Norwich bulletin., 1918-02-28

Washington, Feb. z7. = The latest American contribution to warfare, the
 Browning automatic rife, was official i ly introduced to congress today. at a demonstration staged in remote val | ley in the hills that surround this city. i For more than two hours the air was | filled with the snarl and crash of the firing, senators and representatives operating the new weapons for them selves under tlle5 direction of a squad I of soldiers from the machine gun
 school at Springfield, Mass.
 High army officials, including Assis-
 tant Secretary Ctoweii. Major General
 Biddle acting chief of staff, and
 score of officers from the British, French, Italian and Belgian missions Ewatched the demonstration with keen interest. ,e' 5.' There was no target practice. al though line of figures shaped like men was battered to pieces by the l squad of ten gunners. Members of
 congress also scored repeated hits al though it was the first time any of !! them had handled a weapon of this character.
 Test of Ten Guns. .e l As to the performance of the ten iguns used. there was not a stoppage Tor maIfunction. despite the. fact that hundreds of rounds, were fired and the squad from the school had never seen \ the guns before last Saturday.
 H. When firing with the automatic ri fies was completed, two Browning heavy machine guns, were put. in ae : %tion Tnousands Of bullets were sent ,istfeaniing across the valley to see the j,dllst leaping on the far f1ilIsides. Again ithere was no krna1 fun { ton and the demonstration was ompleted with an exhibition of the simplicity of con struetfon, one of the guns being dis mountedg taken apart and reassembied lrepeatedly in few minutes time.
 l .., "over the Top, Guns.
 l These two guns have tbeen selected lby the. ordnance bureau5of the war de- i partnient as the weapons with which the army is. soon to be equipped. The automatic rifles used came from fac tories where the actual promotion on la quantity scale has already started. Within a ma atte1' of weeks, hundreds
 will be delivered every day and thou
 lover the top" guns of tomorrow. as ithes French chaucat is used by the French and American troops today. A Inon- commissioner Gfffcer of the dem Ionstrating deta cnraent who with his
 assistants has been drilled with every Itype of wea0an used by the allied ; troops, including the cflAucat,. the only [ Eprototype of the new rife. spoke for r the whole squad when he said:
 That's the finest sssT1 in the world. :
 When the invited guests arrived a:
 lthe range today they found twenty men from the school, commanded by , Major J. S. Hatcher, busy filling mag l, azines and belts. The ten rifles were unpacked and the visitors were aston
 ished at the lightness of the terrible
 weapons. They weigh fifteen pounds . Headed with twenty rounds. all o1 3 which can be fired in a breath. l Fall in' came the order. and ter 2 of the men stepped into the front
 rank each carrying his rifle and about
 his waist a heavy web belt: the pock- 5 cts of which bulged with magazines
 carrying twenty rounds each. Behind l him stood his ammunition carrier; al 8 SC belted and with two cross belts
 swinging from his shoulders. M
 Deadly Character.
 . As the little column swung away Z toward the range, the rifiemen swung [ their guns up to- a shoulder as easily r as they would an ordinary single shot 3 weapon. At. first glance there was
 nothing to show the extraordinarily
 deadly character, of their equipment ,, SThe first firing was semi-automatic l | 8, feature first developed by the g French in the chaucat and which has :. gone far, it is said, towards revolution izing trench warfare. Set for this ac-
 ton, the gunner pulls the trigger fol
 leach shot: but he has twenty charges s ready to send at an individual -enem, @ without dropping the gun from his T shoulder The targets flew into splin
 ffrc as f11a Sf1J12c1 g0t JE0rlf f i A second magazine was fired, alst from the shoulder, with the automati,
 faction set The ten guns delivered . twenty shots each in flare of sound e almost 2. single report the firing wa! f so fast. The targets and the eartl : around them were torn by 200 bullet n 10 one of which was far off its mark |. Advancing fire followed, both auto
 tnnatic and semi automatic. The lin. : moved across the field. firing iron 9 the hip this time. with gun butts rest Y ing in metal cups on their belts. Tn Q first twenty rounds were delivered. a - !tne men were taking three paces. 1 f. Eriew magazine, handed forward by tn ' ammunition carrier, was slipped il
 land firing resumed as they took tn
 lnext two steps. The change. took lit l. Itie more than a second of time.
 est Representative Caldwell of NeI ,I York was the first member of congres n Ito try the gun. He fired. forty. rounds ', beth g semi automatic and automatic =, He was followed by Senators Wads e worth, Sutherland, Frelinghuysen an
 Reed and Representatives Kelley c
 Michigan and Sisson of Alabama. Tn s dirt flew about the targets as the con .- lgressmen banged away.
 Isl Has No Kick. r "The gun has no kick" Representa- l. ltive Caldwell said. fit feels when yo .-I Iare' firing it as though something wer ,f pushing steadily at your shoulde, Id tThere' Is no kick at. all"
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