El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-06-29
BY
Frank G. Carpenter
Copyright. 1918 By
Frank C. Carpenter

900 shots ana ApMaLEu 81 AA-AA-e--
Maxim automatic maeh-ne sun anl
The Vickers machine gun are aLs1
LARGELY used they are OF some" --as
similar construction
The Maxim weighs 13 pounds al-
the Vfclzers IS including the water
in the Jacket The water bolls aIler
the first 500 shots, and il eVap9rales
at the rate Of a pint and a 1al1 CIV
erv 1000 rounds after that we are
now using the Nickers- / saw them
made in the Colt laczory al hai -Lolu
Heavy Drowning Is best
Our best guns by far are the heaEy
Browning machine guns and the liShl
BROWNING automatic rifle. These nave
been perfected only since the war De-
gan. and they are now being maze IN
Quantities in several or the large gun
factories Of the United States.
BY July we shall be making le."Jy
reeT-v BroWninEs q month The neaFg
Browning viii shoot 500 shots ana
upward a minute IL Is ugnL "Ae4
its efficiency is considered II is used
with a tripod
ME light Browning can be handled
by one man and IL VIII be one OF me
chief arms used by our soldiers IN go
ms over the TOD. 1t viii fire 20 Snols
in two seconds 1t weighs only 70
bounds. 1t may be fired from the
shoulder or from the hip, being SUD
ported there by a strap over the
shoulder.
ID is necessary LuaL LAt LAuAee-l--9
I Of our soldiers who viii handle ma
chine guns should understand all
about them. They have TO know now
TO put the guns together, and lake
I them apart; and they must Know NOR
ouEhly their operation, including lue
forward and backward movements,
and what each part plays in the gun
In order 10 teach the soldiers the
] government has TO train experts VINO
can be sent TO the various canon
ments and TO Europe to instruct ara
train machine gunners there ECr
{ this purpose there has been estab-
lished here at Springfield what mil {
be called q. normal training school
/ for machine gun experts.
Mechanical skill Counts
The students are selected by the OF
] ficers OF the various troops through
out the country and sent here TO pc
( trained. They are picked out Tor
/ their mechanical skill Yankee IN
I genufty and general capabihty, ana
/ according TO soldier records as we'll
/ school, and new men are always ar
I irving to take the places OF those VINO
I are sent out to teach
The idea OF establishing this school
arose during our troubles IN MEXICO.
I when Villa and his band raided Co
Ilumbus in 1915, the troops there had
four Benet-Nercie guns and they Kept
some OF these going in the darkness
and confusion Of the attack until the
/ last strip Of ammunition was eX-
hausted.
Nevertheless the cunning was crit
icised and this brought about the
founding Of machine gun schools al
san Antonio, and later at Harungen
Tex where understand they are sun
training gunners-
( These schools were organized by
Capt J. S. Hatcher, who has now
reached the rank OF major. he IS per
haps the best informed man on ma
chine guns and gunnery In the united
States service. he has written tex
book on machine guns, and Is con-
sidered an authority in connection
with them. He acted for a time as
the head Of the Harlingen school, and
then came 10 Springfield to TAKE
charge OF the school opened here JUS
after war was declared
Long Course OF Trimming.
His first class consisted Of 20 civil
fans chiefly machinists from the rae.
tories and arsenals OF New England
The most Of them have since gone q
France as machine gun experts In'
second class comprised about 50 vol
unteer students from the Massachu
sets Institute OF Technology Ihe1
have also furnished many machine
sun instructors for our soldiers il
Since then many other STUDENT
have been enrolled The course o.
instruction takes about seven weeks
and there is a regular procession o
would be machine gunners- coming il
from and OF trained experts going on
10 the camps No man is graduate
/ without he can prove his efficiency
To show you what % means to b
an efficient gun expert I have visit
ed the school in the United States ar
senal and watched the gunners a
work. I have seen them experiment
: ing in the shooting gallery, and hav
, seen them bliudfolded. taking the va
rious kinds Of guns apart and puttinl
them together again without once re
: moving the bandages from their eyes
Some Guns Have 200 Parts.
: Some Of the machine guns have i
{ the neighborhood OF 200 parts. rang
ing in size from a screw not muc
bigger than those you have In you
: watch to the round stOvepipe like wa
. ter Jacket which keeps the barre
] cool when it is sending forth bullet
3 at - rate OF 500 shots a minute.
{ T-e student when he comes in ha
d. hHH/