The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1918-09-05
THE BROWNING GUN.

War has shown the need for two, II
not three, distinct types of machine
guns. One, with tripod and with
water-cooling to keep the gun from
burning up during long stretches of
automatic fire, to use on the defen-
sive. A pair of guns of this sort may
chatter the night through, firing
through the darkness on a line of
sight fixed by daylight, and spraying
with deadly bullets a road used at
night by the enemy, maybe two thous-
ands yards away. Only the heavy
tripod mount and weight in the gun
can ensure holding the line of fire
accurately against the vibration of
the recoil. Only the water-cooling
can keep down the heat evolved by
white-hot flame through the barrel.
Orthe gun may be called on to lay a
barrage of bullets on an enemy trench
from which it is suspected an attack
that ninty per cent of the casualties
of modern warfare are from machine
guns.
The other type is the light automatic
rifle carried in the front wave of
advancing troops. 1t can be fired
readily from the shoulder one shot
at a time like the ordinary military
rifle, or by the throw of a latch 1t
will fire with the rapidity of pneu-
matte riveter hammerfng together the
| plates of the steel ship. The French
/
spray the trench of the Hun in the fatal
interval between lifting their own bar
rage and their arrival, bomb-preceded
at the edge of the trench. If the
French automatic rifleman finds the
Hun resistance sitter than expected
he snuggles into a handy shell-hole
4 and proceeds to pop on Fritx when
ever a head comes up into sight. BE
side him the two men who brought
along the ammunition packed in mag
azines slip him the crescent-shaped con
tainers as fast as the gun shoots 1t
; self empty. 1t does this ct the rate
of from $50 to 200 shots a minute wheI
set for automatic fire.
John Browning brought to the
Government machine-gun testing board
two weapons that proved to be 81
good that they were forthwith adopt
ed.
Following the adoption of these tw,
Browning guns, Browning was asket
to re-design the water-cooled gun TO
airplane use, leaving off the water
! jacket and using air for cooling, be
cause the rapid wotion of the plan
makes this feasible. The re-desinge,
plane gun weighs eighteen pounds AM
I 1t is belt fed. The Government feel
\ that when the flying fighter has fire.
two hundred and fifty rounds he
either hors de combat or victor
! He has no magazine to bother witt
nothing to take away his attentio
\ from operating the plane. He point
the plane at the foe and presses tn
4 trigger. The gun does the rest 70
\ two hundred and fifty shots. So the
4 put two such guns ON plane, mounte
to fire at practically a common cente
/ and they arranged them TO fire t,
4 gether at the pressure of one handil
& placed trigger. They put a non-mas
7 nifying tubular lens at the eye emf
4 and cross-hair at the aiming poiI
at the other end, then he'presses til
! trigger and two man-killers spot
twelve hundred bullets a minute unit
! he lets go the trigger.
The success of the great Brownin
guns how triplets: water-coolet
I air-plane. and light rifie-is due mer,
8 ly to Brownings understanding
! machine gun problems and his masterl