Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-02-28

Washington Feb, 2I-lhG latest
,AmerI nm contribution So warilre
the browning automatic rifle, was
officially introduced to congress to-
day at demonstration staged in d
remote valley in the hills that sur
round this city. For more than two
hours the air was filled with the
sound Of the firing, senators and rep
resentatives operating the new Wea-
pons under direction of soldiers from
the machine gun school at SPRING
field, Mass.
High army officials including AS
sistant Secretary Crowell, Major
General Biddle, acting chief of staff,
and a score of officers from British,
French, Italian and Belgian missions
watched the demonstration with keen
interest.
There was no target practice, al
though line OF figures. shaped like
men was battered 20 pieces by the
SQUAD of ten gunners. Members of
congress also scored repeated hits.
As to the performance of the ten
guns used, there was not a muI-
function, despite the fact that hun
drods of rounds were fired and the
squad from the school had never seen
the guns before last Saturday
Machine Guns in Action.
When firing with the automatic
rifles was completed two Browning
heavy machine guns We're put in ac-
ton. Thousands of bullets were sent
streaming across the valley to set the
dust leaping on the far hillside.
Again there was no malfunction and
the demonstration was completed
with an exhibition of the simplicity
Of construction, one of the guns be-
ing dismounted, taken apart and re-
assembled repeatedly in a few min
utes' time.
These two guns have been selected
by the ordnance bureau of the war
department as the weapons with
which the army is soon to he
equipped. The automatic rifles used
came from factories where the actual
production on a quantity scale has
already started. Within a matter of
NNNhSi hdilAl Gus VIII bG utllNtItJ
every day and thousands every week.
They are to be the cover the top
guns of tomorrow as the French
Chauchat is used by French and
American troops today. A non-com-
missoned officer Of the demon
strating detachment, who, with his
associates, has been drilled with
every type of weapon used by the al
lied troops including the Chauchat,
the orly protype of the new rifle,
spoke for the whole squad, when he
said;
Finest Gun in the World.
That's the finest gun in the
world"
When the invited guests arrived at
the range they found twenty men
from the school, commanded by Mai.
]. S. Hatcher, busy filling magazines
and belts. The ten rifles were un-
packed and the visitors were aston
ished at their lightness. They weigh
fifteen pounds. loaded with twenty
rounds, all of which can be fired in
breath.
Fall in came the order, and ten
of the men stepped into the front
rank, each carrying his rifle and
about his waist a heavy web belt,
the pockets of which bulged with
magazines carrying twenty rounds
each. Behind him stood his ammu-
milton carrier, also belted and with
two cross belts swinging from his
shoulders
Semi-autCmatic Firing.
As the little colmn swung away
toward the range the riflemen swung
their guns up to shoulder as easily as
they would an ordinary single-shot
weapon. At first glance there was
nothing to show the extra ordinarily
deadly character of their equipment.
The first firing was semi-automatic,
a feature first developed by the
French in the Chauchat and which
has gone far, it is said towards revo-
lutionizing trench warfare. Set for
this action, the gunner pulls the
trigger for each shot, but he has
twenty charges ready to send at an
individual enemy without dropping
the gun from his shoulder. The tar
gets flew into splinters as the squad
got to work.
A second magazine was fired also
from the shoulder, with the automatic