For example, in the. Gatling, OD:e man put rhe cartridges into the gun while. another man rurned the, crank continuously' as long as he wanted the gun to shoot.

'The 11:1«xl1n Gtlf.t

It' was inevitable that 'Sooner or later some invenror would discover a wa,y' to make the: gun. fully automatic, that js, to utilize part of the force of the, explosion for throwing' out the enlpt)"" shell, operating the mechanism of the gun, and pu ttin.g in a, new shell, This' was accomplished in i S'fL1- bv Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, who produced rh e first successful aut~rnatjc gun; and to day in nearly its original

A ml~li.cb.in.c ~un of 50 year.S ~.Ho.. A ACiI1l1Jory,. :fir.wng was J0.10 a sand pm-Ie 1n rhe ehen new K.:nlg Mod.,ei of ] :8,'9 2. 1 ( is, :riba ( were lIsf!d :i n \11 n:rJd W a ~ ~ J.

veev eaelv model ·o·f the _\Iaxrurn at the end u:f a 2:0Jl00 l'(u.lnld endurance test at Snr.iiif:rfu:dd.

;if • oJ' It' ~

(he ('O( rm in (ton t 0 ( the g:u.n..._ h c alrtrw.d.g~s. are '{he ri.rfnn~oo ~ype' -of ~ 3,0 ·caHhel' used In

~ n.lt~·r~·s't wng co n_'l'H:e dull.~ rhere is: v ery J.j, ule d ll1 e renee be tween th i.s, ear ly ; UI)J,c:h ru'm,e !lun ~.rnd some

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A ,g:roll1p €)f Wn:rld '\Va:r l uffi<.:e.r:s witnessing a ,dena;on.,I[fadon nf [he' 'Vi-ckers mLilJchwn, gun, l\'lodd 01 19 Hi.

Ud(Cl1 ie l\'Iay" 1.91';

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form it remains one of the leading machine guns of the world, though it is now known principally by' the name of Vickers from the firm '\V hi c h made 1 t for so 111 any years" Th 1 S firm was first kn O\V'n. as Vickers Sons & ~Vlaxinl~ but is now Vickers, L .. imired,

, 1\:1 axim wa san Am eric an.; tra velin g in Europe at the time of this in yen tion, In a letter to the editor of the London Start in I 915 ~ he gives the following account of how it happene,d that his inventive efforts were turned to the field of firearms:

;L ~ In I 88 J I visi te d the Elec rri c al Exhib iti 0 n in Paris, and was mad e a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor on account of some electrical and ch ern i cal work I had done; and about a. ycar later I was in Vienna wh er c I m e t an Ameri can whom I ,h ad kn own 1 n the Sta tes, He said: 'Hang your chemistry and el.ectricity,] If you w-ish to make a 'pile of IilOne}'t invent something dun: will enable these Europeans to cut each other's throats w ith greater facility.'

':'This made tJ1C think of the time when I was ab out ] ,4· years of

,...

age and was making drawings for rny father of a !bandworked

mac h inc gUll ~ I also tho Ug]lt of the po'w er ful kick, ] gu t the first tim e I fired a Uni te d States military rifle. On my' return to Paris I made a very" 'highly finished drawing of an automatic rifle.' Happening to meet a Scotchman in Paris whom I had known in the States; I showed him Ill}T drawings .. He invited me to come to London. I did so; and shortly after I started an experimental shop at 57d~, Hatton Garden,"

.Th~ l\1axi'm gun, described on page 247, has a very simple and. reliable action, and for nl~1n.Y"1 nUln.y years 'has given extremely sarisfactory fun ctioning wherever it was properly use d ..

L~S long as the firing 111f chanism is held do wn ·th is gun will co 0- tinue to reload and fire automatically at a rate of about 450 rounds per m inu te un til th e: belt 0 f 2, 5 0 c artri d ges is exha U sted, wh en a n ew belt Blust be fed in and the gun loaded with the motion of the crank on the side, after which it is ready' to fire ag.· ... ain.

or" , •

The uun is ord inarilv fired from a tripod which enables it to be

It:- _. ,

controlled for both elevation and direction. Owing to the intense

heat of firing so llluny cartridges in rapid succession" the gun would be-earn e red hot in a very short time unless some special means of cooling were adopted .. For this reason there is a water jacket surro un di ng the 'b arrel, "vh ich hol ds - 7 Y2. pints of water, Th e water in the jacket begins to boil after 600 rounds, and. then evaporates at the rate of J j2, pints for each thousand rounds.

. The Vickers gun weighs 38 pounds, inc-Ill ding the water in the j:acket, and the tripod weighs 35 pounds.

In J 904 the heavy Maxim gun was adopted as standard for the U nited States Army, to he superseded in 1909 bv the Benet-Mercie, which will be described later,· In I916 the Vicker~ gun, which was a lighter edition of the same type of mechanism as. the Maxim, was

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79

adopted as the Army standard, and rnany' Vickers guns were used during \\F orld we L

The Colt .klacbine G1t11

The invention of the Maxim machine gun was followed by _ the design of a gun by John Browing, of Ogden, Utah, which afterward became known as the Colt .. Mr. Browning produced 'tl!)e first n iodel 0 f this, gun in .l B 89 ..

In this connection, the following letter will 'be of interest as tstnbli:shing rhe dare when ~\1,r., Browning made this invention.

Hartford" Conn. Doc" 1 0, 19 I 7.,

Capr, J., S .. Hatcher, Springfield Armory t Sprin.gfield, Mass,

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In regard to our recent conversation, would say that the, application for' the, first machine gun, patent: granted to my father was filed jan, ,6, J 890~

Th is arm was, more properly speaking" 0 f the machine rifle class, weighing less than I 2; pounds and meant to be fired from the shoulder ..

The mechanism was operated by means of a lever, or "flapper," \\1 hioh was pivoted near the .fO.rW1U_U end of the, barrel; this lever being actuated by the gas-es ar' the muzzle. The gun took: the, .. 44 Winch ester bl ack pow der cartridge, and fired at the rate of about 16 shots per second, A model of this gun was made early in the ,year I 8,89.

As far as I can learn, this was the first effort of my father '5 in, the mach inc gnn line" his time previous to this bejn~ .. " taken u~.·. in designing' the Winchester repeating 'and single shot ,'. rearms w hich are still on the marke t.

Tihanking YOll for your courtesy extended to me at Springfield ~~ rrn Oty , I :3111,

Respectfully,

V. A. Bro'\vning

\b 8 M B ' b h ~ d · f h ;-

• 1. .... O~t 19:, n "~'" '.' rownlngrong;:, t an, lmplove~: vers.10n 0. t .IS

mvennon to the Colt factory at Hartford, Vl here It was perfected and put into production 'as the C-olt l\Iac hine Gun, .'\1'od el . of 1895" This gun was adopted by 'the' Navy, and then by the Ann)", and was .us'ed in the Spanish American war of' 1898, along' with a number of the 'old hand operated Gatlings.

. This ,gun, did not have a 'water jacket for c-oolin,gt as did the Maxj'm~ Instead, it had [he barrel made as heavy as practical, 'to enable 3 number o:f shots to 'be fired before the barrel would become too hot

80

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for operation. One disadvantage of this gun "vas that when the finger was removed frnm the trigger" the breech rem ained closed on a Ji'lFC cartridge, If a long burs'[ of shots had been fired" the barrel would be 5.0 hot that the round thu s left in the hot chamber would go off from the heat in a short time, The remedy was for the gunner to unload the gun at each interruption of fire.

One of the orig'inal Browning designed Model '1895 Colt machine guns in use during the Spanish .. AJnel'h:an War of 18-98 0,]] board the U"S.S,. Aileen,

The '\veig h t of the 'Colt gun was about 3 5' pounds, and it' used ,1 tripod \v,eighing SOBle .56 pounds. Like the Maxim and the Vickers, it was fed from belts hol.ding' ,250 rounds. However, these belts 'were much simpler and cheaper to make than. the ones used by

:\ .. 1 axi m tv'P' e g." nIl s~ "

.. "

When World War I broke out in 19 I 4, the Russians placed m. large order for Colt guns with the Marlin -Roc kwell Co., of N ew Haven, "and when '\ve entered that war in ][ 917, we purchased some 2:500 of these Colt gu't1S from Marlin, These were used during the early pa,rt of that war for training; then became obsolete 'as far as out .. arn]y was concerned. No Colt '!runs of that tvpe have been made

"-' ./,

since 19 17· I: Iowever, this gUll, in. a JJI.odified form known as the

,)\'1 arlin, S~l \.\1' v'ery~ extensi ve service in both aircraft and tanks in l[ 9 I tL

Colt machine gun~ Jnverued by Bowning in tHW,). The gas passing through a por~ about six inches behind the muzzle impinged on ·30 lever pivoted under the gnn3 s.~·in.g it downward and backward '(0 acrua te the mechanism, The present author ~s shown filting une of these guns in 1917, when [hey were 'b,eing' [Bade foil" the Russians by Marlin-Rockwell,

.0 '02

lIA"fCn.ER'S 'NOTEBOOK

T be !"kf arlin Macbine Gun

When w cent e red rh e fi' rs t \VO rl d war we were despera tcl.y· in need nf machine ouns - f ... r kind, hr t especially f a tvne that could be

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mounted on the aircraft of tha t day and 'syu ehronized 50 as to fire through the propellers without 'hitting them. The engine·ers of the J\t ar lin Roc kw e 11 Co. theref 0 re dec ide d to a ttelTI.pt a C on version 0 f the COil gun to one that would be suitable for this purpose, The action

is described. on .page 56 ..

'The sw"inging' lever under this gun,. while it had _ du; advant.age

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the wav, .~\?latHn therefore did awav with this lever" and substituted a srra j gh.t line piston. 'This became i vcr}'" d i ffieul t feat of engi n.cering· indeed, The :pistou, instead of gi.vin g' a - slow and acceleraring backward thrust through n connecting rod, 'V3S slapped back at maximum s pee d rigiht at th e beg innin g of its s trok e, w i th the resul t that as often. as not, ~ t sim ply to re t he heads 0 if the ca rtri dges instead 0 f extraeting them, One thin,g that was done- to rnodily this action was to add a. sizeable ,v'eight to the. piston, which slowed up the initial

rearward Inotion..· -

A:n o ther diffic ul t}i was th at the :hnal c I osi n g m oti 0 n, which w it'h the swinging lever, acring 'through a connecting rod, had been slow but powerful, now became a simple and terrific slam, which drove t he. carr-ridges .in so fast. 'that rh f.y· 'were res ized enough to make them too short for the chamber, and thus give dle' effect of excess headspa,ce~ "1'0 counteract this effect, the chamber was mnde I I tho U= sandths of an inch shorter than standard,

T he wor k 0 f maki n g chis redesign was done princ ipal1.y by 7\Ir ~ A, W' .. , Swebilius, who accomplished a. most difficult task in a. few weeks, and prod u ced a gun th at was usc d t h rou ghou t th e war 3:S· the principal synchronized gun of rhe U, S" air force, and was also

used in tanks. - -

The l\,1.:a:r1 in 'C1un Wf1:S discontinued at the end of World. War 'I,. an d \\1 irh i:h.'· (1 iss - ., oearanc ~ t :]~ :\., ~. : o .}. d Bro wni n . C·· .-,o-lt "~,, ~ eh "I~'n: G.·- U· 11

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made .] is final bo w .

The Hotchkiss Ma.chi,te G'U'l1

It was about the time that. M t. Brownillg was doing his first work on the Colt w.la.chine G:un that an .. A nstrian Army Officer, Baron Von Odkolek, also invented a gas operated gun. - There was this

dt".ff; e . -e --I ce h O .. we veri ln stead 0: i['- t]s-:ing.· a ·s','\vi'na'inf! lever, he' employed

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a sim .. pl e rec i pro ca tin g pis ton, and 0 verc a;r~ e his extrac tin n difficulties,

etc ~, by making th e parts. ilea v,Y and massrve. .

The hearing problem was attacked by the. use of very heavy barrels which would hear up slowly; moreover, the barrels - \vere:m.ade so

that [hey could be changed in an instant, even while hot, The d'3ng'er of "cooking off" a cartridge in the hot barrel was overcome by so ar.ranging the mechanism 'that w hen. the trigger was released, the breech remained open..~ 'with no cartridge in, rhe chamber,

M:tu-:'m]g ~aink :m[IJroirn:DJ€' .glUl of Wor].d: War' I shown mo unted i-~ a, tl.iOk, of dlat p~,do(t TIHs, was. the ,M a,din aircraft gun ,6 ned 'W 1 th a hand trigger and an al umin~m radlator on the barrel.

Instea d 0 f f ceding th e cartridg es .f ron} bel ts, as do the Maxim, Colt and Browning G"UllS~ the Hotchkiss feeds them from, steel or b ra S~ s tr j p8 h 0'1 d i I] g 3 n ca rt ri d gC$ each, The car tr ~dgcs are hie! d in place 'b) spring fi:rnigers: from which th,e}, are strjpped ,'by' the breech block as it ,gQ!es forward, When the gun is o perated , these strips can be fed in. one after the other' without interrupting the firing"

The gun gets its name from the fact that the Odkolek invention was perfected and put into manufacture b,Y :vlr~ Ben 'B .. Hotchkiss, an i\ .. merican living in Paris, The H-otchkiss, Company founded by him became one of the major factors .runong the armament makers of the worl d.,. The gun, was adopted by the French Army ill I905',~ 'and has. been used hy th e m ever since, ,f" orchkiss machine ,gun.s of' one Ell od el Of' a norher bee ;l111,e the stan d~ f'd ar ~11 am ent 0 f TI13n. y nations and .have been noted for their l"uggedn,ess: and reliability, ,

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The ,)'lfarU:(1i, a~ t',cta,fl: machin e ,gUill, of W:or,IJCi, W'ar .I',. Thl.s was ,dJe.lie]!G.) P ~d f ![''OJ'U lh~ (d,d, Br,ow Il,~ ng designed Coh :Il'Hi.c~,bu~ gUm1, by ,Mr. .. ,A~ '\\1" S\'w!C'bi ,I i:IU~ ,oif [b ~ ,~la.r Iin Ro ckwell CO., The gun '\V,as used as, a fixed a,~ rera f~: mt~,("h~ ~'e ~'~n ~YIH:h ron i:~ie(l I~O 'r~' Ilb,t.onu,gh d'i.~' pr:lO-' ,~·peU,cm".l,. his; sh,('irwiJ on, the tripod mlC',fe',I~' £·0,,1" con,VeltJ,iE'n,(,~ iu, p:bou~lnp,b:ing',

lVIAcruNE GlJ~S AN'D T'I~EIR DEVE'LOPl\JENT'

, The Horchki ss machine gun; an old re Hable perfur mer of W or ld Wa:r I, used by Juan y of Our di vi si on s in Fran ce in 1918.

Em pire, wh i c h nee u r red T (}60 y- ears b ef ore the b eginnin g 0 f the Christian Era; hence their year 2592- is our 193 2~ For a fuller explanation of the rather complicated sy-stern of model chronology

used by the ,Japanese", see the note ill Random N otes, _

T he tic b'w'flrzl os e Macb ina Gun

A hea vy- machine gun 'v hi ch was promi nen t before and d ur Ing Wo rld \V ar I.~, and was even used to a consi derable ex tent in the late war." was the Schwarzlose, IVI 0 del 190] / 19 I 2" ·designed by' the Austrian, Andrea Schwarzlose, It has a retarded blow-back mechanism whi c 11 has a Ire a d y- been des c ri bed nn der "!\.j cchanical ,PI inci ples.' I t was adopted bv Austria an d several other countri es, and, was II sed

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very extensively dnr.ing the . ,var of J 9 T 4-~ I 918~ During that period

the Italians captured a number of these guns from the Austrians,

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Scihw·a.r~J..ose' f,; ':ildliiru~' Gu;nj M' 1.907/1'9 I 2:.. 'Th iJ~~ ll-'~lS dJle sta.n,d·ard h,~'a..v y nl~.u:'h i~n.e ~glU1lJ u·f Aill.Dlsa r i i1!J,~ Hun·Sar·~t before and. dUlr:ing \Vor ld

'W ~.:r .1.. ]' ~ W'~S, ~th,o u.sed 'by' several other European ~,~i@n-s;. Uu:rimlg: \,!lo:rJd 'W ~,:l" n Ilraly u - ed I:~~,:u ge number ~ of these g:IIi.Ul s thal[ [,hey' bad

ca,PIt ured from the A u:str ialn,!Si du:rlng '~h.e prev'~o1;l:S W Of ~d War.,

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88

and these were used to lSOm.,C extent during Wnrld '," :3,1" II., and hence

have aga,:run come inro public notice, -

T 11e ,A! ed sen ,,.~}l'(u;hi'luj: QlGI

'OllJt ~'9o.~ there appeared on the scene: a machine gu:n \vhi?h was verv m uch li zhter and. more 'portable than ilJ1V· full automatic (run

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ha d been b ef ore th at tim e, an d \vh i c h was reallv th e firs t 0 f [he

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.i\la.chine Rifle class that became so popular du:r.ing Wo.r~d, 'W:3,r L

~J:~dse:o b{adlin~ Gtin. The photo 'was taken at Sp,t',i:ngfieJd J.'\t'i1l0Ifi'Y about :n$J08" a c the time of the res ts whi ch resulted in the adoption of the Bene (-Metal Automa"tic Machine' Rifle, Model. ,of 1909 ..

Tb is '\:3.5 [he l i pOi y,nd reco il o ,pc'ra ted ~ a ir tOO olcd, magazine fed ~~Iadsen~ gun, invented by Captain Madsen of the Danish J\.rmy';o The Nl adsen was teste d in this conn ty' abo ut J 909, bn t was passed over in favor of the Light Horeb kiss, . tested at the same time, and

a clop te d as th e A utomatic ~'ii cc hine R ifl e Ca l '. ~ JO:, 1\.1odel. of 1 (_lo9?

In spite of th,e fact rhar this gun was not successful in the U ~ S~.

Arm V' tr] als, it was adop ted an d, used w ith g-r',ea'C success bv several

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na 0011,s, inc.luding Denmark and. Holland, I t was used to SOIne extent

in Germany 1 an dafter Wo rid Y\' ar I, .i t V{(lS for a time seriousl V

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considered. by, 'G tea t Br ita i 11 ,::1 S a SHe cesser to t he Lew is, but finally

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gn ve v¥~'Y' to. r he Bren, wh ic ~ W3;,) '(1 do nted instea d ~

l't1At:H"lNE GUNS AXD THFJR ])F.VELOPME:N'I'

The' Benet-Mercle Gun

'Our. first standard machine gun of the automatic tj",pe" _,as compared to the hand. operated type 1 i ke the Gat] ing, was the Colt Automatic \f),ac.h ine Gun, NlodcJ ~f ] 8Y5 ~ Note the word ~ 'Auromaric'' in '[he nan ie, Thsr 'vas' pH r in ro distinguish this new \y"pc of gun from the s i mple "rn ac hine g uns" like th e No rdenfelt or the Gatling, 'which did not su pply their own po\ver.

Our second standard machine gun was the Maxim Autometic 1\1 a oh i 11 e Gun.,. 1\,10 d el of i 904~ Both these were h ea vy ,guns, mo un ted on tripods, Our next standard machine gu.n was of _ an entirely differenr ty-pe, which to day would be kn own as ::1, Hght mach inc guu, but in 'those days was called a ~\II'a.chjne 'R,ine~ _It""!'a.s dh~ ~ight I~IO'£:c-h~ kiss, des,]gned by Benet, son of an .Amer lean Chief of Ordnance wh 0 had gone to Paris and become an engineer with Hotchkiss!. in collaborariou with another Hotchkiss ,engineer named Mercie. This gun 'vas, adopted. by' our Army. in '-909 after extended trials, and was call e d t!h e Au to n1.3. tic Machine Rifle, Caliber .. 3 o, 1\1 0 del of i t)09,.

~OW' if at that time we had known [he least th:~n,g about the ta.ctical role o.f machine guns" we 'would have real ized that we ought to ha ve ha d two kinds in the A,rmny at the, san:H:~', time, rh e h e~avy' type: for one k:tn d of action and the li ght type 1, for n to tall y diff eren t us e i We didn't, however, realize this or anything else much about these rna tters, so '\VC adopted this Jig ht gun it s THE machine gun of the Army. In those days evc,ry' I,egm1"en.t had a machine gun platoon, made up by detai l.ing 111 en from regul,ar CORl panies for tern po.ra.ry· duty in the machine glttl platoon .. This platoon. had fonr gnns~_ It wasn't a. regular authorized COlfnpan y , 'but just. a scraped 'togefhe:r ag'g,rc'gation of the men who could best _be spared from other places. l\!Iany times the temptation to get rid of unwanted problem children was solved by cornpally commanders by sending them to the machine gun platoon. A pretty sorry outfit it was, as a rule ..

When we ha d gone through all these trials and had fi nall y settled on the ,gun we wanted, and _ had adopted it" we ,gave the Ho tc hkiss Company au order for twenty-nine of these guns. I. ,repcatt twentY'~' nine 'oniy of these guns, at _ a time: when natio;ns: like Ge,fFnany were huy:ing thousands of machine guns. The reason 'was: that the funds allowed the :~rlny in those days would pay'" for twenty-nine guns and no. more, so we gOt twenty ... nine.

Then 'we put the gun into manufacture at both the Colt's 'Patent [tire Arms M,anllfa.eturin.,g Co., and ,at Springfield Armory, and in the next felV 'VelfS" we made a to ta I of 610 of these Benet-Mercie Jf tins" That n )';'o.Y', d ivided betw een two f ac tories 'W11S, not enough for either of them _to learn and overcome the: usual production and h eat trea rin.g' difficulrles,

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This Henet-Mercie gun remained standard from 1909 until ,19l6~ _ when the Vickers was adopted as a result of nnorher set of tests and trials,

1'/,,0 Leuns ~~lacbi1:1e Gu».

Be,ginning ln I: 91: :2" and at interv-als thereafter the A rnl,Y tested _:3 mac hine gun invented by Cot tN., Lewis, _ Coast ·.,A\,[t inery " U .. , S,' t\, r m y'", T h is g'un resern ble d the H otc h kiss ,] n t ha t 'i t was ga,s 0 perared, and c'mployed a strrnig.h ~ p'~:ton which :\V?:. dri ven ~o th: rear by ,~ jet of ga.s from a port drilled 10 the barrel, 1 he cartridge teed was from

Hat pan shaped magazines holding 47 shots each, or later, in the aircraft type, 97 shots, This was placed on top of the receiver, and was fed aro u nd and arou nd Ii ke a, cog w hec I as the firi n g' p,rogrlessed r

The barrel of the gun was surrounded by an aluminum radiator, o ursi d e 0 f wh ic h w asa shee £ steel. casi ng' someth in g' like 3 secti on -0 f stove-pipe, This cas1ng _ was open at the _ rear end, and _ at the front it extended past the -rnuzzle of the gun so that the blast of gas from eacl shot had a tendency to create a draft of air through the steel casi ~g over the aluminum radiator around the barrel, thus keeping the barrel reasonablv cool as firing progressed,

In the f rst several tests of'~r the Le'\v;,s gun, it failed to handle our PO\\; crfu J ,~,30--' 06 cartridge successfu lly a It d wh j le f u rth e r de v e lop y U1C.nt was under \V:3:V~ the' world '\f,Va,r I broke ont in Europe, Lewis

J • _

subu I irred 'It is ,gun to rhe nri~i5h, 'ana, with the tela tively ]O\V powered

.303, cartridge it ruade a much better performance than it did with o Ill' he; a vy high - prtssu re a rnm uni ri 0 n ~

In England this gun was made by the Birmingham Small Arms Co., as the Model: of ~,9r::, and it W,3:S used with g,_ feat effect bv the

- ~ L.~

British from rhar year until the end of World ""fa.r I.

In '1:"11 is, coun:tr'y _, a h,~g h p.ress:ure p,~'bl icit:y ca rn p~ i gn was started to force our Army to adopt this gUll. Repeated tests, however, d,i d not produce a. Lewis gun that would satisfactorily shout our anlnltUli.tlc.ln~

In April, 19 [6., [he Arrnv held :1_ formal test to select a new machine

, ~

_gun as a. standard to replace the Benct-Mcrcie. The Lewis gun,

made in this country for the British hy the s.a,vngc A rrns Company, was naru ra I ~:,Y ::l srron,g co n render ill these tcs ~'S; and th e prQ ponen rs of this gun made the: most of the repuratiou which this g:un '113,d made for itself' in the British Service, and accused the U'., S,., Arm" of' the worst kind of reactionary stupidity, for aHo\ving' an American invention to go unappreciated at horne, only to he adopted abroad. The fact that the gun had repeatedly failed in tests with our ammunition was of course not ruen tinned, or was even denied.

In 'these April tests of H)] 6~ a Lewis gun was submitted for the' IU ~ S .. , a m m ill ni tion \vh:i ell Ii: na Ily put fn.'p 11 ~c red i tab I e perfo nuance and showed great promise of b'ein,g capable of _further _ development to handle our ammunition with complete satisfaction. In the test:', this

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