Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-09-24
BROWNING GUN IN
CLASS BY ITSELF
Remarkable New Tool Better
Than Anything of Its Type.
DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER
Fired From Shoulder or Hip in Bursts
OF Twenty Shots in TWO and One
Half Seconds-Air Cooled,
Gas Operated.
BY JAMES n. COLLINS.


Three hundred senator's, representa-
lives, journalists. and army officers
of the French, British, Italian Bel
gian and American forces stood be-
hind little squad Of ordnance men
the other day at a rifle range outside
Of Washington.
Attention." commanded the officer
in>charge of the squad.
Shoulder fire one magazine
Senli-automatic-R Load Aim
Fire! %
There was popping like that say,
of half dozen packs of giant fire.
crackers all set off at once 1t lasted
about ten seconds. the time required to
fire 20 shots from what looked like an
ordinary rifle in the hands of each
soldier. Five hundred yards away the
dirt flew behind row of small tar
gets set up to represent men.
shoulder fire = one magazine
automatic-load y was the next com
mand given.
But different volley was heard at
the command "Fire!" 1t sounded like
B-r-r-r-r-r, and lasted only two and
half seconds! If you want to estimate
the rapidity, listen to the ticking of
your watch, which averages about four
ticks per second, and realize that the
automatic fire of this weapon was just
twice as fast-eight standard army
rifle cartridges fired in a second with
one pull of the trigger.
And that was the new Browning
machine gun which Uncle Sam was
about to manufacture at the rate of
thousands week, and had brought to
this rifle range for its first public eXhi-
bition.
Other methods of firing were shown
with the gun placed at the hip ana
with the soldiers marching toward the
target, firing as they walked. Then
the spectators crowded around and be-
gan asking questions.
rs it air cooled or water cooled?
What does it weigh? How fast can
they be made? What do they cost?
10 II Il DCtISl hcSlpOl tIilS lIdNLllS
gun or that?"
All Were Convinced.
Among those present was one mem
Der Of congress who, a few weeks be-
fore, during an anxious inquiry into
our war preparations, had stated his
belief that the Browning machine gun
was only dream. And now he was
allowed to fire the weapon himself.
and planted a succession of bullets in
the distant target with an accuracy
which left no question in his mind as
to the tangibility or accuracy of this
new tool OF the American soldier.
On the following morning newspa-
ners throughout the country published
a detailed description of both this gun,
known as the light Browning" and
another type called the '"heavy Brown
ing" which was also demonstrated.
being fired from a tripod. water cooled,
and fed with canvas belts containing
$50 cartridges each. 1t has fired 10000
shots in a little less than 4S minutes.
Each legislator and journalist asked
his own questions, and there was an
honest spirit of inquiry evident Every
American present, while admitting the
impressive nature of the test. seemed
to feel that he was personally repre-
senting the nation and bound to over
look no technical details touching the
efficiency of these new weapons And
in that matter each American did truly
represent the nation which has been
keen to discover every part Of our war
program open to question, each accord
ing TO his own light and reading.
The reader of this article, too; will
want TO ask his own technical ques-
lions, and for his information all the
facts about both types of guns have
been summarized separately. so that at
tention here may be concentrated upon
another aspect of the machine-gun pro-
grants tactical use as a tool apart
from the mere details of how much it
weighs, how fast it fires, how many
shots a second, how many times it jams
IN a test, how it is cooled, how many
parts it has, how quickly they can be
taken down and put together again,
etc.
One of the first questions asked by
everybody concerning the light gun, for
instance, was: rs it cooled by air or
water" And the answer to that ques-
ton is: by air-but cooling is not a
problem with the light Browning"
Naturally n statement of that sort
comes as a surprise to the man in the
street who has heard that machine
guns are subject to the terrific heat of
smOkeleSs-powder gases, which some
times develop the destructive tempera-
ture of 1000 degrees Fahrenheit and
that keeping Il machine cool in action
is one of the chief problems with that
type of weapon. But when the tactical
use of this particular arm is under
stood, one easily understands how cool
ing may be disregarded in the light
Browning, and its design developed in
other directions for other purposes. SO
we will try to get the tactical point of
view-which is the point of view of
the American soldier carrying this
light automatic rifle over the top in
France by the hundreds and the thou
sands, and probably the tens of thou
sands. and not inconceivably by hun
dreds of thousands before the Hun
is beaten.
Provide Something Better.
Our ordnance department has been
working since we entered the war TO
send American soldiers to France with
a complete kit of tools representative
of American inventive ability. First
sizing up the job of cracking the Hun
out of trench. shell box. and subter-
ranean tunnel. and aseertaining what
the allies have found useful in the way