Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 229, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1918 — BROWNING GUN IN CLASS BY ITSELF [ARTICLE]

BROWNING GUN IN CLASS BY ITSELF

Remarkable New Tool Better Than Anything of Its Type. DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER

Fired From Shoulder or Hip In Bursts of Twenty Shots In Two and OnoHalf Seconds—Air Cooled, Gas Operated. By JAMESjL COLLINB. (From the Committee on Public Informs- [: »> tton. Washington, D. C.) Three hundred senators, representatives, Journalists, and army officers of the French, British, Italian, Belgian and American forces stood behind a little squad of ordnance men the other day at a rifle range outside of Washington. “Attention!” commanded the officer to charge of the squad. “Shoulder fire one magazine—-semi-automatic —Ready! Load! Aim 1 Fire!" x ' There was a popping like that, say, of half a dozen packs of giant firecrackers all set off at once.* It lasted about ten seconds, the time required to fire 20 shots from what looked like an ordinary rifle in the hands of each soldier. Five hundred yards away the dirt flew behind a row of small targets set up 16 represent men. “Shoulder fire one magazine—automatic —load!” was the next command given. But a different volley was heard at the command “Fire!” It sounded like B-r-r-r-r-r! and lasted only two and a half seconds!' If you want to estimate the rapidity, listen to the ticking of your watch, which averages about four ticks per second, and realize that the automatic Are of this weapon was Just twice as fast—eight standard army rifle cartridges fired in a second with one pull of the trigger. And that was the new Browning machine gun which Uncle Sam was about to manufacture at the rate of thousands a week, and had brought to this rifle range for its first public exhibition. ' - % Other methods of firing were shown with the gun placed at the hip and with the soldiers marching toward the target, firing as they walked. Then the spectators crowded around and began asking questions. “Is it air cooled or water cooled? Whatt does it weigh? How fast can they be made? What do they cost? Is Lt a better weapon than this machine gun or that?” All Were Convinced. Among those present was -one member of congress who, a few weeks before, during an anxious inquiry into our war had stated his belief that the Browning machine gun was only a dream. And now he was allowed to fire the weapon himself, and planted a succession of bullets in the distant target with an accuracy which left no question to his mind as to the tangibility or accuracy of this new tool of the Americhn soldier. On the following morning newspapers throughout the country published a detailed description of both this gun, known as the “light Browning,” and another type called the “heavy Browning,” which, was also demonstrated, being fired from a tripod, water cooled, and fed with canvas belts containing 250 cartridges eacto It has fired 20,000 shots to a little less than 48 minutes. Each legislator and journalist asked .his own questions, and there was an honest spirit of Inquiry evident. Every American present, while admitting the Impressive nature of the test, seemed to feel that he was personally representing the nation and bound to overlook no technical details touching the efficiency of these new weapons. And to that matter each American did truly represent the nation which has been keen to discover every part of our war program open to question, each according to his own light and reading. The reader of this article, too, will want to ask his own technical questions, and for his information all the facts about both types of guns have been summarized separately, so that attention here may be concentrated upon another aspect of the machine-gun program—its tactical use as a tool apart from the mere details of how much it weighs, how fast it fires, how many shots a second, how many times it jams In a test, how it is cooled, how many parts it has, how quickly they can be taken down and put together again,

etc. One of the first questions asked by everybody concerning the light gun, for instance, was: “Is it cooled by air or water?” And the answer to that question is: “By air—but cooling is not a problem with the light Browning.” Naturally, a statement of that sort comes as a surprise to the man in the street who has heard that machine guns are subject to the terrific heat of smokeless-powder gases, which sometimes develop the destructive temperature of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and that keeping a machine cool in action is one of the chief problems with tliat type of weapon. But when the tactical use of this particular arm is understood, one easily understands how cooling may be disregarded in the light Browning, and its deslgn developed in nthtj/ directions for.other purposes. So we will try to get the tactical point of view—which is the point of view of the American soldier carrying this light automatic rifle over the top in France by the hundreds and the thott-

sands, and probably the tens of thousands, and not Inconceivably by hundreds of thousands before the Hun is beaten. Provide Something Better. .Our ordnance department has been working since we entered the war to send American soldiers to France with a complete kit ofi tools representative of American inventive ability. First rising up tiie job of cracking the Hun out of trench, shell box. and subterranean tunnel, and ascertaining what the allies have found useful in the way of saw, hammer and hatchet, the ordnance department has worked to. provide something a little better in every case, from poison gas and gas masks to machine guns and high-explosive shrapnel.

The light Browning, also known as the “automatic rifle,” requires no cooling apparatus, because to its tactical use in battle as a tool it will be called upon only for what are known as “bursts of firing." It is a remarkable new tool, better than anything of its particular type yet developed, and different from every other weapon to the world. Its nearest prototype is the French Chauchat automatic rifle, which has proved extremely effective. At the present stage of tactics the Browning automatic rifle will be a superior tool for perhaps three definite Jobs in trench warfare. First, being as portable as the ordinary army rifle, it can be quickly brought into action along every part of a trench by defenders to stop the advance of an enemy. -With the heavier types of machine gun fired from a tripod and requiring considerable time for getting into position, if not permanent emplacement, such resistance of invaders to a pinch might prove difficult With the new Browning firing 20 shots automatically to less than three seconds, or 20 shots semiautomatlcally as fast as one desires to pull the trigger, loading with, a fresh magazine each 20 shots in a couple of seconds, an entire trench front can be protected with outbursts of machine-grun fire, which will not have to be continued long to do the work—not long enough for heating of the gun to become a problem. Sweeps the Trenches. The third job for this characteristic Yankee notion comes when our fellows have reached the enemy trenches. At that moment, even though but a few arrive, the Browning automatic rifle is expected to replace the bayonet and bomb under certain conditions, and multiply the effectiveness of each soldier who gets across No Man’s Land, for the rapidity and accuracy of the Browning fire is such that it will be only a matter of seconds to sweep an enemy trench to- both directions, There are other tactical uses for the weapon. As few as a dozen of these automatic rifles are sufficient to lay down a temporary barrage at right angles to a trench front, and even twe of them quickly placed at opposite ends of a trench front can establish a cross fire as effective as a barrage under some circumstances. For with each gun firing along one leg of a. letter V meeting and passing somewhere out in No Man’s Land, the chances of an enemy getting through this V will be very slim —this will be a defense equivalent to frontless rifle fire from dozens of individual soldiers, and can be established with the minimum of exposure. These are the tactical points of the new weapon, and one has only to consider it from this viewpoint to understahd that technical questions such as have been raised by laymen during recent discussions of the merits of one machine gun as against another do not touch the heart of the military problem —both the design of this gun and its use as a tool in battle are palpably matters to be left to military men. Another interesting viewpoint on both the light and heavy types of Browning guns can be gained by briefly considering the general development of machine guns as fighting tools. From the days of slings and stones and arrows fighting man has sought ways of delivering enough missiles into the ranks of an advancing foe tc stop him. With gunpowder and portable guns the number of missiles increased, and also their deadliness. The* matchlock fired clumsily from a tripod was-replaced by smooth-bore muz-zle-loading guns, and then muzzle-load-ing rifles, breech-loading rifles capable of firing shots singly, and finally the repeating rifle, with a capacity of five or six shots in rapid' succession. Then Came shrapnel, delivering a spray of bullets over a considerable range, and also the first machine guns equipped to fire hundreds of shots to rapid succession, but at first so heavy and clumsy that they could not be moved much more quickly than artillery. Fired From Shoulder and Hip.

These first machine guns are known as the heavy types and were presently reduced in weight and developed in mobility, becoming what are known as the portable intermediate types of which the Lewis gun is an example. Still further lightness and mobility were wanted, however; something that would convert an ordinary rifle into an. effective machine gun for brief outbursts of fire. In other words, the true type of light machine gun as exemplified first in the French Chauchat and now in the light Browning. These two fighting tools far the only ones of their type, and at present only the French and American armies are equipped to use them tactically, the British army doing its machlne-gufl work with the portable Intermediate Lewis gun. According to reports from our military observers in France, the drift of the French army is* decidedly toward greater use of automatic rifles of the highly portable type. The Browning gun is the only gun of its type, that can be fired from the shout der and hip.