| OCR Text |
Show WIVE US MORE BROWNINGS" CRY ALLIED "SUICIDE CLUBS" vMc'1" tlai.i c? Germany tao pinned her dj-ing hope on-the Maxim maAine gun and America-is -more heavy i .below) Browning maehrne rA stopped for cooling than matching her with the Browning machine gun jam - for which the Allie are dam- HHHHk - ; H'PPy' By Charles IF. Duke ' Maxims for every thousand German The 1900 Winchester model single- KT jflHH 4 IIhHHI 1 AN AUTOMATIC revolver, per- the concrete forts of Liege and tool, Infantrymen. shot rifle with bolt action. idge ars Hred f:.en, d ,Jeld, yfliPiiHHiiy M , . ., , . i . v. America and her allies now have The Colt machine gun, used in the dU'e magazine containing twenty or 1 sfiS8sK3!!5i "(acted 1 John M. Browning, an Possession of the celebrated Fabrique the 8upremacy in artulery. Germany. Spanish-Americm, War and the Boxer for-pe,,,, Purpo,e, fony ,rM.-. 'S ' ' MBBKBSKKtfS I American gunsmith, - aimed even lonale aimim.1. lighting rear-guard actions, retreat- uprising in China. , artridsey. The magazine ii!;i i.. ' MVm ' .vyAt'Sr. " before the war as "the world's great- 0r m01e 1 d" 0U1 ears n" ie ing precipitately without time to set First automatic pistol. This was df-t.-.ctied i.v m ; ,;i .- nr.a-saa- -, bun. jlSSSiSPWmi'' 'iSf est gunman," started the world war Ttronahold o- oBrownln- '"' hOW" rs and "Big Berthas" made ln Be,sium' ' 8nd ew magazine attached by on, XHHP,HSy when It was" wielded by a Serbian stu- They took ovei -his plars "stole" them turns to tlle maclline-sun and plant Vest pocket and military auto- motion, this changing operation re- jWBrMMBm WSSIlSISSir dent at Sarajevo in the assassination they did the plans of the American "midl Tcr vanned" tondaturm ""ft 'caliber automatic pistol no oiTThe" gun may of operand as'an' IHrfc W ' of an Austrian archduke. submarine, the American lank, the have an opportunity to "dig in." The used in the United States army, navy automatic or as a semi-automatic arm NKkS And now. more than four years American rifle and have been turn- AIes are said now to hav6 the su. and national guard. - There 1 , lever al the eas5 disposa 'SmBSK later, another Browning product, the ing out millions of automatic Are- premaoy in the air. Even the Amer- First automatic shotgun. of the rifleman. By putting the lever 'KtKSm'' Browning machine gun, conceived and arms. "Stolen" fuel from Lens and ical, army on lhe Meuse has its own First automatic sporting riSe in the first position the gun is made PfflS wrought out of the same ingenious Valenciennes, has tired ordnance plants airplaines and aviators to the exclu- The Browning light machine gun and to tire single shots bv trigger release " " This is the Browning machine rifle, model of 1918, ',""";" . - ' . which tires 350 continuous shots before it has to be Germany lias pinned her dying hope pn the Maxim niadiine gun and America is more stopped for cooling than matching her with the Browning machine gun By Charles W. Duke JOHN M. BROWNING "Master Gunman of the World,"' the inventor of many automatic firearms, fire-arms, including the famous Browning machine gnnp that Americalt troops are using so effectively iypes of the light (above) and heavy (below) Browning machine guns for which the Allies are clamoring clam-oring so insistently Cartridges are fired fr6m a detach able magazine containing twenty, or for special purposes forty service cartridges. The magazine may be detached by merely pressing a button and a new magazine attached by oiw motion, this changing operation requiring' re-quiring' about two and one-half seconds. sec-onds. The-gun may be operated as an automatic or as a semi-automatic arm. There is a lever at the easy disposal of the rifleman. By putting the lever in the first position the gun is made to lire single shots by trigger release; by putting the lever in the second position the gun becomes automatic .Mid will fire twenty shots in from two and one-half to three seconds; the third lever position is the "safe" or locking device. The designer intended the gun to be used more as a, semiautomatic semi-automatic than as an automatic arm. Powder gases create terrific heat, sometimes developing the destructive temperature of 4000 degrees Fahrenheit. Fahren-heit. An air-cooled automatic gun therefore has its limitations. The Browning rifle has open and very .simple construction and cools remarkably remark-ably quickly. The rifleman may fire 350 continuous shots from It without having to stop and cool the weapon. The chief characteristic of the gun is its extreme simplicity of construction, construc-tion, rendering the manufacturing problem correspondingly simple. It has fewer than twenty principal parts and possesses the great advantage of standardization. being easily and quickly taken apart and reassembled by the ordinary soldier. From the manufacturing viewpoint the gun possesses pos-sesses the great advantage that it may promptly be produced In large and increasing volume as shop machinery is multiplied and operating personnel developed. Used cartridges are ejected from the side of the gun. never crossing the sight of the rifleman, and coining out with sufficient force to clear themselves them-selves beyond his notice. A feature of the rifle is that the cocking handle remains stationary while the gun is ln operation, and is so arranged that it will in no way hamper the gunner, thus eliminating a danger common to many guns. . The gunner may operate the gun at all times without aid. Only one tool, a small wrench, is needed to care for the gun, as most of the -operations of taking it down and reassembling may be performed by use of a cart-ridge cart-ridge as a tool. In the official tests of the Browning Brown-ing rifle the individual members of The 1900 Winchester model single-shot single-shot rifle, with bolt action. The Colt machine gun, used in the Spanish-American War and the Boxer uprising in China. First automatic pistol. This was made in Belgium. . Vest pocket and military automatic auto-matic pistols. The .45 caliber automatic pistol now used in the United States army, navy and national guard. First automatic shotgun. First automatic sporting riPe. The Browning light u.aehine gun and the Browning heavy machine gun, both ' of which were adopted by the United States and are doing their best at the front to take the Hun off the map. There are many stories told of how Browning came to invent the machine gun now in demand. One was to the effect that the Government officials summoned him to Washington, gave him models of -all machine guns in vogue, locked him up in a rifom and told him "to go to if This lias been denied. From all accounts there seems more truth in the story that Browning himself saw Uie value of the machine gun when the war started and, smarting under the remembrance of the Hun ruthlessness at Liege and elsewhere, set himself out like a true American to give his nation and his civilization a weapon more powerful than any before, a weapon with which to make the Vorkl safe for democracy. de-mocracy. The Browning machine rifle is an air-cooled, gas-operated gun, weighing fifteen pounds, and resembling in appearance ap-pearance the ordinary service rifle. It may be fired from the shoulder, the rifleman finding his target over sights identical with those used on the new United States 'rifle, model of 1917, or from the hip, the rifleman finding his target by his general sense ot direction, the latter being a knack quickly acquired through practice. The principle i5f gas ' operation is simple. The gun is cocked with an easily operated handle for the first shot- The bullet is expelled by gases which exert a maximum pressure of 50,000 pounds to the square Inch (ordinary service cartridge, such as is used in the United States rifle, model of 1917, and the Springfield.) A small portion of this powder gas la taken off by the gun mechanism to act as power to operate the gun automatically. A cartridge discharged from this gun has approximately the same power as thai fired from the United States rifle, model of 1917. r from a Springfield service rifle. the war board fired a number of shots from the hip and shoulder, standing, and from the shoulder, prone ' and kneeling. The shots were flred by these members without difficulties or malfunctions of any kind, and the heat of the barrel was not such as to interfere with the manipulation of the weapon. The gun was then put through an endurance test. In bursts of 500 or 1000 a total of 20,000 shots were flred, the gun being cooled between be-tween bursts. During the first 8000 rounds tlie cooling was performed by plunging the gun into a barrel of cold water. This caused the gas cylinder tube to crack, due to the sudden contraction con-traction of the metal. The gas cylinder cylin-der tube was changed and thereafter cooling was effected by sponging off the barrel with cool water and without with-out recurrence of a cracked tube. Requires but One Tool The gunner carries approximately 120 rounds of ammunition in his belt or bandoleer and his two assistant -lorry four hundred and two hundred and forty rounds respectfully loaded in magazines. The loaded magazine weighs one pound seven ounces. Thus it is possible for a gunner to go into battle with a supply of about 800 rounds of ammunition. Cartridges are stripped from clips into the magazines with ease, this operation requiring little time. Because of its portability and its automatic and semiautomatic functions func-tions the Browning rifle possesses tac tical possibilities of groat Importance. It permits troops to go forward in attack with tremendous advantage over adversaries who do not possess equally efficient automatic guns. When the gunner meets a detachment of the enemy he is able to take sure aim over the sights and from his shoulder, mow1 them down, with from twenty, to forty shots expelled almost; instantly, instant-ly, while he may use only single shots and conserve his ammunition if the enemy target is but one soldier. Effective Ef-fective use may be made of the gun in sweeping out trenches , and In similar tactics. The tendency of demoralization de-moralization among troops , when they are confronted by attacking automatlo guns is a well established fact. The Browning machine gun. heavy type, model of 191S, is water-cooled and is operated by means of the power created by the recoil action. It Is fed from a cotton belt which contains 250 rounds of service cartridges. The belts may be rapidly loaded by means of a, machine which is a development of the one which Mr. Browning devised de-vised some twenty years ago in connection con-nection with the Colt gun. The most remarkable featuies of this heavier type of Browning gun are its simplicity of construction, rendering ren-dering manufacturing problems .easy, apd its great endurance. In tests 20,000 rounds were fired from this gun with only three stoppages, one due to a defective cartridge In a further test firing was continued with the same uu to C9.500 shots, when the sear gave way. A duplicate gun fired 20.000 shots In forty-eight mill-tites mill-tites and sixteen seconds, with a malfunction mal-function and with only three stoppages, stop-pages, these being due to defective cartridges. The ghn weighs thirty-four thirty-four and one-half poi.nda, with the water jacket filled. It is flred from a tripod. It has great tacical value for such firing as overhead. Indirect, barrage, bar-rage, defensive and similar uses. With certain modifications this gun is applicable to aviation service. When used for this purpose it 's stripped of lis water jacket and weighs twenty-two and one-half pounds. Maxims for every thousand German infantrymen. America and her allies now have the supremacy In artillery. Germany, fighting rear-guard actions, retreating retreat-ing precipitately without time to set up giant howitzers and "Big Berthas," turns to the machine-gun and plants thern by the thousands to hold the line until her vanquished landsturm have an opportunity to "dig in." The Allies are said now to have the supremacy su-premacy in the air. Even the American Amer-ican army on the Meuse has its own airplaines and aviators to the exclusion exclu-sion of English and French air patrols. Our boys have, rifles, hand-grenades, hand-grenades, bayonets and gas In endless quantities. Now for the machine guns. From the day the American marines ma-rines and the 'Iron Division" of former for-mer national guardsmen from Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania cut loose at Chateau-Thierry the Yankees have shown no fear of the Maxims of the Hun. Wtli . valor unchallenged they have swept forward for-ward to close grapples with German machine-gun units. Formerly, It was said, the French and English went forward only after a barrage or an artillery fire aimed at clearing out the machine-gun nests. But the Americans went over the top without any preparation and kept right on going until they were close eiough to give the Hun the cold steel of the bayonet in man-to-man fighting. Matching the Germans gun for gun the Allies are pouring machine guns Into the giant hopper of war munitions muni-tions by the tens of thousands. If the machine gun is a powerful weapon of defense, it is also a potent weapon for the purpose of offense. Theoretically machine-gun fire is but rifle tire highly high-ly concentrated. Two men with a machine gun can do the work, of fifty or more " riflemen. If one German, camouflaged In a vantage point, can hold off fifty Americans armed with rifles, it is apparent that fifty, Americans Amer-icans armed with machine giins can make it hot for twenty-fve- hundred Huns, particularly when they iare oh the run ln the open country, dodging from shell hole to shell hole, or trench to trench. Some Browning Inventions In this crisis the Allies have recourse re-course to the Browning machine gun, far and away the greatest machine gun ever put together. After tests on the firing line ln Franc it has been pronounced the best of them better than the Vickers, or the LewL, or the Maxim that the German uses. Firing 39,000 shots without missing, able to fire 400 shoia without being opened to cool, functioning properly without any "kick" was the test that resulted in its being adopted as standard stand-ard for the United States army. And now, so well has it performed, the Allied Governments are clamoring for more Browning light and heavy machine ma-chine guns. John M. Browning has been a gunsmith gun-smith since birth. His father was one of the pioneer settlors .n Utah and a gunsmith in the days of the California forty-niners. Here are some of the son's achievements:- Made first gun when fourteen years old. At fifteen designed single-shot rifle and sold the patents to the Winchester Winches-ter company, whiciimade it in various Calibers. Still in uso today. Tile Winchester 1886 model, which replaced most rifles made before and la still in -use for the high power .33 caliber. I ... The lever shotgun for the Winchester Winches-ter company. The 1S90 Winchester model, which has outsold all other .22 caliber models. The 1892 Winchester model, the larger caliber of which waa used by Admiral Peary. The 1S94 Winchester model. The 1S95 lever action rifle, with box magazine, for the Winchester company. f The 1897 model shotgun for the Winchester company, AN AUTOMATIC revolver, perfected per-fected by John M. Browning, an American gunsmith, acclaimed even before the war as "the world's great- I est gunman," started the world war when it was wielded by a Serbian student stu-dent at Sarajevo in the assassination of an Austrian archduke. And now, more than four years later, another Browning product, the . Browning machine gun, Conceived and wrought out of the same ingenious mind, and generally accredited as the stellar production of "the master gunman," gun-man," may be the prime factor in ending end-ing th war, according to recent de-vekjjments. de-vekjjments. aJiVe us Browning machine guns thousands of- them and we will spray Hunland until the path to Berlin is smoothed out straight and clear," is yhe message brought back to America aTi the trenches of Pershing's Cru-6ewfes Cru-6ewfes and the Allied armies by Briga- I dier General Samuel McRoberts, chief I of the procurement division of the United States War Department. While this cry re-echoes through every gun factory in America, stirring thousands of gunsmiths; engaged in the production of heavy and light Browning Brown-ing machine guns ari' vitalizing the whole ordnance program. "Gunman" Browning, eager and alert, although nearlng the allotted three-score years and ten. sits back ln his Ogden, Utah, workshop alternately strumming his old banjo and tugging his iron-gray mustache. The banjo is easily explained. John Browning, when he got tired tinker- j ing at guns and revohers and various other modern automatic firearms for which he is famous, invariably turned to the old banjo for a bit of recreation. As for plucking at his mustache, there is a real story back of the picture of , the nervous old -gunman of today, a real reason why he "pllnk plinks" at the banjo and strokes his mustache in nervous anxiety these autumn days while hearing the call from the trenches for more Browning machine guns. Here's the reason: Decoration From Belgians Five years ago, when there was hardly a shadow of the storm that broke In 1914, they were feting John U. Browning in the quiet little kingdom king-dom of Belgium for his remarkable achievements in gunnery. His fame had spread across tho Atlantic from the Ogden. Utah, workshop, and the "master gunner" had been invited by i the Belgian Government 'to set up a Hgmmoth ordnance works. This waa j doN at Liege under the direction of King Albert. On the particular sum-I sum-I tner day hi 1913 in question they were giving John Browning a. banquet in the presence of royalty and titled dignitaries dig-nitaries of various European kingdoms, for the millionth vest-pocket automatic auto-matic pistol had been turned out by tho Fabrique Nationals at Liege. The banquet was to honor the occasion. At Us conclusion King Albert bestowed ' Ud- the American gunsmith the Belgian Bel-gian Order of Leopold, a distinguished decoration that carried with it the title of "Sir John M. Browning." Something else happened that day M Llee. Two ornate replicas of the one-millionth Browning automatic Pistol, finished In gold and much adorned, were produced. One was presented pre-sented to the German Kaiser, who bad been a heavy buyer of Browning automatic pistols for his army. All f the armies of Europe were being quipped with Browning revolvers. Even the "efficient" German army was carrying sldearms made In Belgian factory from the plans of an Ameri-"JJftventor, Ameri-"JJftventor, ral the world knows what happened r In Liege a year after this ceremony I' in honor of Sir John M. Browning. I Ruthless pan-Germanism, tearing up ; k we Belgian neutrality pact and . Brusting the Browning pistol against HBpheart of the world, battered down the concrete forts of Liege and took possession of the celebrated Fabrique Nationale Arsenal. For more than four years now the Germans have held possession of the old stronghold of John Browning. They took over his plans "stole" them as they did the plans of the American submarine, the American tank, the American rifle and have been turning turn-ing out millions of automatic firearms. fire-arms. "Stolen" fuel from Lens and Valenciennes has fired ordnance plants In "stolen" Belgium, where metals from the "stolen" Briey basin have been fashioned into the weapons put together from the "stolen" blueprints of Browning. These weapons have been turned against the millions of sons of democracy by tlie bloodthirsty sons of autocracy until the soil of France and Belgium has been drenched drench-ed with crimson. . g "The First Shall Be Last" But now John M. Browning is having hav-ing his revenge after four years, ln fulfillment of the biblical prophecy that "the first shall be last and the last shall be first" the hideous Prussian Prus-sian war machine that rolled over Liege has been turned back and Liege erelong may bo restored to her rightful right-ful owners. The Browning machine gun of today is a thousand times more powerful than the "stolen" Browning revolver' 'f yesterday. Soon after the wax started Browning Brown-ing set himself to the perfection of a new machine gun. With keen perception per-ception he foresaw the value of tho weapon that would shoot a hundred shots to the rifle's one shot. Ir; his vision of 1914 Browning saw that modern mod-ern warfare called for the evolution of new and gigantic weapons of war. And the man who strummed his banjo in Utah while working out the processes proc-esses with which he had first eliminated elimi-nated the "kick" from a. fIAs strummed strum-med harder than ever over his new machine gun. Nero was an idler fiddling while Rome burned. Browning was a genius gen-ius hammering on his old banjo while he gained new initiative and perception percep-tion for the task at hand. The answer comes back overly he Atlantic today from the khaki sins who are hurling aside the Prussian beasts and cleaving the way to victory: vic-tory: "Give us more Browning machine ma-chine guns! " Machine guns seem likely to turn the scales of battle. But for Maxim machine guns the Germans might not have escaped from the Soissons-Rhe'ims Soissons-Rhe'ims pocket, or the St. Mihiel salient, sa-lient, or other traps into which Hin-der.burg's Hin-der.burg's legions were forced by Foch's brilliant strategies. Thousands of machine guns placed advantageously advantageous-ly by the Hun leaders enabled their beaten brigades to slip away ln retreat re-treat to new lines of battle. But for machine guns along the Marne and the Vesle our valiant troops might have plunged forward in such an encircling en-circling movement as to cause the immediate im-mediate collapse of the whole German army in northern France. The majority ma-jority of our boys who fell at Chateau-Thierry Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Woods were victims vic-tims of German machine-gun fire. Germany's Main Dependency lighting on the defensive. Germany finds the machine gun her logical weapon. No longer is the Infantryman Infantry-man with rifle the fighting unit in the German command. The Hun has lost many thousands In slain, wounded and .yptives. Conservation of manpower man-power is tho cry of the hour, and It Is necessary thai every fighting unit bu made do the work ot many fighting units. The result has been that Germany Ger-many has turned to the machine gun as her savior. All German forces are organized not on the basis of the number of rifles to a force, but on the basis of the number of machine guns to each regiment. There are now 125 |
