New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1918-09-20
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 SecondsNAir Cooled,
Gas Operated.
BY N H.. COLLINS.


BY JAMES n. COLLINS.
(From the Committee on Public Informa-
tion. Washington, ID. c.
Three hundred senators. representa-
tives, Journalists. and army officers
Of the French. British. Italian, Bel
gian and American forces stood be-
hind n little squad of ordnance men
the other day at Il rifle range outside
Of Washington.
Attention! :" commanded the officer
In charge of the squad.
shoulder fire. n magazine
semi-autOmatic-Ready! Load! Aim !!
Fire"
There was a popping like that, say.
Of half n dozen packs Of giant fire.
crackers all set of at once. It 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 n row of small tar
gets set up to represent men.
shoulder fire - one magazine
automntic-load!" was the next com
mand given.
But a different volley was heard Mt
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 rapidly, 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 rs fnst-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 a week. and had brought to
this rife 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.
IT'S 1t air cooled or water cooled?
What does II weigh? How fast cnn
they be made? What do they cost?
Is It a better weapon than this machine
gun or that?"
All Were Convinced.
Among those present was one men,
Der Of congress who. a few weeks be-
fore, during an anxious inquiry into
our war preparations, had stated hiI
that the Browning machine gun
only a dream. And now he was
allowed to fire the weapon himself.
and planted n 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.
pers throughout the country published
detailed description Of both this gun,
known as the Eight Browning" and
another type called the "heavy'Brown-
which was also demonstrated,
being fired from n tripod. water cooled,
and fed with canvas belts containing
250 cartridges each. 1t has fired 10000
shots in a little less than 4S minutes.
Each legislator and journalist asked
his W questions. and there was nm
honest spirit of inquiry evident. Every
present, while admitting the
nature of the test. seemed
70 feel that he was personally repre-
the nation and bound to over
DOOk no technical details touching the
efficiency of these new weapons. And
that matter each American did truly
represent the nation which has been
Seen to discover every part of our war
program open to question, each accord
ng to his W light and reading.
The reader Of this article. too. will
want to ask his own technical ques-
ions. and for his information all the
acts about both types Of guns have
,een summarized separately, so that at
here may be concentrated upon
mother aspect Of the machine-gun pro-
tactical use as a tool apart
rom the mere details of how much 1t
how fast 1t fires, how many
hots a second. how many times 1t jams
n a test, how 1t Is cooled, how many
It has, how quickly they can he
AIKEN down and put together again.
tic.
One of the first questions asked by
verybody concerning the light gun, for
Instance, was: us 1t cooled by air or
And the answer to that Ques-
lon is: by air-but cooling is not a
roblem with the light Browning"
Naturally, a statement of that sort |
ONES as a surprise to the man In the
treet who has heard that machine
uns are subject to the terrific heat Of
mokeless-powder gases, which some
ines develop the destructive tempera-
IRE of 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. and
hat keeping a machine cool in action
) n Of the chief problems with that
vpe Of weapon. But when the tactical
Sc Of this particular arm is under
TODD. m easily understands how COOL
lg may be disregarded in the light
'rowning, and its design developed In
Their directions for other purposes. So
e will try to get the tactical point Of
is the point of view of
he American soldier carrying this
ght automatic rife over the top in
rance by the hundreds and the thou
ands, and probably the tens Of thou
ands, and not inconceivably by hun
reds Of thousands before the Hun
beaten.
Provide Something Better.
Our ordnance department has been
since we entered the war TO