| Show ne hw no im 1 f iam i R Automa hc 0 demonstration oe of latest infantry arm at aberdeen meets government tests Wil washington hington every doughboy may be ba practically a machine gunner in future wars wara duo to progress made by ordnance experts in developing a semiautomatic shoulder rifle to replace the regular service magazine guns recent demonet demonstration ration firing with tho the latest postwar model the garlind semiautomatic at the aberdeen ml md proving grounds has convinced many officers they are on tile the road to the long sought solution of tho the proper weapon for the infantry tile the garand conrand named after its inventor john 0 garand long employed at the springfield arsenal Is one of 0 numerous with which array army experts have been working it Is approximately tile the same size t anil weight na as the army standard springfield 1 r magazine action rifle with which nil all american forces are equipped said to be tho the most effective military diflo in tho the worl the tha springfield however with of tho the bolt action necessary necess nry to reload for each shot has a maximum rate of ire fire of about twenty alvo shots a minute while the grand garand developed a speed of sixty shots it a manuto during tile tho at aberdeen like 1003 springfield in many respects the new gun to Is an exact counterpart of the 1003 springfield and it Is lighter than the modi modified flod enfield produced in quantity during tho the war the automatic devico device applies only to tho the breech action for tho the purpose of ejecting shells and reloading it Is necessary to td pull tho the trigger each cacti time to ire fire in the tests at aberdeen a war department part ment memorandum says this gun was alred with groat MIC cess and icat once became a matter of grent interest to those who nry anro watching it because of its possibilities for rapid accurate and sustained tiring from the shoulder though being nt at tho the sumo same time a light portable gun which can be carried without fatigue to the individual soldier at another point the memorandum said the performance of the conrand under severe tests as to endurance promised to fulfill to the many requirements that will bo be imposed upon it still to be developed 1111 results cults thus fr far conc concludes lodes the memorandum justify the belief that such a weapon a semiautomatic 1 shoulder rifle can bo be suitably devel aped and manufactured to replace the well known magazine fed liand hand oper cited shoulder rifle semiautomatic rims guns have for sporting purposes for years but no m mechanism suitable for military purposes pu reposes has been produced tile alie garn garand nd Is still in its development stages but there la is no debt that military experts expect it ultimately to replace tile the springfield what eb changes tinges in tactics will result have not yet been worked out with the infantry equipped to deliver pearly nearly three times its present maximum ivol volume of alre however find and with infantry companies relieved of the jot job of pacI present day automatic matic rines rifles to thy the front and being greatly slowed down in movement thereby it Is obvious there will be ra radical cical changes in battle tactics when the new gun Is issued |
