On April 29 through May 1, 2011, the National Rifle Association (NRA) held its 140th Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The official attendance of 71,139 is the second largest NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits on record for the longest running shooting and hunting show in the world. With a record braking 559 exhibitors, the exhibit hall was packed with NRA members the entire weekend, many of whom traveled from all over the country to attend the event. Additionally, most seminars and workshops were standing room only.

In addition to the industry display booths, and in conjunction with the show in their own exhibit area, are displays of rare, historic and interesting collector firearms sponsored by NRA affiliated clubs. This year, there were 26 gun collector affiliates that participated with displays in this 51st year of awards competition. These gun collector groups take great pride in their displays in not only presenting weapons of rarity and historical note, but in the professional looking displays as well. While the NRA primarily focuses on shooting and hunting, they are well aware of the value of collecting and displaying significant weapons to the public to educate them on the history and the roll collecting plays within the gun culture. The competition between the affiliated clubs and their displays is intense.

In recognition of this, the NRA awards medals and certificates in a number of different categories. These include:

• Best Arms Awards – Each year a maximum of ten sterling silver numbered medallions are awarded to those collector arms judged best on display (and not necessarily will ten be awarded). Firearms are judged on their individual quality, condition, originality, collector importance and historical value.
• Certificates of Recognition – In 1981, the NRA Gun Collectors Committee authorized an award for unique displays of items related to firearms. Up to ten certificates are normally awarded in any one calendar year. An item which has received a Certificate of Recognition is not eligible for this award in subsequent years.
• Best Educational Display Awards – In 1962, the Gun Collectors Committee authorized the Best Educational Group Awards to recognize outstanding displays that creatively and effectively present a well-organized theme. The committee has divided the Best Educational Display Awards into four categories: Antique Arms (pre-1898), Classic Arms (1898, 50 years prior to the show), Contemporary Arms (50 years prior to the show to current) and Combined Arms (collections that represent a mixture of more than one category.) Emphasis is placed on recognition of those exhibits that best inform the NRA members and general public of the historical, technical and cultural aspects of firearms and related items.
• The National Firearms Museum’s Spirit of Collecting Award.
• The Best Miniature Arms Awards – Each year, since 1987, sterling silver numbered medallions have been awarded to those miniature arms judged best on display. In 1998, the Collectors Committee decided to heighten competition for this award by presenting only three medals each year.
• The NRA Gun Collectors Committee Trophy – This sterling silver bowl is a perpetual trophy awarded for the display judged best of each year’s Annual Meeting and Exhibits. The winning organization’s name is engraved on the trophy and the organization receives a miniature of the trophy to retain. This is the top honor and the award all strive for.

World renowned Thompson submachine gun collector and author Tracie Hill is the force behind bringing the validity and legitimacy of collecting and displaying historic machine guns to the forefront of the NRA community. For so many years, machine guns were taboo at the NRA show and considered “evil” within the NRA hierarchy and by many even within the general NRA membership. His efforts have truly enlightened all that collecting historic classic machine guns is just as legitimate as collecting any other historical firearm and he has done it in a most profound and professional way.

He broke the ice within the NRA and the NRA Collectors Committee with exhibits of the iconic Thompson submachine gun winning awards from the judges, and the public, and winning the coveted NRA Gun Collectors Committee Trophy and a number of Best Arms awards beginning in 1998. Under the sponsorships of several NRA affiliated organizations over the years that include the Thompson Collectors Association, the Dallas Arms Collectors and The American Thompson Association, he has been responsible for winning the coveted NRA Gun Collectors Committee Trophy six times.

With the success of having displayed, and winning multiple awards, for Thompson exhibits, it was decided to become ambassadors of the Class III world and bring to display some of the other wonderful and historic collections that exist. The first foray into other machine gun exhibits was in 2006 when the Thompson Collectors Association and the Dallas Arms Collectors sponsored a Maxim machine gun exhibit at the NRA show in Milwaukee that won the NRA Gun Collectors Trophy and a sterling silver Best Arm medallion for a Colt Model of 1904 Maxim. (See Small Arms Review, Vol. 9, No. 12, September 2006.)

In 2011 in Pittsburgh, under the sponsorship of The American Thompson Association, they presented an exhibit entitled The Machine Gun Designs of John Browning. The 30×10 feet exhibit featured a Colt Automatic Gun Model 1914 on a Marine Light Landing Carriage, a New England Westinghouse Model of 1917 water-cooled machine gun on a Model of 1917 tripod mounted on an M1 machine gun cart, a Winchester Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) Model of 1918, a Colt Browning M2 .50 caliber water-cooled mounted on an M3 anti-aircraft mount, a Buffalo Arms .30 caliber ANM2, an Inland Arms M1919A6, a GM/Frigidaire .50 caliber M2 HB on a M3 tripod and a twice-size cut-a-way of a .30 caliber Browning. Accompanying the display of the firearms were lighted display cases that contained tools, manuals, accoutrements, medals, awards and ephemera relating to the guns with explanatory signage for everything present. Additionally, a professionally printed 8-page handout describing all the weapons on display was freely distributed to all show attendees that expressed an interest. The response by those attending the show was overwhelmingly positive with many thanking us for bringing such a collection and making it available for close-up viewing.

These displays are not slapped together at the last minute. A full year of planning is required to establish what and how the display will be presented: what guns, accessories, accoutrements, historical information, signage, handouts, glass cases, lighting, overall theme, etc., all has to be thought through and decided upon well before the start of the show. This collection of Browning machine guns came from the Robert Segel collection with additional pieces from David Albert and Phil Askew. Helping set up the display and staffing it during the show answering questions and highlighting the historical aspects were David Albert, Richard Vensel, Jackie Vensel, Tom Davis, Phil Askew, Bill Yenglin, Robert Segel, Jennifer Segel, Tom Rasch, Tracie Hill and Thomas Hill. The human element and the truly enthusiastic volunteers set a high standard for that very much helped guarantee a successful presentation to the public.

The exhibit of The Machine Gun Designs of John Browning won the top honor of the NRA Gun Collectors Trophy and a sterling silver medallion for one of the Best Arms at the show for the New England Westinghouse Model of 1917 water-cooled machine gun, serial number 6, on a Model of 1917 tripod. The medallion is numbered and registered to the gun and stays forever with the gun should it ever be sold.

It should be noted that as sponsor of the exhibit, this is the third time The American Thompson Association has won the NRA Gun Collectors Trophy. But even more importantly, with the displays of Thompsons, Maxims and Browning machine guns over the last 13 years, machine gun collecting has been recognized and accepted within the main stream gun collecting fraternity as the historic, relevant and legitimate endeavor that it is with the stigma of being “evil” finally disappearing.

Miniature 1/3 Scale MG 34

Another machine gun also won an award at the 140th NRA Meetings and Exhibits in Pittsburgh. The Miniature Arms Society, a recognized NRA collector affiliated organization, had a display showing many fine examples of the art and craft of miniature arms makers. These are not toys but a testament to the skill of making actual working miniatures that fully represent their full-size brethren except in a diminutive size. The judges award just three sterling silver medallions each year to those miniatures that represent the height of the art. Robert Segel, a Miniature Arms Society member, submitted a fully functional 1/3 scale German MG 34 light machine gun on fully functional Lafette, one of only six made by MiniArt in Moscow, Russia in 2006, and won one of the Best Miniature Arms sterling silver medallions. The medallions are numbered and registered to that gun and if the gun is ever sold, the medallion must go with it.

Miniature Arms Society (MAS) president Wayne Driskill (left) and MAS member Robert Segel display the 1/3 scale MG 34 that was submitted for judging.

The fully functional MG 34 in 1/3 scale, one of only six made by MiniArt in Moscow, Russia in 2006 on fully functional Lafette is displayed with the numbered and registered NRA sterling silver medallion for Best Miniature Firearm. It is one of three awarded to miniature arms.

Tracie Hill, Robert Segel, Jennifer Segel and The American Thompson Association president Tom Davis accept the NRA Gun Collectors Trophy and silver bowl during the NRA Gun Collectors Committee awards presentation ceremonies. (Lloyd Hill)

Back at the display after the awards presentations, (left to right) Tracie Hill, Phil Askew, Tom Davis, Jennifer Segel, Robert Segel and David Albert proudly display the NRA Gun Collectors Trophy, silver bowl, and silver Best Arm medallion.

Robert Segel accepts a numbered and registered sterling silver medallion for one of the ten BEST ARMS on display during the awards ceremony for the New England Westinghouse Model of 1917 Browning water-cooled machine gun.

Family Planning

Designed by John M. Browning, the .30 caliber M37 machine gun evolved as a variant of his M1919 to be used in tanks and ground applications. In spite of the added solenoid trigger, new capability to feed from right or left, and its high reliability, the future of the M37 as a tank weapon became tenuous at the end of World War II. The M37 was not chambered for the new NATO caliber and lacked important features desired in an under-armor weapon.

In 1951 the Ordnance Corps convened a conference at Ft. Knox to discuss the military characteristics (MC’s) desired in a new machine gun. The new gun must fire the recently adopted 7.62mm NATO cartridge to be common with the M14 rifle, the M60 machine gun, and other NATO country small arms. It would be required to use the M13 link, the same forward stripping metal link used by the M60. It all made sense; simplified logistics with common ammo and link.

A new gun was to be designed specifically for armored vehicle applications with emphasis on the desired features outlined in the Ordnance Corp MC’s. The most important of these was the length from the front of the feed way to the aft of the weapon. This distance is important in tank design because it determines the amount the machine gun must intrude into the tank’s turret. The longer this distance, the larger and heavier the turret must be. As long as the weapon’s feed is inboard, it can be fed and maintained while the rest of the machine gun can protrude outside the turret. (In the Army photograph comparing receiver lengths between the M37 and M73, the aft rather than the front of the feedway was selected as the forward most measurement. This is presumably because the two machine guns fire rounds that are different lengths so using the aft of the feedway in this case might be better for this comparison.)

Four guns were considered for the armor role with a shoot-off and comparison test considered, but never conducted. The leading candidate was a Springfield Armory design, the T197. Some design work had been started on the T197 but money ran out when the Korean War ended. Weapon development money remained tight and funds did not become available until January 1956. As development had started on the M60 main battle tank and the new weapon was to be the coaxial weapon, the gun design team was challenged to have the gun ready for user testing by 31 May 1958.

The Birth

Leading the Springfield Armory design team for the T197 was Mr. Richard (Dick) Colby, noted inventor and weapon designer. Colby is better known in small arms history for his later development work on the SPIW (Special Purpose Individual Weapon) program. Dick was an innovative designer and challenged his team to not only develop a machine gun that would meet every one of the Ordnance Corps MC’s but to have these guns ready by the May deadline.

Initially the T197 was to be a gas operated weapon but both military and industry did not favor gas operated guns. Past experience had shown that gas residue was a huge cleaning and fouling problem. The gas port in gas operated guns would continually erode, increasing the firing rate with continued use. What also could not be ignored was the durability and high reliability of the .50 cal. M2 Browning. And who could argue with that logic? Today at almost 100 years old, the short recoil cycle M2 is still in use.

Colby selected the Browning short recoil cycle for the T197 but soon found that the recoiling components were too heavy for reliable cycling. So, it was back to gun gas to get the added power – but this time in the form of a recoil booster. A pocket was formed at the end of the barrel so when gun gas reached this point the gas gave the barrel a rearward push to help complete the cycle. Unfortunately, there is nothing gentle about gun gas inside a barrel; it is very high pressure gas that acts over an extremely short period of time. The T197 muzzle booster gave the end of the barrel such a smack that it caused the firing rate to soar; upwards over 1,000 rounds per minute (rpm), far above the desired rate of 450-550 rpm.

To fix this, Colby’s team developed a rate reducing mechanical delay mechanism. This was a series of sear trips and springs that delayed the fall of the hammer. The rate reduce slowed the overall firing rate but the recoil and counter recoil strokes of the barrel extension were as fast as ever. Only when the barrel extension came forward and stopped would the rate reducer spring into action, releasing compressed springs and sear trips until the hammer was allowed to fall. The ultra high speed feed extraction and ejection motions (and the problems associated with them) were still there.

The nice feature of Browning’s short recoil cycle was that the barrel, bolt, and barrel extension recoiled as a unit within the barrel jacket and receiver. The breech remained locked for a long time, allowing chamber pressure to drop to a safe level when the breech was opened. This limited the amount of toxic gun gas expelled into the turret.

To their credit, the internal workings of the T197 were designed so the receiver of Colby’s gun was about 8 inches shorter (aft of feedway to end of receiver) than the M37. The T197 could be switched from right hand to left hand feed without additional parts. Even the charger could be swapped from either side of the receiver easily and with onboard parts. The barrel was designed for quick and easy replacement and no headspace adjustment was required. To minimize barrel wear, the hottest part of the barrel was lined with a high cobalt material, called Stellite. There was no shortage of design innovation in the T197.

While most vehicle mounted weapons are secured by their receivers, the T197 was mounted in the tank by its barrel jacket, with the receiver cantilevered in mid air behind it. This arrangement made for easy barrel replacement as the receiver could quickly be detached from the barrel jacket by pulling one of the two quick release pin plungers connecting them. To change barrels the gunner pulled one of the pins and the receiver pivoted away exposing the end of the barrel. An insulated mitt was to be kept on board for removing hot barrels.

The bolt and feed rammer were a huge departure from conventional design. In most weapons the bolt is a one-piece affair designed to feed and extract ammunition plus provide locking means to react firing loads. In the T197, part of the bolt was a rammer with two long fingers; the upper one was rigid, designed to push cartridges forward out of the link while the lower finger could pivot in order to snap under the cartridge rim for fired case extraction. Locking the breech was achieved by a second component as the rammer wasn’t designed to take the breech loads. The two rammer fingers were made long and skinny so a cross bolt could pass between them, engaging both sides of the barrel extension in order to react against the firing loads.

When the breech was locked, the bolt was behind the case and the feed rammer was behind the bolt. This meant that the T197 design required two firing pins – one in the bolt and a second in the feed rammer body. The hammer could not be located on the weapon centerline as it would interfere with case ejection, so it was mounted on the left inside wall of the barrel extension. This meant that the firing pin in the feed rammer had to be mounted on an angle to the bore centerline. To fire, the hammer hit the off-centerline pin in the rammer that in turn hit the on-centerline pin in the lock block, which in turn hit the primer.

Colby’s team used a cam on each side of the receiver to accelerate the feed rammer in relation to the barrel extension so feed and ejection could occur. Two rollers on arms served as right and left side cam followers and worked with extraordinary efficiency to move the feed rammer at high speed, stripping and feeding cartridges on the forward stroke and ejecting fired cases on the recoil stroke.

Fired case ejection began with two spring-loaded gripping pads at the end of an arm connected to the cam follower arms. The arm rotated upwards to meet the fired case, which was being held at the end of the rammer fingers. The two gripping pads were then supposed to take control of the case and transport it to the bottom of the receiver where it would strike a fixed ejector surface to send the case flying out the bottom of the receiver.

The feeder was more conventional with two spring loaded plungers in the barrel extension engaging the feeder to pull the belt a full link pitch on the recoil stroke.

The Adoption

Designing a gun with as many unique features as the T197, proving out the design and building production weapons in just over two years was a huge challenge. But on 16 June, 1958, just over two weeks beyond the deadline, four test guns were delivered to the Army Armor Board.

Soon after tests began, the Army realized the muzzle booster would not be acceptable. After 2,000 rounds it became so fouled that the rate of fire slowed until the gun quit working. There were other problems too. The closely toleranced parts in the rate reducer seized in the cold weather testing, and part life was dismal. Accuracy and general performance were considered acceptable, but durability was more than lacking.

Meetings and progress reviews were held with great regularity as there were concerns this weapon and the T175 .50 caliber weapon, later to be designated M85, would not be ready for the M60 tank. Adding urgency to problem resolution was interest from the U.K and Canada, with agreements from both to adopt the T197 whenever it was ready. The U.S. Marine Corps advised their intention to purchase 600 of the new coaxials during the 1960 Fiscal Year. There were other users asking about variants. U.S. Army ground forces expressed an interest in a flex version for tripod firing and a helicopter version was on the drawing boards.

Finally, part life was increased and muzzle booster cleaning intervals were raised to 3,500 rounds thanks to a joint effort between Frankford and Springfield Armories. Much progress had been made but functioning problems continued. These were considered insufficient to bar adoption so the T197 was type classified STD-A on 14 May 1959 and designated M73. She was now officially adopted by the Army. Mama had a new baby!

Childhood Illnesses or Fatal Disease?

In retrospect, those functioning and durability problems should have been looked at more closely as they were indicative of a number of inherent design flaws. The most serious of these were:

• The quick release plungers that separated the receiver from the barrel jacket were too loose in their mounting. This allowed the receiver to shake and bounce during firing and affected the headspace causing case separations and other malfunctions. The resultant “spongy breech” plagued the design to its end.
• The feed rammer fingers couldn’t hold the round or fired case reliably, especially with the receiver shaking madly during firing. This resulted in round or fired case control being lost, causing jams.
• The spring-loaded gripping pads on the ejector were not reliable, resulting in failures to eject. The fixed ejector at the bottom of the receiver would not allow the weapon to function upside down or on either side as ejected cases would not clear the receiver. Functioning in all orientations is a standard requirement for all U.S. Small Arms.
• The use of two firing pins that were not on the same axis invited light strikes and other reliability problems.
• There were too many parts in the weapon – a total of 305. Simple designs generally have 200 parts or less.

In 1963 a new booster was sent out into the field for installation on all weapons. The stated purpose was to “…provide increased gun recoil velocity for improved ammunition compatibility.” With this we are led to believe that the problem with the gun was the ammunition, all along. The new muzzle booster would push the recoiling parts even harder, making the gun run even faster. This was hardly the recipe for increased reliability. Mama had an ugly baby, but nobody wanted to tell her.

Life in the Army; Daddy Leaves Her

Unlike other well-managed weapon programs, the M73 was never examined for producibility, nor were formal engineering drawings made or tolerance studies conducted. Rather, the Army chose to go into production using the R&D drawings, amending them as needed to make the parts producible. Design changes were made based on limited R&D tests. Springfield Armory was placed in charge of production.

Amazingly, M73 weapon production and fielding proceeded normally and for a period of three years. There were no field reports, either positive or negative, received by the program manager. Suddenly in 1964, a unit in Europe reported a high incidence of malfunctions – more specifically: short recoils and damaged cartridge cases. Attention turned to the ammunition, where a particular run of 7.62mm ammunition, designated Army DODAC (Department of Defense Ammunition Code) A-127, would not work with the M73.

A technical team was sent to assess the problem with three action items initiated:
1. Inspect and rebuild all of the guns in Europe.
2. Emphasize training, maintenance, and operational procedures.
3. Review ammunition production with a critical look at inspection procedures and acceptance practices. There was every indication that it would be necessary to establish a case hardness specification.

Guns with very little use now had to be inspected and rebuilt. Training was emphasized because the technical team couldn’t bring themselves to blame the gun; it had to be the fault of the gunner. Nor would the Army’s weapon community overlook the ammunition. Ammunition production procedures were to be closely scrutinized because every one who has ever designed a gun knows when they can’t figure out why it doesn’t work it’s generally the fault of the ammunition. (The converse is true with ammunition manufacturers.) There was nothing in their report about faults with the weapon, but finally the Army did recognize there was a price to be paid for their rush to build the weapon along with their failure to address serious design flaws and producibility issues early in the development phase.

At long last, production engineers set upon the weapon to simplify its manufacture, while product engineers addressed functioning and other problems. The modified M73 became the M73E1 with the major differences being the replacement of the old ejector by a fixed ejector mounted to the feed tray.

An impressive “fire to destruction” test was organized with three weapons firing 64,000+, 74,000, and 92,500 rounds until the receivers failed. New DODAC A-131 ammunition was specified for all machine guns with the older A-127 set aside for use only on the M60. A blind eye was turned to the ammunition commonality issue – one of the primary reasons the T197/M73 was designed in the first place.

Functioning problems scared off other potential users. The Marines decided to use a variant of the M60 for their coax while Canada modified M1919’s to fire 7.62 mm NATO. Wisely, the Brits decided on a coaxial version of the Belgian MAG-58.

At some point in the program and it is not clear where, Dick Colby left the M73 design team. In later years he admitted to designing it but swore it worked well until other engineers and production teams changed the design. Mama’s baby had lost her daddy and life was going to get tougher.

Life in the Orphanage

In 1968, Robert McNamara, then Secretary of Defense, closed Springfield Armory forcing the Army to walk away from a multimillion dollar design and production facility. At the time of its closing, two machine guns were being built there, the M73E1 and the .50 cal. M85. In an effort to save area jobs and to continue production, the Army contracted weapon production and part of the facility to be taken over by the General Electric Company, Armament Systems Department in Burlington, Vermont. Who better to take over this manufacturing than the designer and builder of the world’s most reliable machine guns and aircraft cannons?

There was a mixed bag of personnel at the General Electric Company Springfield Operation consisting of a few Arsenal people, some GE folks from other operations, along with a few new hires. The engineering department was joined weekdays by their new boss, Robert (Bob) Chiabrandy, and me, George Kontis. Bob and I worked all week in Springfield and returned home to Vermont for the weekends.

With new armored personnel carriers and tanks on the drawing boards, GE saw a market for single barrel vehicle weapons and set up an engineering group at the Springfield facility to develop them. Leading the design effort to develop a new family of single barrel weapons was none other than Dick Colby.

Month after month Springfield Armory had produced the M85 and the M73E1 with few problems. It was only after GE took over that problems mysteriously started. In spite of the fact that parts were made on the same fixtures with the same machines by many of the same people, neither gun would function properly in the firing acceptance tests. The M85 was bad, the M73E1 was worse.

At times the rate of fire of the M73E1 was too fast, causing an entire weapon lot to be rejected. Other lots fired too slowly – again reason for rejection. Since the guns were built to print and the prints were supposed to be correct, we engineers had little maneuvering room with the design. Even the slightest change that deviated from the dimensions specified on the drawings had to be submitted for review and approval by the Army design control, now situated at Rock Island Arsenal. Sometimes enlarging the bullet exit hole in the muzzle booster to its maximum allowable diameter would relieve the high pressure and was the cure for fast shooting weapons, but what to do with the slow ones? These guns were all supposed to have interchangeable and interoperable parts so guns with swapped parts were required to meet the same specifications. These were not the only malfunctions. The rammer fingers often lost control of the fired case after extraction, and a loose case in the receiver was certain to induce a jam.

Many at the Springfield Operation who were not former Armory employees felt cheated since both of these gun were supposed to be mature designs. Both were successfully built by the world-famous Springfield Armory. We from GE expected we would only have to build the parts of these two weapons to the Government prints, and follow the assembly instructions to lead to a successful acceptance test. But rare was the month that the production lot of these guns passed the final testing.

George Harris, GE Springfield Operation’s General Manager, was a capable manager and a fine gentleman. George had made his career at GE and was understandably concerned with the poor production line performance of the two guns. Accepted lots of monthly production were the only source of income for the Springfield Operation.

One might expect that Dick Colby’s previous design experience with the M73 would have been an asset in figuring out these problems. But Dick would have nothing to do with the M73, staying with his claim that the gun had worked in the past, but other engineers had made major changes that “ruined” the gun. There may have been some truth in Dick’s assessment.

Really fast firing weapons induced a spectacular failure: a stoppage that began with the ejector. Now that the M73E1 featured fixed ejectors, it was seemingly impossible that the fired case would not eject at high velocity when it hit the fixed ejectors mounted to the feed tray. But the fast moving recoiling components slammed the fired case into the ejectors so hard that two triangular punch marks ripped into the case head, sometimes cutting completely through the case rim. When this happened, so much energy was drained from the recoiling parts that the gun function ceased.

When this malfunction occurred, George Harris was briefed on the situation by Bob Chiabrandy who had organized the test crew and engineers in a study to determine the cause and potential fix. When testing began, George remained in the test cell, pacing back and forth, eagerly awaiting the results.

Although he could easily pass for one of Greek descent, with his looks and maybe even his name, George Harris professed no such heritage. In his youth he worked in a Greek-owned vegetable market and had many Greek friends. One of these local Greeks owned a coffee house which he often frequented after work. When George described these problems to his Greek buddies, one of them presented him with a set of Greek worry beads. The idea was that he could use this string of smooth round beads to keep his fingers occupied as he paced the firing range floor. Now he could look like a Greek and worry like one too.

The range crew, the test engineers, and particularly the Quality Engineer, Paul Hamilakis and myself (both of us from Greek immigrant families) were greatly amused by George’s new acquisition. Paul and I explained the history of the beads and coached him in the characteristic stance of a true Greek worrier. Every day we could count on several range visits from George, only now with his body hunched forward, hands behind his back, nervously flipping a string of beads.

One day, Bill Frigon, our engineering technician, came into work with a gift for George. He had configured some of the “punched through” case heads into a set of custom M73E1 worry beads. George was much impressed and asked for a second set to be sent up to Burlington’s top management. The beads were a hit with the Burlington big wigs too, who fired back the message: “If we can’t make machine guns, maybe there’s a market for these worry beads.”

With a poor financial report resulting from losses at the Springfield Operation, by 1970 GE closed the facility and gave production responsibility of both gun designs back to the Army. GE had come to realize that: Mama had a really ugly baby, but they were too polite to tell her so.

Back with family and a new identity

With new production M60 tanks still in need of machine guns and existing guns requiring spare parts, Rock Island Arsenal was the logical choice to continue M73E1 manufacture. This was a good choice not only because Rock Island had machines and machinists, but because many of the old Springfield Armory personnel ended up there after the Armory closed.

Soon after taking over, Rock Island Arsenal began receiving complaints from Ft. Knox that the weapon was performing poorly. In 1971, small arms management – all old Springfield Armory veterans – decided to send a new hire to Ft. Knox to hear their concerns. He was a young engineer named Neil Burchell. Neil’s job was to evaluate complaints and find fixes to their problems. Given the nature of the problems and the importance of the application, Neil was surprised when he learned that he was the only person from his office working on them.

Like many before him, Neil did his best to fix the problems. The “spongy breech” problem he addressed by using quick release pins that expanded when closed to take up tolerance in the joint between the receiver and barrel jacket. This worked until the expanding pin handles shook apart and had to be safety wired to the barrel jacket. Another approach was to make parts that were “zero tolerance” by precise machining of the joint components to remove as much of the free play as possible. What worked to some extent in the vehicle mount was a “tanker’s fix” that involved securing the back end of the receiver to a point above in the turret using a bungee cord. The gun often shot well when constrained this way, but there was no way to change the barrel quickly so the idea wasn’t practical.

The ejector surfaces were beefed up to eliminate the punched through case rims. Neil used what was then a new welding technique called “electron beam welding” to solve strength and positioning problems with the ejectors, the rails the barrel extension rode on, and the rammer-extractor assembly. Neil found that he could simplify the design by removing the pin through the top of the barrel jacket that oriented the barrel. The gun worked equally well with or without it. With all the changes to the M73E1 and possibly to allay the stigma of the old problems, Rock Island decided to change the designation. Guns with the new features were now called the M219. The rumor at Rock Island was that this number was selected because the new gun was “three times better than the old M73” (do the math). Neil disputes this saying it was just a coincidence that the numbers worked out that way.

The M219 did look a bit more promising. At one point Neil put the gun in a hard stand and was able to fire 10,000 rounds without a stoppage. He was really excited about this until he put the same gun in a tank mount. Just as before, the gun vibrated and shook in its mount, introducing a large number of stoppages. In later testing, Neil found that if the spring rate of the mount exceeded 60,000 pounds/inch, the weapon would have a low incidence of malfunctions. Unfortunately this was stiffer than the tank mount. As M219 problems continued, Neil was joined by another engineer, Jack Plambeck, who assisted in developing fixes for each of the problems: every time firing multiple 10,000 round tests to verify the integrity and success of design changes.

Neil continued his role as the principal interface with Ft. Knox confiding that in the beginning he went there to convince them that there were really no problems with the M73E1 but ultimately they convinced him to the contrary.

Search For Cinderella

By 1971 some in the Army Arsenal system recognized the M219 design left much to be desired and decided to fund a few R&D contracts to see what might be the successor. Eight R&D contracts were let for new and unique 7.62mm coaxial weapons including:

• Two entries from Philco Ford – one externally powered and one self powered.
• A self powered, dual feed, machine gun from Maremont designed by John Rocha.
• A self powered machine gun from Pacific Car and Foundry.
• A compact, short-receiver, Browning short recoil cycle machine gun from General Electric Company (coincidentally, based on a design originally conceived by Dick Colby).
• An externally powered machine gun from Cadillac Gage designed by M16 inventor Gene Stoner.
• An externally powered machine gun from Hughes that became the predecessor of the M242 Chain Gun.
• An entry from Rock Island Arsenal’s own Rodman Labs.

All of these weapons were designed, built, and tested, with many of them showing great promise in the coaxial role. The eight candidates were down-selected to five and evaluation testing of these continued with the intent to find the best one to replace the M219. One day in the fall of 1973, a major world event changed everything.

Oy Vey is your child UGLY

It was October 6, 1973, the day of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, when a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. Egypt and Syria crossed the cease-fire lines in the Sinai and Golan Heights and were met by Israeli M60 tanks. The Israeli’s were victorious, but with little help from their M219 machine guns. The guns had performed miserably and the Israeli’s were not at all happy about it. Israel demanded someone the U.S. Army send over a representative to look at guns and listen to their complaints.

Neil Burchell was the most likely candidate for this task but his supervisor, Bob Henry, refused to let Neil go. Neil had a reputation as a collector of military memorabilia and Bob was sure Neil would either kill himself or become badly injured while out on the battlefield picking up souvenirs. Today Neil admits that Bob was probably right.

The Israeli’s displeasure with the M219 was vented on the U.S. Congress. How could it happen that a world power would develop such a weapon and sell it to their ally? By early 1974, a replacement was mandated and the search for a new coaxial machine gun was on.

By now, Rock Island Arsenal had also given up on the M219. Wilmont Gibson, branch chief, and Dennis Ash, head of crew served weapons, concluded that in spite of their best efforts, the M219 simply could not be fixed.

On the Israeli-inspired replacement project, eight U.S. and foreign machine guns, six 7.62mm and two .50 caliber, were evaluated alongside the M219. The Belgian MAG-58, another 1950s vintage weapon based on one of John Browning’s gas operation concepts, emerged as the clear winner. The MAG demonstrated the highest reliability of any self powered machine gun in U.S. testing history and was give the designation M240.

In retrospect, the design of the M73/M219 was an accumulation of novel concepts that should have been thoroughly tested in the application before finalizing the design. The off and on development program challenged the ever-changing design teams with a new learning curve every time the project was restarted. It was a costly program in time, assets, money and loss of face. She was an ugly little baby and somebody should have told her Mama so.

(The Author extends appreciation to the following for their contributions to this article: Neil Burchell for information and insight into the Rock Island Armory days of the M73/M219; Robert Chiabrandy for the gift of the “one of a kind” M73 worry beads; Tom Cosgrove who supplied some early information on the birth of the M73 plus the gun model, and Ms. Jodie Wessemann of the Rock Island Arsenal Museum for providing photos and other pertinent technical information.)

Excluding the many Browning designed weapons, the Madsen machine gun holds the distinction of being one of the oldest and longest produced machine guns in history. Though used by thirty four different countries, it was never adopted officially by any major nation. It has been chambered in every military caliber used in the world, rimmed or rimless, from 6.5mm to 25mm. Little has been written about this remarkable weapon that introduced the concept of the light machine gun. From its conception in 1902, it remained in continuous production until 1970 when Madsen went out of business.

Both John Browning and Sir Hiram Maxim did what would be considered by today’s standards, virtually impossible: they converted a lever action Winchester 1873 rifle to full automatic. Browning utilized the gas from the muzzle blast to operate a flapper that worked the lever action of the Winchester Rifle and Maxim took the Winchester and made the recoil forces at the butt plate operate the same lever action. Somewhere along the line (approx. 1898) the concept of converting a single shot repeating rifle into a full auto landed in Denmark. Julius Rasmussen used as his inspiration the Peabody-Martini (British) falling block single shot rifle. On June 15th, 1899, he applied for the first patent employing this design. However, in 1902, Lt. Theodor Schouboe was granted a patent on the same principle. No one is clear how this occurred. The gun went on to be produced by Dansk Rekylriffel Syndikat under the patents supplied by Schouboe and, for some reason, the gun was named after W.O.H. Madsen, the Danish Minister of War. It was also manufactured in England and known as the Rexer or DRRS.

During its sixty eight years of production there were many minor variations of the Madsen – over one hundred are known. However, there were basically three primary models: the first, a magazine fed LMG, the second a belt feed tank or aircraft model, and the third proved the most fantastic adaptability of the design. In 1926, The Dansk Industries announced the development of a 20mm automatic aircraft cannon utilizing the same Madsen mechanism. Though not widely used, a hydraulic buffer allowed for a 23mm version used in German Fokker aircraft.

The first US testing was done at the Springfield Armory on September 9, 1903. A total of 7,163 rounds were fired, during which enough malfunctions occurred to justify the official conclusion that the Madsen weapon had not reached a state of reliability to warrant adoption. Though Lt. Schouboe himself had conducted the firing, he had to rise to a kneeling position to clear stoppages – a condition with which one can certainly sympathize but can be fatal in combat. US special order No. 86 dated August 5, 1921 provided for a further test of the Madsen in .30-06 at Fort Riley, Kansas. Supposedly redesigned, the Model 1919 included provision for both a bayonet and elaborate, detachable flash hider. It was still deemed unsatisfactory.

The Germans experimented with a variety of newly developed weaponry and, as a stopgap, the Germans used approximately 500 Madsens in World War I (referred to as a Muskette and given the designation Leichte Automatische Muskette M15) until they developed the Maxim 08/15 that then became their light weight machine gun of choice.

In 1923, the Dansk Syndicate assigned its chief engineer, Mr. Hambroe, to redesign the Madsen mechanism for more efficiency. All he did was to add a muzzle booster that greatly increased the cyclic rate to 1,000 rounds per minuet making it ideal for aircraft use. He also added a strong spring buffer to absorb the shock of the booster. The real beauty of the aircraft gun was its ability to use disintegrating links and could be synchronized to the propeller.

During WWII, America was equipping the Dutch East Indies with Johnson automatic rifles. Johnson Automatics, better known as Cranston Arms, supplied barrels for the Madsen LMG.

In 1950 the last evolution of the design featured a quick change barrel and a tripod soft mount with a remote firing devise.

By all concepts of logic, this gun should not work as it is a mechanical nightmare – but it does indeed work. The key to its operation is a cammed “switch plate” that allows recoil to perform the actions of loading, firing, extracting, and ejecting the spent rounds. The term “switch plate” is a 19th century expression of a device that caused a sequence of functions to be completed in rapid succession for a railroad train. In this case, a switch plate multi-tasks the functions for the machine gun and is the mechanical heart of the weapon. The Madsen is known as a long recoil system, i.e., the barrel and breach mechanism reciprocate together inside of a barrel shroud and receiver box. This action works the lever that, like the Martini Rifle, accomplishes the task of ramming the round into the chamber with such force that it often deforms the cartridge case. If the round does not fire it is difficult to clear the stoppage.

Test firing was conducted with Madsen Mle. 1950, serial number 1475. The gun did not function flawlessly. It soon became evident that great care had to be taken in placing the magazine into the top or it would spill rounds into the magazine well. When a shell got down into the mechanism it did not chamber or fire and it was a chore to remove the offending round.

As mentioned above, the power of the ramming arm often distorted the case making it a ramrod job to remove from the chamber. Then, one had to carefully work the case to the ejection port that is part of the reciprocating mechanism attached to the barrel. Nevertheless, when it did work, it was a joy to fire. Amazingly, it was found that the magazine was unnecessary to fire the weapon. Four rounds could be dropped into the magazine well and the gun would fire all four. Single shots were readily obtained as the cyclic rate was approx. 550 rpm. The bipod was not sturdy enough to prevent dumping the machine gun over into the dirt. The offset sights were sufficient and accurate. The magazine is a top feed double stacked 30 rounder until it enters the gun. It then becomes a single feed with the round being retained by a large spring that also acts as a magazine catch. There are several positive points about the Madsen design. First, its top magazine feed allowed gravity to enhance its entry into the mechanism; second, a bottom feed that was positive and powerful; and finally, the Madsen fires from an open chamber reducing the chance of a cook off.

When one carefully examines this design, there is a tendency to write off the Madsen as a “mechanical monstrosity” that like the Bumblebee should not fly. But, upon more careful examination, the designer, whoever he may be, took a tried and true Martini rifle and applied 19th century railroad technology, added robust parts, and designed a machine gun that is found in museums around the world. At the old MOD Pattern Room there was an entire long table devoted to Madsen LMGs, with more national crests than the fabled Roundtable. Many armies tried the weapon and modified strategies around it to apply the weapon. This is an unsung pivotal weapon in the small arms field. In the end, it was a versatile design that deserves a better niche in history.

U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30 Model of 1903

The U.S. M1903 Rifle was designed and adopted to replace the Krag-Jorgensen rifle and its .30-40 cartridge. Adopted on June 19, 1903, the M1903 Rifle was chambered for the Model of 1903, .30 Government Cartridge (.30-03), which had a 220-grain round-nose projectile. The Model of 1903 Rifle was only in service a short period of time before some changes were made. One of the most prominent upgrades was the rechambering for the improved Model of 1906 cartridge, which had a lighter, spitzer-type projectile and an improved powder. A newly designed M1905 rear sight was also added. The rifles were manufactured by Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal from 1903 until 1914. Production was quickly resumed during 1917 with the U.S. entry into World War I.

The M1903 Rifle in .30-06 caliber remained the standard service weapon of the U.S. until the adoption of the M1 Rifle in 1936. During World War II, production of the M1 Garand was not able to keep up with the wartime demand. Thus, Remington Arms was awarded a contract to resume manufacture of the M1903 Rifle. During production, there were many new features implemented into the original design of the ’03 rifle to speed up production. These rifles were designated as the M1903 (Modified). Subsequently, more improvements were made resulting in the M1903-A3 model, which was adopted on May 21, 1942. The 03-A3 had many stamped parts, a new receiver mounted aperture rear sight and a longer hand guard. The L.C. Smith & Corona Company was awarded a contract in February of 1942 to supplement production. The M1903 and its variants remained in service until declared obsolete on July 24, 1947.

U.S. Maxim Automatic Machine Gun, Caliber .30, Model of 1904

The U.S. Maxim Model of 1904 was the first rifle caliber heavy machine gun approved for use as the standard service type by the U.S. Army in 1904. The Army was interested in the Maxim as early as 1887 and procured examples of the “World Standard” Maxim Model 1889 and Model 1900 for evaluation. After sporadic testing, the Chief of Ordnance finally gave approval for adoption in 1904. The first order for 50 guns and tripods were manufactured by Vickers, Sons & Maxim (VSM) in England in the U.S. caliber .30-03.

The Ordnance Department wanted the gun to be made in the United States and enlisted Colt to manufacture the gun. Problems arose and it was several years before Colt could begin production. In the meantime, another forty guns were ordered from VSM. Colt finally began production in 1908. By 1908, the service cartridge had changed from the .30-03 to the .30-06. The ninety guns produced by VSM were all converted to the new service cartridge while all the Colt guns were manufactured in .30-06. Colt produced 197 guns, and with VSM’s 90 guns, total production of the Model of 1904 was 287 guns. Colt never produced any tripods. All the tripods were made by VSM and wheeled carriage mounts were produced by Rock Island Arsenal.

The Model of 1904 saw a brief service life, quickly being declared obsolete by 1915, yet was widely used and saw service in such distant outposts as the Philippines, Hawaii, Mexico, Central and South America. The gun never saw active combat service, particularly in World War I, being relegated to training purposes.

U.S. Automatic Machine Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1909

The Automatic Machine Rifle Model of 1909 is commonly referred to in the U.S. as the “Benet-Mercie.” Laurence Benet was an American engineer who worked for the Hotchkiss Company in Paris, France. He, along with another Hotchkiss engineer named Henri Mercie, collaborated to develop an air cooled, gas operated, lightweight machine gun based on the Hotchkiss Model 1900 heavy machine gun design. The Model 1909 differed from heavy machine guns in that it weighed just 30 pounds and was fitted with a wooden stock with elevation gear and a bipod. It was mechanically modified as to how the breech closed and the feedway and feed mechanism were changed. The gun also had a barrel changing ability, unique at that time. The number of parts to the gun were reduced to just twenty five.

The French adopted the French made Hotchkiss gun in 8mm Lebel and the British adopted it in .303. in 1909 and was known on the Continent as the “Hotchkiss Portative.” That same year, the U.S. Army, after lengthy trials, adopted it as service issue as the Automatic Machine Rifle Model of 1909 and ordered 29 guns from Hotchkiss. The Ordnance Department wanted the gun to be made in the U.S. The rights were secured and Colt and the Springfield Armory were contracted to produce the American version in .30-06. Over the next several years, both manufacturers combined produced approximately 670 guns. The Model of 1909 was issued for service with the Model of 1908 Warner & Swasey telescopic musket sight, originally used for sharpshooter use with the Model 1903 Springfield rifle.

The Model of 1909 was issued to U.S. infantry and cavalry troops from 1909 to 1918 and saw limited tactical use in the landing at Vera Cruz in 1913, all along the Mexican border in 1916 and was used in the defense of Columbus, New Mexico against the sneak attack by Poncho Villa in 1916. Though the British and French “Hotchkiss Portative” version was widely used in World War I, the U.S. “Benet-Mercie” was relegated to training use. It was declared obsolete in 1918 and ultimately replaced by the far superior M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle.

Model 1914 Colt Automatic Gun

Invented and designed by John Browning, the Colt Model 1895 Automatic gun was the world’s first practical gas-actuated machine gun. Using a gas-impingement system that operated against a lever that traveled downward and backward in a 170-degree arc underneath the gun, it affectionately became known as “The Potato Digger.” Colt manufactured the gun and was extremely successful in selling the gun world wide in a variety of calibers. The U.S. Navy purchased fifty guns in 1897 in 6mm Lee and another 150 guns in 1898. These guns were used as secondary armament on ships and with naval landing parties and with the U.S. Marines. The gun was also used with some degree of success in the Philippines, the Boxer Rebellion, Mexican border war and the Spanish-American War.

The U.S. Army ordered 100 guns for testing and training in .30-40 Krag. Upon the recommendation of a joint Army-Navy board of 1898 for standardizing arms and ammunition, the Navy rechambered their 6mm Lee to .30-40 Krag, and then they all were changed to .30-03 and ultimately to .30-06. Though the Army, Navy and Marines all used the Colt Model 1895; only the Navy officially adopted the weapon. The Army just continued to buy it commercially as they deemed necessary eventually buying 2,800 guns during World War I. The “Model” designation was a name used by Colt and did not represent acceptance as issue by the Army.

In 1914, Colt modified the Model of 1895 by replacing the heavy, thick permanent barrel with a finned barrel that was easily changeable and became the Model of 1914. It was this version and its variants that ultimately saw use in World War I by a number of Allied nations though relegated as secondary armament and training by the U.S. The gun was used with three types of tripods, basically differing only in height.

U.S. Vickers Machine Gun, Caliber .30, Model of 1915

The U.S. began to realize how vastly under-armed in automatic weapons it was and started a new series of tests in 1913 and field trials in 1914. The new, improved version of the Maxim gun, now called the Vickers, was the clear winner. The new British Vickers was redesigned internally to maximize space within the receiver box by inverting the toggle joint and lock, and the overall weight of the gun was substantially reduced; all without sacrificing reliability. In 1915, the Board of Ordnance unanimously approved the type for the Army as the Model of 1915 chambered for the .30-06 cartridge. They immediately placed an order for 125 guns to be made by Colt and in 1916 placed an additional order for 4,000 even though the first order had not yet even been made. When the U.S. entered World War I in April, 1917, not a single Colt Vickers M1915 had been delivered due to production problems at Colt.

Colt made Vickers guns finally became available in late 1917. By mid 1918, Colt Vickers started to be shipped overseas. The first twelve divisions arriving in France were issued the French Hotchkiss Model of 1914. The next ten divisions that sailed for France in May and June of 1918 were equipped with the Colt Vickers. By August, 1918, thirteen divisions were using the Colt Vickers. In all, 12,125 Vickers Model of 1915 ground guns were produced by Colt.

At the end of World War I, the remaining inventory of Colt Vickers were put into storage and held in reserve. They were ultimately sent to Great Britain under Lend-Lease to help guard against German invasion during World War II, especially after the huge losses of equipment at Dunkirk, while British production fought to rearm the British Army. After World War II, the U.S. did not want the guns returned and the British destroyed the remaining inventory.

U.S. Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, Model of 1917

John Browning continued to experiment with different machine gun designs after the introduction of his first machine gun, the Model of 1895 Automatic Gun. He developed a short-recoil, water-cooled gun in 1900 and patented it in 1901. There was no government interest in this prototype and he ceased work on it until 1910 when he made further modifications and improvements to it. Again, there was no governmental interest in the gun.

As the U.S. was being drawn into World War I, the Ordnance Board urgently requested designs for new machine guns. Browning took his heavy water-cooled machine gun along with his new Browning Automatic Rifle to be tested in February, 1917. Both guns tested exceptionally well and the BAR was ordered immediately. As war broke out, another official test occurred in May, 1917. The genius of John Browning shone through with the simplicity of design, reliability and ease of maintenance. Browning’s heavy machine gun was adopted as the Model of 1917 chambered for the .30-06 service cartridge and ordered into production with contracts being awarded to New England Westinghouse, Remington and Colt.

30,089 M1917 Brownings were sent to France before the war ended with 1,168 guns actually being used in the front lines. The first instance of combat usage was in September, 1918 in the battle of the Meuse-Argonne, where, in wet and muddy conditions, the new Browning guns performed exceptionally well with one company firing 10,000 rounds per gun.

The Browning M1917 was to replace the variety of machine guns in American use (British Mk I Vickers, U.S. Vickers Model of 1915 and French Hotchkiss Model of 1914) but the war ended two months later so the Browning actually saw limited use. Yet, Browning’s design was so brilliant that the M1917 and its subsequent variants soldiered on in the U.S. inventory for another fifty years.

U.S. Lewis Machine Gun, Caliber .30, Model of 1917

Colonel Isaac Lewis began development of the Lewis gun in 1910 based upon a previous design by Samuel McClean. Lewis presented his gun for formal testing in 1912 to the Ordnance Board, which included a “stunt” by firing the gun from an airplane – the first time a machine gun had ever been fired from an aircraft. The Ordnance Board took a dim view of the “stunt” and during the rest of the trials took particular efforts to find fault with the gun and rejected it claiming it was no better than the already approved Model of 1909 Benet-Mercie.

Lewis then went to Europe where his gun was warmly received and went into production in 1913 at Armes Automatiques Lewis in Liege, Belgium and at the Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) Company in Birmingham, England. Belgium was soon overrun by Germany in 1914 and production continued at BSA who eventually produced 145, 397 Lewis guns during World War I in the British .303 caliber. The gun was widely used to great effect throughout the war.

Savage Arms Company of Utica, New York began producing Lewis guns for a Canadian contract in .303 and the U.S. Army procured 350 guns (in .303) for use in 1916 along the Mexican border. Nevertheless, the U.S. Army still harbored a grudge against Lewis and his gun that dated back to 1912. The U.S. Navy, however, held no such animosity and purchased 6,000 Lewis guns from Savage for the U.S. Marines chambered in .30-06 and it was designated as the Model of 1917. Upon arriving in France, the 5th Regiment of the Marines attached to the 2nd Division, who had been issued and trained with the Model of 1917, had their Lewis guns taken away and were issued the French Hotchkiss M1914 and Chauchat M1915 machine guns. The American .30-06 Lewis guns were turned over to the Aviation Services. The Army in due course purchased 2,500 M1917 Lewis guns but they relegated them to U.S. training. U.S. Model of 1917 Lewis guns saw little or no infantry combat during the war. After the war, the Army discarded the Lewis gun though the Navy and Marine Corps kept it in their inventory until the 1930s.

Marlin Machine Gun Model of 1917/18

As World War I heated up, orders for the Colt M1914 increased as well. Colt entered into an agreement with Marlin Arms Company on manufacturing the M1914. Marlin’s designer, Carl Swebilius, worked out an improvement to the operating system that changed Browning’s original “Gas Hammer” style lever action to a straight piston arrangement. The Marlin guns, with the exception of a small run of M1917 trainers, were no longer “Diggers,” the piston in tube arrangement ran along the bottom of the barrel and applied the energy to the bolt system.

This change made Browning’s system easier to adapt into aircraft and vehicles; thus, the M1917 and M1918 Marlin Aircraft Machine Gun designations, and the M1917 Marlin Tank Machine Gun designation. Unfortunately, changing to a straight line piston changed the impulse time and energy, and the early guns had trouble in extraction tearing case rims. Adjustments were made to the design, but not before negative publicity occurred. Marlin had taken the position that the ammunition the Army had did not have strong enough cases and the Army said that the Marlin guns had to work with ammunition that was fielded. In the end, the Marlin M1917 type guns were relegated to aircraft use where there was more control on ammunition quality. Some of the Marlin guns had aluminum radiators on the barrels similar to the Lewis M1917, but most had a bare barrel.

The Marlin M1917 and M1918 machine guns did see combat in U.S. use. During World War II, may were shipped to England for their naval defense.

There were an additional 2,816 of the Marlin Model 1917 that are virtually identical to the Model of 1914 “Potato Digger” made by Colt. These were for training in the U.S. Army, and the main difference was in the location of the belt feed opening.

U.S. Rifle Caliber .30, Model of 1917

The U.S M1917 rifle was originally produced as the Pattern 14, .303 caliber “Enfield” for the British. Prior to the U.S. entry into World War I, the British negotiated several contracts with the U.S. firms of Remington, Winchester and Eddystone (a Remington subsidiary), to produce the P14. Collectively, 1.2 million of the Pattern 14 rifles were made from 1916 to 1917.

Upon the United States’ entry into World War I, the U.S. Army faced a service rifle shortage. With the British contracts completed, instead of having the companies retool for the M1903 rifle, the War Department decided to make a few design changes and rechamber the P14 to the U.S. M1906 rimless .30-06 round and the new rifle was ready for production. The U.S. M1917 rifle was officially adopted in April 1917. There were over 2.4 million manufactured from 1917 to 1919 at a cost of $26.00 per weapon.

When World War I ended, the M1917 rifles were prudently placed into storage, after having been rebuilt by various U.S. arsenals. When World War II broke out in Europe, the U.S. and her Allies again faced critical shortages of small arms. The M1917 rifles were pulled from storage and issued to rear echelon soldiers and for training. After the war in October, 1945, the U.S. Army declared the M1917 rifle obsolete. While the U.S. M1917 rifle was more utilitarian then glamorous, it did everything it was intended to do.

U.S. Browning Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1918

As the U.S. was being drawn into the First World War, the Ordnance Board met in May, 1917 to consider for adoption designs for light machine guns and automatic rifles. John Browning had been previously working on a gas-operated, magazine fed, true automatic rifle design and submitted it to the board. It was unanimously accepted by the Ordnance Board and requested that production begin immediately at Colt who had secured the rights. However, Colt was already at peak production and requested approval from the Board for delay in production while they built a new facility in Meriden, Connecticut. Due to the immediate need, the request was denied and the lead manufacturer became the Winchester Company.

The initial contract with Winchester called for 25,000 BARs. They were in full production by June, 1918 delivering 4,000 guns and in July were turning out 9,000 BARs. Colt and Marlin-Rockwell also began production shortly after Winchester got into full production.

By July of 1918, the BAR began to arrive in France and the first unit to receive them was the U.S. Army’s 79th Division and they immediately exchanged their woefully inadequate French M1915 Chauchat machine rifles with the new BAR and began training. In the September 1918 battle of the Meuse-Argonne, the BAR was used extensively. World War I only lasted another two months before ending in November, 1918. Thus, while the BAR was the state-of the-art weapon, it saw limited combat service. Nevertheless, the M1918 BAR was such a fine weapon that it remained as the standard U.S. service automatic rifle after the war and production continued after the war. Of the total 102,125 M1918 BARs produced, Winchester made 47,123, Marlin-Rockwell 39,002 and Colt 16,000.

U.S. Chauchat Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1918

The U.S. was ill-equipped when it entered World War I in 1917 and was particularly lacking in automatic weapons. With less than 1,100 automatic weapons in inventory, consisting of four types in two different calibers, these guns were needed in the U.S. for training the new army. When U.S. divisions arrived in France, they had no automatic weapons.

The French, at war since 1914, had an arms industry in full force. Thus, U.S. troops in eighteen divisions were issued the French Model 1914 Hotchkiss heavy machine gun and the Model 1915 Chauchat automatic rifle: both chambered in 8mm Lebel. The French quickly developed the Chauchat to fill the immediate wartime need of France and consisted of fabricated steel tubing of standard sizes and stampings. The only parts requiring extensive machining were the barrel and bolt. The long-recoil operation, cheap materials, unorthodox enclosed design and hurried production produced a gun that had poor reliability and worse accuracy. But, it was all that was available.

To help alleviate a two-cartridge supply nightmare, the U.S. asked the French manufacturer, C.S.R.G., to produce the gun in .30-06. Good idea, bad execution. The gun was simple in its design and conversion was easy: change the barrel, replace the semicircular magazine with a detachable box magazine, change the angle of the bipod and change the graduations on the rear sight. However, the already poor reliability of the gun went from bad to worse.

The more powerful, straight cased, rimless .30-06 cartridge was very difficult to extract. With its violent action, the M1918 Chauchat tore the cartridges instead of extracting them and the more powerful .30-06 caused major stress on all the working parts causing failures. Additionally, the gun heated up very quickly causing the action to freeze until it had cooled. Due to the enclosed design, clearing stoppages and jams was almost impossible. The gun, in a single word, was awful.

The U.S. nevertheless quickly adopted it as the Chauchat Model of 1918 and bought and paid for 25,000; taking delivery of 19,241. There is no record of M1918s being used in combat and were relegated to training use. They were so bad, that immediately after the war, the U.S. ordered them to be destroyed.

Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M1917A1

In the rush to supply American troops in World War I, deficiencies in design and manufacturing methods of the Model of 1917 manifested itself quickly in operational use. Many of the problems stemmed from the lack of, or improper heat treating of, key internal parts that included the bolt, barrel extension, accelerator, firing pin, trigger and extractor. Inaccurate manufacturing tolerances also contributed to leaking water jackets at the muzzle cap. The most severe problem was due to the pounding of the breech lock on the breech lock cam causing cracks in the receiver side and bottom plates.

As early as 1919, steps were taken to remedy these problems; the most obvious being welding or riveting a “U” stirrup under the bottom plate and extending up each side of the receiver to strengthen the receiver box. A program was initiated by Rock Island Arsenal in 1936 to covert all Model of 1917 guns with upgrades. Changes included a large, new-manufactured reinforced bottom plate that extended up the sides of the receiver and riveted in place, a new belt feed lever, an improved top cover latch that also incorporated a hold open feature and a new rear sight graduated in yards for the M1 ball cartridge (original Model of 1917 sights were in meters). This improved version of the Model of 1917 was designated as the M1917A1. (The “Model of” designation for U.S. arms was dropped in 1939 and replaced with the letter “M”.)

During World War II, more changes occurred to the M1917A1 that included an improved bolt, the bronze end cap and trunnion replaced by steel, the steam tube assembly was strengthened and the rear leaf sight graduated for the now standard M2 ball cartridge. While almost all Model of 1917s were ultimately converted to the A1 specifications, production resumed from 1936 to 1945 with 55,859 M1917A1s being produced by Rock Island Arsenal.

The M1917A1 was used extensively in both theaters of operation during World War II and continued service throughout the Korean War and the beginning stages of Vietnam.

U.S. Browning Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1918A2

During the interwar period, many attempts were made to improve on the M1918 BAR. The M1918A1 and the M1922 were made in very small quantity, with the basic addition of a bipod being the most obvious change. In 1938-39, serious work was begun on what became the Browning Automatic Rifle, Model of 1918A2. The initial experiments with the bipod were expanded upon, and the bipod placement was moved to the front of the barrel utilizing a new flash hider to secure it. The bipod allowed full rotation of the barrel, which made up somewhat for the loss of traverse due to the forward location.

A second addition was that of a pistol grip which extends slightly below the trigger. The method of firing was changed from select fire, (semiautomatic and fully automatic) in the Model of 1918, to dual rate of fire in the Model of 1918A2. This rate reducing mechanism was initially based on the Belgian FN-D BAR trigger group but was later adapted to a US design. Magazine guides were also added to the front of the trigger guard. The fore end was shortened and a heat shield was added, all to help the cooling process. There was a hinged buttplate to add support from the operator’s shoulder, and the new buttstock design allowed for a monopod stock rest.

Production of the M1918A2 was initially performed by upgrading M1918 and M1918A1 BARs. M1918A2 new manufacturing was started in January of 1943. The M1918A2 BAR served in the US military forces throughout World War II, Korea, and well into the Vietnam War. M1918A2s are still seen in various inventories around the world, obsolete though they are.

Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M1919A4

The success of John Browning’s designs is evident in the proliferation of Browning machine guns used by U.S. and other forces around the world. The end of World War I and the advent of more mobile military forces led firearms designers to confront new problems of portability, and the use of tanks and aircraft compounded this. Browning’s basic design for the M1917 series had morphed from water-cooled to air-cooled as early as 1918, and the first models of 1919 Browning machine guns were basically for aircraft use.

The most prolific of the air-cooled Browning machine guns in rifle caliber was the M1919A4. This final variant was designed as either a flexible mount unit for tank use, or for mounting on the M2 tripod with traverse & elevation mechanism and pintle. Production began with the adoption of the M1919A4 in 1935. At that time, all M1919A2 and other earlier variants were started onto a rebuild program to have the longer 24 inch heavy barrel as well as other modifications. By 1939 the elongated slots in the barrel jacket were changed to the quickly recognizable pattern of 5/8 inch diameter holes.

The M1919A4 served well into the Vietnam War for U.S. forces and is still in use today in various armies around the world, primarily in South and Central America and Africa, although most have been replaced with more modern weapons. The M1919A4 was fielded in .30-06, but it has been issued to various armies in 8mm Mauser, 7.62×51 NATO, 7.65 Argentine, and others.

Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M1919A6

The Browning M1919A6 was conceived as a stop-gap measure to fill a void between the M1919A4 and the BAR. The BAR, while relatively light and portable, did not have the capability of sustained firepower. The M1919A4, while perfectly adequate, lacked the ability to be quickly set up and employed and still required the use of a tripod for stability.

The Infantry Board in 1942 investigated many light machine guns of the time, including the German MG42. While a number of designs were submitted, wartime shortages, production constraints and immediate need precluded the design and production of a superior weapon versus modifying a current production weapon to fill the need. (A bird in hand is better than two in the bush.) Reminiscent of Germany’s decision in World War I to develop a light machine gun from an already existing production gun (the MG08/15 from the MG08), the Infantry Board decided to make modifications to the Browning M1919A4 machine gun.

Beginning in 1943, the gun was standardized as the M1919A6 and featured a removable shoulder stock, a lighter barrel with a different barrel bushing to accommodate a bipod and was fitted with a carrying handle. The gun weighed 12.5 pounds lighter than the M1919A4 mounted on its M2 tripod, and was easily transportable and set up by one man. Other than these relatively minor modifications, the gun was mechanically identical to the M1919A4.

Production of the M1919A6 was by the Saginaw Steering Gear Division of General Motors, who produced 43,479 M1919A6s. A number of M1919A4s were also converted to the M1919A6 configuration. The gun saw wide service in the last two years of World War II and continued to see service through the Korean War and the early years of Vietnam.

U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1

Development of the M1 rifle began in 1919. Limited funds and the conflicting ideas of many of those involved caused the program to drag on until 1936, when a suitable prototype finally emerged. Original prototype rifles were chambered for a .276 caliber cartridge. However, the weapons were soon changed over to the existing, standard U.S. 30-06 round by order of General Douglas MacArthur. The decision was due in part to the large stockpiles of the ammunition that remained from the First World War. The basic M1 design was continually refined until 1940 when large-scale production finally began.

The gas operated, semiautomatic M1 rifle was the inspiration of John C. Garand, who designed the weapon while employed by the Springfield Armory. During World War II, the M1 rifle was manufactured by Springfield Armory and the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Approximately 4,040,802 M1 rifles were manufactured from 1937 to 1945. The remarkable M1 design was to have a service life extending long past the conclusion of World War II.

In 1950, the outbreak of hostilities in Korea brought the World War II M1 out of pending retirement. A dwindling supply of rifles dictated that additional M1s would be needed and production resumed. During the Korean Conflict M1 rifles were manufactured by International Harvester, Harrington & Richardson and the Springfield Armory. During the1950s era, approximately 1,427,970 additional M1 rifles were produced, and many more WWII era rifles refurbished. The last M1 rifle was manufactured in 1957.

Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M2

Immediately following World War I, experiments began on making a high speed air-cooled Browning machine gun variant for aircraft use. The original high speed guns were designed by Colt, and these included the M1918, M1918A1, M1919, and MG40. Each model had its problems, leading to the next variant. Part of the problem was that in going to the newer more powerful M2 .30-06 service cartridge, the cyclic rates went up by percentages in the 20% range. At 1,000 rpm, problem occurrences were magnified.

The final variant of the high speed Browning machine gun is commonly referred to as the “Aircraft Gun” or the “M2”. The prefix “AN” simply stands for “Army-Navy.” There were two basic models of the M2: Fixed or Flexible. The M2 Fixed gun was forward firing only, mounted in the wings or cowling, for remote firing by the pilot on an aircraft. The M2 Flexible gun had a spade grip assembly and was mounted so that an air gunner could engage targets within his traverse area.

The M2 guns were designed so that they could be switched out for feeding from either the right or left sides. This also allowed for the use of a twin mount. Twin M2 Browning machine guns firing at 1,200 rpm each made for a very impressive increase in hit probability in air battles.

The M1941 Johnson Rifle

Designed by Melvin M. Johnson, Jr., the M1941 Johnson was unique for a rifle caliber semiautomatic weapon because it was recoil operated rather than the more commonly used gas operating system. This unique feature made the Johnson rifle easy to manufacture and less prone to gas fouling. The weapon also featured a 10 round rotary magazine that could be topped off with additional rounds. The nomenclature M1941 was a commercial designation as there were no Johnson rifles manufactured under U.S. contracts.

The Johnson Automatics Company subcontracted with the Universal Windings Company to manufacture the weapon at their factory complex located in Cranston, Rhode Island. The company would be known as the Cranston Arms Company. Approximately 30,000 Johnson Rifles were manufactured before production ceased in early 1943.

Although the Marine Corps had chosen the M1 Garand, few M1 rifles were available as wartime demand far exceeded the supply. One feature of the Johnson rifle that the Marines liked was it could be easily broken down. This was considered an asset for their newly formed “Paramarine” battalions where the rifles could be easily carried when disassembled. The Marines procured a limited number of the Johnson rifles for issue to the 1st Parachute Battalion in 1942.

Model of 1941 Johnson Light Machine Gun

Invented and designed by Melvin M. Johnson, Jr., it was his intent that the M1941 Johnson LMG replace the BAR. Despite the light machine gun designation, it really was an automatic rifle like the BAR. Notwithstanding the name game, the M1941 LMG had many unique features. Chambered for the M2 .30-06 cartridge, it had a straight line stock which decreased muzzle rise during full automatic fire; necessitating a high front sight. It was light weight at only about 13 pounds and was very accurate in the semiautomatic mode as it fired from a closed bolt, yet in full automatic mode, fired from an open bolt to assist in cooling and preventing cook-offs from a hot barrel. The magazine well was also unique in that the 20-round box magazine could be topped-off by the addition of single rounds through the right side of the receiver or by five round stripper clips. Additionally, the feed lips were a machined part of the receiver rather than being part of the magazine and thus not subject to deformation. The M1941 LMG also employed a quick change barrel.

The M1941 Johnson light machine gun was never officially adopted by the U.S. but was used by selected units of the Marines and Army. Because BARs were in short supply, the U.S. Marines obtained a small quantity of M1941 LMGs primarily intended for use by airborne units and Marine Raiders which saw combat use in the South Pacific. The Army also acquired some M1941 LMGs for issue to the Army’s First Special Service Force, the OSS and there are unconfirmed reports that they were also used by some Army Rangers.

Though some 10,000 M1941 LMGs were produced by Cranston Arms Company, only a relative few (less than 3 percent) were used by the U.S. with the bulk originally ordered by the Dutch for use in the Dutch East Indies. At the fall of the Dutch East Indies to the Japanese, the remaining guns of the contract were embargoed so as not to fall into Japanese hands and is the reason a number of guns were available to the U.S. as needed.

Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M37

The .30 caliber M37 machine gun was a post World War II machine gun variation designed as a secondary weapon for use on combat vehicles and tanks. The M37 differed from the M1919A4 in that it could be fed from either the right or left side by repositioning of a few parts. The top cover also had a new type latch that could be opened from either side. The M37 was generally used as a fixed tank weapon, but was also utilized in the flexible role, primarily by the U.S. Marine Corps. When used in the flexible role, rear sights were added and the weapon was used on the M2 tripod. Among other improvements, the M37 featured a chromed trunnion block, barrel and booster. Many of the parts of the M37 were redesigned and not readily interchangeable with the M1919A4 machine gun. Rock Island Arsenal and Saco-Lowell Shops manufactured the M37 machine gun from 1953 to 1969. The M37C variation was similar to the M37, but used an electric solenoid to fire the weapon, and rather than manually charged, it used a hydraulic system to perform the task. The M37C was used in early helicopter applications, as well as being fitted in the U.S. M48 and M60 tanks.

Model: U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1903
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Bolt action
Overall length: 43.5 inches
Barrel length: 24 inches, twist right hand 1 turn in 10 inches
Weight: 8.69 pounds
Magazine: Integral, 5 round capacity
Sights: Front: blade.
Rear: M1903 ladder type, M1903-A3 stamped, aperture type .
Production: Pre-WWII approximately 1,704,779. During WWII 1,415,593
Manufacturers:
    World War I: (M1903) Springfield Armory, Rock Island Arsenal.
    World War II: (M1903-A4) Remington Arms, L.C. Smith & Corona

Model: U.S. Automatic Machine Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1909
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, gas operated
Cooled: Air
Weight: 30 lbs.
Overall length: 48.5 inches
Barrel length: 25.1 inches
Cyclic rate: 400 rounds per minute
Feed: 30-round metal feed strip
Sights: Front: Protected blade.
Rear: Ladder type graduated to 2,800 yards Warner & Swasey M1908 telescopic sight
Production: 670
Manufacturer: Colt, Springfield Armory

Model: U.S. Vickers Machine Gun, Caliber .30, Model of 1915
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, short recoil with muzzle gas assist
Cooled: Water
Weight: Gun: 32.5 lbs. Tripod: 50 lbs.
Overall length: 43 inches
Barrel length: 28 inches
Cyclic rate: 500 rounds per minute
Feed: 250-round cloth belt
Sights: Front: Protected blade.
Rear: Ladder type graduated to 2,600 yards
Production: 12,125
Manufacturer: Colt

Model: U.S. Maxim Automatic Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M1904
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, short recoil with muzzle gas assist
Cooled: Water
Weight: Gun: 57.5 lbs. Tripod: 80 lbs.
Overall length: 44 inches
Barrel length: 28.5 inches
Cyclic rate: 500 rounds per minute
Feed: 250-round fabric belt
Sights: Front: Protected blade.
Rear: Ladder type graduated to 2,600 yards
Production: 287
Manufacturer: Vickers, Sons & Maxim, Colt

Model: M1914 Colt Automatic Gun
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, gas impingement system
Cooled: Air
Weight: Gun: 35 lbs. Tripod: 56 lbs.
Overall length: 41 inches
Barrel length: 28 inches
Cyclic rate: 400 rounds per minute
Feed: 250-round cloth belt
Sights: Front: Protected blade.
Rear: Ladder type graduated to 2,600 yards
Production: 25,000
Manufacturer: Colt, Marlin-Rockwell

Model: U.S. Lewis Machine Gun, Caliber .30, Model of 1917
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, gas operated
Cooled: Air
Weight: Gun: 25.5 lbs. Bipod: 3 lbs.
Overall length: 51 inches
Barrel length: 26.5 inches
Cyclic rate: 550 rounds per minute
Feed: 47-round rotating pan magazine
Sights: Front: Blade protected by ears.
Rear: Ladder type graduated to 2,100 yards
Production: 8,500
Manufacturer: Savage Arms Co.

Model: U.S. Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, Model of 1917
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, short recoil
Cooled: Water
Weight: Gun: 30 lbs. Tripod: 53 lbs.
Overall length: 38.5 inches
Barrel length: 24 inches
Cyclic rate: 500 rounds per minute
Feed: 250-round fabric belt
Sights: Front: Protected blade
Rear: Peep, adjustable leaf graduated to 2,800 meters
Production: Approximately 72,000. Wartime 42,750
Manufacturer: New England Westinghouse, Remington, Colt.

Model: U.S. Rifle Caliber .30, Model of 1917
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Bolt-action
Overall length: 46.25 inches
Barrel length: 26 inches, twist: left hand 1 turn in 10-inches
Weight: 9.187 pounds
Magazine: 5 rounds integral box type
Sights: Front: protected blade
Rear: protected aperture style adjustable ladder sight
Production: Approximately 2.4 million
Manufacturers: Remington, Winchester, Eddystone

Model: U.S. Chauchat Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1918
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, semiautomatic, long-recoil
Cooled: Air
Weight: 19 lbs.
Overall length: 45.5 inches
Barrel length: 17 inches
Cyclic rate: 300 rounds per minute
Feed: 16-round detachable box magazine
Sights: Front: Blade.
Rear: V-notch tangent
Production: 19,241
Manufacturer: C.S.R.G. (Chauchat, Sutter, Ribeyrolle & Gladiator

Model: Marlin Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M1917/18
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, gas operated straight piston
Cooled: Air
Weight: 25.0 lbs.
Overall length: 40 inches
Barrel length: 24 inches
Cyclic rate: 600 rounds per minute
Feed: 250-round fabric belt
Sights: Front and rear sights varied by model and application. Ground guns had similar sights to theColt M1914. Other mountings used a variety of aircraft and anti-aircraft sights.
Production: 1917 (Navy): 1,605; 1917/18
Aircraft: 38,000
Manufacturer: Marlin Arms Corporation, Marlin-RockwellCompany

Model: U.S. Browning Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30,Model of 1918
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, semiautomatic, gas operation
Cooled: Air
Weight: 15.5 lbs.
Overall length: 47 inches
Barrel length: 24 inches
Cyclic rate: 550 rounds per minute
Feed: 20-round detachable box magazine
Sights: Front: Blade.
Rear: protected aperture style adjustable
Production: 102,125
Manufacturer: Winchester, Marlin-Rockwell, Colt

Model: Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M1917A1
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, short recoil
Cooled: Water
Weight: Gun: 33 lbs. Tripod: 53 lbs.
Overall length: 38.5 inches
Barrel length: 24 inches
Cyclic rate: 500 rounds per minute
Feed: 250-round fabric belt
Sights: Front: Protected blade
Rear: Peep, adjustable leaf graduated to 2,600 yards.
Production: 55,859
Manufacturer: Rock Island Arsenal

Model: U.S. Browning Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1918A2
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, gas operation
Cooled: Air
Weight: 19.4 lbs.
Overall length: 47.8 inches
Barrel length: 24 inches
Cyclic rate: 300-450/ 500-650 rounds per minute
Feed: 20-round detachable box magazine
Sights: Front: Blade.
Rear: protected aperture style adjustable
Production: 249,380 total new production as A2
Manufacturer: New England Small Arms (NESA), 168,363; IBM Corporation, 20,017; Royal Typewriter Company, 61,000

Model: Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M1919A6
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, short recoil
Cooled: Air
Weight: Gun: 32.5 lbs.
Overall length: 53 inches
Barrel length: 24 inches
Cyclic rate: 450 rounds per minute
Feed: 250-round fabric belt
Sights: Front: Folding blade
Rear: Peep, adjustable leaf graduated to 2,600 yards.
Production: 43,479
Manufacturer: Saginaw Steering Gear Div. of General Motors

Model: Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M2 Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, short recoil
Cooled: Air
Weight: 23.0 lbs
Overall length: 39.9 inches
Barrel length: 23.9 inches
Cyclic rate: 1,200 rounds per minute
Feed: disintegrating links Sights: Varied according to mounting
Production: Brown-Lipe-Chapin 33,311; Buffalo
Arms Co. 96,822; Savage 14,800; Colt 49,681
Manufacturer: Brown-Lipe-Chapin Div. General Motors, Buffalo Arms Company, Savage Arms, Corporation. Colt’s Patent Firearms Mfg.

Model: Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M1919A4
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, short recoil
Cooled: Air
Weight: Gun: 31 lbs. Tripod: 14 lbs.
Overall length: 41 inches
Barrel length: 24 inches
Cyclic rate: 450-500 rounds per minute
Feed: 250-round fabric belt or disintegrating links
Sights: Front: Folding blade
Rear: Peep, adjustable leaf graduated to 2,400 yards.
Production: RIA 31,596; Saginaw 367,853; Buffalo 38,300. Total production of all M1919A4 variants from 1939 to 1945: 441,494.
Manufacturer: Rock Island Arsenal, Saginaw Steering Gear Div. of General Motors, Buffalo Arms Co

Model: U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Semiautomatic, gas operated
Overall length: 43.6-inches
Barrel length: 24 inches, twist: right hand, 1 turn in 10 inches
Weight: 9.5 pounds
Magazine: 8 round enbloc clip
Sights: Front: Blade with protective ears
Rear: Aperture
Production: Approximately 5,468,772
Manufacturers: World War II: Springfield Armory, Winchester Korean War era: Harrington & Richardson, International Harvester, Springfield Armory

Model: M1941 Johnson Rifle
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Semiautomatic, short recoil operated
Overall length: 45.87 inches
Barrel length: 22 inches, twist: right hand 1 turn in 10-inches
Weight: 9.5 pounds
Feed: Internal rotary type, 10 round capacity
Sights: Front: blade with protective ears
Rear: aperture type, graduated in meters
Production: Approximately 30,000
Manufacturer: Cranston Arms Company

Model: Model of 1941 Johnson Light Machine Gun
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full Automatic, semiautomatic, short recoil operated
Overall length: 42 inches
Barrel length: 22 inches, twist: right hand 1 turn in 10-inches
Weight: 13 pounds
Cyclic rate: 450 rounds per minute
Magazine: 20-round detachable box magazine
Sights: Front: blade with protective ears
Rear: Folding aperture type, graduated in meters
Production: Approximately 10,000
Manufacturer: Cranston Arms Company

Model: Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M37
Caliber: .30-06
Operation: Full automatic, short recoil
Cooled: Air
Weight: 31 lbs.
Overall length: 41.75 inches
Barrel length: 24 inches
Cyclic rate: 450-550 rounds per minute
Feed: Disintegrating links
Sights: Added for C Front: Folding blade
Added for C Rear: Peep, adjustable leaf graduated to 2,400 yards.
Production: RIA 7,340; Saco, unknown
Manufacturer: Rock Island Arsenal, Saco-Lowell Shops