Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-09-26
BROWNING GUN N
CLASS BY ITSELF
Remarkable New Tool Better
Than Anything Of It's Type.
DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER
Fired From Shoulder o. Hip In Bursts
Of Twenty Shots In Two and One.
Halt seeends-Air Cooled,
Gas Operated.
BY JAMES n. COLLINS.
Trom the COMMITTEES on Public Informs
tlon. Washington. d.. CT

Ctfom the COMMITTEES on Public Informs |
tion. Washington. d. CO.
Three hundred senators, representa-
lives. journalists. and army officers
Of the French. British, Italian. Bel.
CLAN and American forces stood be.
hind q little squad Of ordnance men
the other day at q rife range outside
Of Washington.
Attention" commanded the officer
In charge Of the squad.
shoulder fire-one magazine
semi-automatlc-Readyl Loadl Aimi
EireI"
There was a popping like that, say,
Of half a dozen packs Of giant fire.
crackers all set of at once. 1t lasted
about ten seconds, tbs time required to
dre 20 shots from what looked like an
ordinary rifle in the hands Of each
soldier. Five hundred yards away the
dirt few behind a ROY Of small tar.
gets set up to represent men.
"Shoulder fire - one magazine
automatic-loadl" was the next CON.
mand given.
But a different volley was heard at
the command "Fire!" 1t sounded like
B~-r-r-r-r-r! and lasted only two and a
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
nO%o,na{io Gra ~ fb1u Vroopnp uros i1ct
twice as %fast-eight standard army
rifle cartridges fred 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 a 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 and
with the soldiers marching toward the
target, firing as they walked. Then
the spectators crowded around and be-
gan asking questions.
ITS 1t air cooled or water cooled7
What does 1t weigh? How fast can
they be made? What do they cost
Is 1t a better weapon than this machine
gun Or thatr
All Were Convinced.
Among those present was n mem
Der Of congress who, a few weeks be
fore, during an anxious inquiry into
our war preparations, had stated hi.
belief that the Browning machine CUR
was only a dream. And now he wal
allowed to fire the weapon himself
and planted a succession Of bullets II
the distant target with an accurac!
which left no question In his mind a!
to the tangibllity or accuracy Of THU
new tool Of the American soldier.
On the following morning newspa
pers throughout the country published
a detailed description Of both this gun
known as the Eight Browning" an,
another type called the 'heavy Brown
Ing" which was also demonstrated
being fred from a tripod, water cooled
and fed with canvas belts contalnin
250 cartridges each. 1t has fired 1000
shots in a little less than 4S minutes
Each legislator and journalist aske
his W questions, and there was a
honest spirit Of inquiry evident. Ever
American present, while admitting tn
impressive nature of the test. SCENE
to feel that he was personally repre-
senting the nation and bound to ovel
look no technical details touching tn
efficiency Of these new weapons. An
In that matter each American did trul
represent the nation which has bee
keen to discover every part Of u wa
program open to question, each ACCORD
. ing to his own light and reading.
The reader Of this article, too, wi
want to ask his own technical que'
: lions. and for his information all tn
facts about both types Of guns hay
1 been summarized separately, so that a
tention here may be concentrated upo
:. another aspect Of the m%achine'gun pr
gram-its tactical use as q tool apal
! from the mere details Of Row much
weighs. how fast It fires, how man
\ shots a second, how many times It jar
/ in a test, how It Is cooled, how man
parts 1t has, how quickly they can I
taken down and Put together agai
etc.
One Of the first questions asked I
4 everybody concerning the light gun, 4
J instance, was: us It cooled by air
" waterf' And the answer to that que
tion Is: "By air-but cooling Is not
problem with the light Browning
Naturally, q statement Of that 10
comes a. q surprise to the man in Il
. street who has heard that machiI
J! guns are subject to the terrific heat
8 smokeless.powdsr gases, which som
times develop the destructive temper
ture Of 1900 degrees Fahrenheit, al
that keeping a machine cool In acti'
70 IL one Of the chief problems with tn
type 81 weapon. But when the tactic
use Of this particular arm 10 undt
stood, n easily understands how CO..
~ ing may be disregarded 10 the Zig
" Browning, and Its design developed
other directions forsother purposes.
We will try TO get the tactical point
- .l~A A.. A. nx1S "A A1.s>s