| Show OWNING GUN I. I FINEST IN WORLD IS VERDICT ARM INVENTED BY OGDEN MAN SUITS Senators and Representatives tives Fire New Nev Automatic Rifle in Tests WEAPON FUNCTIONS WITHOUT ONE HITCH I Fired L Like ke Ordinary Musket l Spits Twenty y Bullets in Instants Instant's Time Washington ton Feb 27 Tho Tho latest American j contribution to warfare the Browning automatic rifle was nas officially Introduced to Con Congress ress toda today at a adem deni dein- staged In a remote valley lif the hills that surround this city For moro more than two hours the air all was filled the sound of ot the firing senators and antI representatives operating the new weapons der of soldiers from the tho I machine gun Sun school at Springfield Springfield Spring Spring- field Mass High army Arm officials Including As Assistant Assistant Assistant As- As Secretary Crowell Major cral eral BIddle acting c chief ler of staff and anda a score of cf officers from the British French Italian and Belgian missions watched the demon demonstration with keen Interest There was no target practice al although al al- though a a. l line of or figures shaped like men were weri battered to pieces b by the squad of or ten tn gunners Members of ot Congress Congress Con- Con gress al also scored repeated hit hits Op Operate rne P Perfectly rr HT As A. to the he performance of or hc hn ten tep guns gung used there was Hot a malfunction despite de- de spite the fact that hundreds of or rounds round were fired d and the squad from thO the school had hai never ne seen the guns before last Saturday i When hen firing frInG with the tho automatic rifles was completed terl two Browning Browning- l heavy v machine guns cuns uns were put In action Thousand of bullets were ere sent streaming stream stream- lug Ins across the tho valle valley to set the dust 1 n t. t i. i i. 1111 u u U b ln was no malfunction and the demonstration tion was completed with an exhibition of or the simplicity of or construction on of ot tho the guns uns being dismounted take takes apart and reassembled repeatedly In a afew afew few tew minutes minutes' time Hint IUni Coming In These Thase two guns Suns have ha been selected b by tho the ordnance Ce bureau of or the war nar de department department dt de- as the weapons with which the arm army Is 15 soon to be he equipped The automatic rifles used came from rom factories factories fac tac- tories where the actual production on ou ona oua a quantity scale already has started Within a matter of weeks hundreds hUndred will te delivered dell every ery da day and thousands thousands thou thou- sands o er every week The They arc to be the over o the top guns of tomorrow as the Fr French Is used b by French and anti American troops toda today A noncommissioned noncommissioned noncom noncom- officer pf pr the demonstrating detachment nt who with his associates associate has been drilled with every err every typo of or weapon u. u ed d b by tho the allied ed troops in including in- in eluding the Chaucha t. t the only prototype prototype proto proto- type tiPe of the new rifle spoke for Cor tho tim whole squad when nhen he said the finest gun In the world When hen the tho Invited guests arrived at atho atthe ho tho range tho they found twenty men from Crom the he school commanded b by MaJ J. J S. S Hatcher busy filling magazines and belts The ten rifles were unpacked and antI th visitors were a astonished at their heir lI lightness The They weigh welsh fifteen pounds loaded with twenty rounds round all o of which can be fired Ired in a breath Carriers Carrier Follow U Riflemen D Behind each rifleman marched his carrier bearing bearing- belts loaded with th mag As the little column swung away iway toward the range ranse the tho riflemen swung their guns up to shoulder as easily as the they would an ordinary sIngleshot singleshot singleshot sin sin- shot gle-shot weapon At first glance there was nothing to show how the ly fly deadly character of their equip- equip ment At t t first firing tirinG wn's was semiautomatic a a. feature ealure first developed lIe b by the thelen French len 11 In n the and one which has gone one far tar It l I If said toward revolutionising revolution revolution- ising trench warfare Set for tor this ac- ac lon tion the gunner pulls the trigger for each shot but ho has twenty charges charger ready read to send at an any individual Ind enemy without dropping r the gun from his I shoulder houlder The targets ets flew rte into spun spun- tel's as na the squad got ot to work A second magazine was fired also alsofrom i from rom the shoulder with the automatic Continued on Page Pas 1 I this section 1 BROWNING GUN EXCELS VERDICT Continued from Pago Page 1 1 action set act et Tile The ten guns gum delivered twenty shots each cach In a 0 flaro flare pf Qt sound almost a single Ingle report tho the firing filing wasso was wasso so fast Tho The targets and the tho earth around them were torn b by ZOO 00 bullets no one of ot which was far off orr Its mark both automatic automatic auto auto auto- Advancing firo followed o matic and semiautomatic The Tho lino line moved across the tho field firing tiring from Crom the hip this time with gun butts resting in metal cups on their bolts Tho The first twenty rounds wore ere delivered dell as tho thomen thomen thomen men taking three paces A now magazine handed forward b by bar the ammunition ammunition am am- carrier was slipped In and firing Iring resumed as they took tho the next two steps The Tho change chango took lI little tle more than a second of ot time Caldwell of ot New York was tho the first member of ot Congress to tr try tho the gun Ho lIo fired Ired forty rounds both semiautomatic semiautomatic matic and automatic Ho lie was followed b bv by Senators Wadsworth Sutherland I and Reed Hoed and Representatives 1 Kelley C of or Michigan an and Sisson Sisson Sis Sis- son of or Alabama Tho The dirt flew about the targets as the congressmen banged aWa away I Weapon linn hag Xo No Recoil Tho The gun Jun has no kick Representative tive Caldwell said It feels when you I Iare are firing It It as If It something were pu pushing steadily at your our shoulder II There Thore Is no kick at all Back at nt the tho longer range the tho BrownIng Browning Brown Brown- Ing machine guns were waiting on their tripods with boxes of ot bolted belted ammunition tion beside them In blasts of or 10 to shots at a time the sot soldiers ers tore up the hillside opposite a ste steady dy spurt of ot dust marking where the tho bullets fell Then came camo tho the dismantling and reassembling reassembling reas s of ot tho the weapons and In this the British machine gun experts showed great reat interest Without an any other tool than the tho rim of ot a n cartridge ge the guns were taken completely l apart Some Somo twenty pieces appeared scattered on the ground A twist here a snap there thero and in less time lime than it takes to to toll tell tollit it tho gun sun was reassembled and back at work worle The demonstration was order ordered d tomake to tomake tomake make it clear to members of or Con Congress ress wh why the tile ordnance bureau put flut aside all other makes of ot machine guns as ns the standard weapon of or tho the American arm army although no Browning Drowning guns had been built except the model weapons when the order was given Ordnance officials satisfied tonight that no member of ot Congress who witnessed the firing now the wisdom of or that decision ion lon |
