Machine guns of the civil war. Lewis light machine gun - the “rattlesnake” of the First World War
Light machine gun Lewis was developed in the United States by Samuel McClane with the participation of Lieutenant Colonel Lissack. The developers sold the patent rights to the resulting Automatic Arms Company in Buffalo. The Automatic Arms Company, in turn, asked Colonel Isaac N. Lewis to bring the system to a state in which it would suit potential buyers. In 1911, Lewis presented the machine gun to the Secretariat of War Affairs and the Chief of Staff of the United States Army. Four copies were purchased for testing (typically, the first test was carried out in Maryland at a military aviation school), but the Armament Directorate did not consider this weapon interesting for the army. Lewis headed to Belgium, where he was able to establish production of a machine gun.
In 1913, the Lewis machine gun was adopted by the Belgian army (it also became the first country to use it in battle, in 1914 during its retreat). At the same time, Russian specialists became interested in the machine gun. At the beginning of July, the Belgian Society automatic weapons“A sample of a machine gun was sent to St. Petersburg. During tests conducted at the Officer Rifle School, the system was revealed to be incomplete. The main complaints concerned the barrel cooling, which did not allow firing more than 600 shots. Despite this, the GAU made a proposal to purchase for testing in 1914 10 McClane-Lewis submachine guns, 3 Hotchkiss machine guns (for airplanes) and 2 Berthier (Berthier-Pasha) machine guns. The Military Council approved this purchase on July 25, 1913. With the outbreak of the First World War, the funds allocated for “Berthier” and “Hotchkiss” were used “to strengthen the funds of the war fund,” and interest in “Lewis” apparently remained. After testing 10 Lewis guns was carried out at the Officer Rifle School, the Head of the GAU ordered to send them to the Officer Cavalry School. In turn, the Officer Cavalry School abandoned machine guns, and they were transferred “to the Corps airfield.” Positive feedback, given by the Head of the GAU, inspired the company to offer on August 8 - after the start of the war - the supply of 5 thousand lightweight submachine guns with magazines for 56 rounds. However, they did not issue new orders then. And when the need for such weapons became obvious, supplies had to wait until the end of 1915. In 1914, with the outbreak of war, the machine gun was adopted by the British Army. Initially, the contract was signed with the BSA company (Birmingham Small Arms), and although the production of Lewis required 6 times less time than the easel Vickers and was 5 times cheaper, the company could not set up production weapons on the required scale. In this regard, the contract was transferred to the American company Savage Arms Company. And only after it was established sustainable production part of the contract was “ceded” to Russia.
The machine gun had a gas exhaust automatic engine. Powder gases were vented through a transverse hole located at the bottom of the barrel. The piston rod had a long stroke. The barrel bore was locked by turning the bolt. Characteristics The machine gun had a spiral (snail-shaped) recoil spring, a relatively large-capacity disk magazine (there was no feeder spring), and air-cooled barrel.
The cooling system uses an original siphon circuit. An aluminum radiator with high longitudinal ribs and covered with a cylindrical casing was placed on the barrel. The casing at the front narrowed, extending beyond the muzzle of the barrel. During the firing of powder gases, a vacuum formed in the muzzle, as a result of which air from the breech was blown through the radiator.
Gas chamber - closed type. A regulator was screwed into the gas chamber from below, having holes of different diameters, which alternately stood opposite the transversely located outlet of the chamber. The regulator was turned with the lower key. There were sealing bands on the piston rod, and a cup-shaped recess on the piston. The rear and front parts of the bolt frame (rod) were rigidly connected with pins. At the rear there was a rack, a stand and a combat cock. The reloading handle was inserted into the rod on the left or right. The return spring was located at the bottom in a special box and caused the gear to rotate, which was engaged with the piston rack. This solution was left in the receiver free space, protected the spring from heating, but was unnecessarily complex.
Four lugs were located at the rear of the bolt frame, and two spring ejectors were mounted at the front. The shutter was rotated by a gas piston strut sliding in the screw groove of the frame. The drummer was mounted on the same stand. The non-rotating tail of the bolt, inserted into the frame at the back, carried guide lugs. The upper protrusion drove the feeder. Trigger allowed exclusively continuous fire. It was assembled in a trigger box, which was attached to the receiver with a latch and a tab. A shot from the rear sear allowed intense fire without the danger of igniting the cartridges in the heated chamber. While pressing trigger he turned the trigger lever, while the sear of the lever came out from under the cocking of the piston rod. The function of the fuse was performed by a bar that blocked the slot receiver, locking the charging handle. The moving system had a stroke of 163 millimeters.
The bolt, while moving backward, removed the spent cartridge case from the chamber and turned the lever reflector located in the receiver on its left wall. The reflector head protruded from the wall, entered the groove of the bolt frame and pushed the sleeve out with a blow to the right.
The original power system was an attempt to abandon the tape while maintaining the drive of the feed mechanism from the moving automation system, as well as to synchronize the operation of the mechanisms. The disk magazine included a cup, which was divided into 25 sectors by rods and wall projections. In sectors, cartridges were placed in two rows along a radius. In the center of the disk there was a bushing with a central hole and a screw groove. The feed mechanism, mounted in the receiver, had a feeder, a pawl with a spring, two limiters and a tongue with a guide plate with a spring. The loaded magazine was put on the receiver glass with the central hole (arrow forward). The first cartridge was located opposite the stop and tongue plate. When moving backward, the bolt with the protrusion of its tail moved along the curved groove of the feeder, rotating it to the left. The feed dog shifted the magazine cup, while the left limiter limited its rotation, not allowing it to take more than one step. The cartridge was pressed out by the tongue plate and moved into the receiving window of the box. When the bolt moved forward, it picked up the cartridge, and the feeder, turning to the right, jumped over the next protrusion of the cup with its pawl. The left limiter was pressed out with the magazine spike. The right limiter blocked the cup from rotating to the right. Since the magazine bushing was stationary, the cartridges, sliding with the noses of the bullets along the screw groove of the bushing, went down. Thus, with each turn, a new cartridge was placed under the tongue plate.
A folding frame sight with a diopter rear sight and a set screw was mounted on the receiver cover. The triangular front sight was mounted on the connecting ring of the casing, but this arrangement did not contribute to accuracy. The length of the aiming line was 818 millimeters. The design of the machine gun consisted of 88 parts.
The bipod for the Lewis machine gun was rigid triangular with a connecting rod with a clamp and a fork. The bipod could be attached with a fork back or forward. When mounted backwards, the firing sector increased (in addition, less space was required at the edge of the trench), and when mounted backwards, stability increased. Lightweight bipods were attached to the connecting ring of the casing on hinges.
The tripod machine for the Lewis light machine gun - the machine was supplied to Russia in small quantities - had two front and one back leg with openers and shoes. The legs were attached to the frame on hinges, which made it possible to change the height of the line of fire. The machine gun was attached to the swivel bar using a clamp. For vertical rough aiming there was a mechanism with an arc. Fine adjustment was carried out by a screw mechanism that changed the relative position of the bar and the arc. Of course, the tripod provided better accuracy, but did not make the Lewis “universal.”
The Lewis machine gun was developed in the United States, and the bulk of the Lewis machine guns for Russia were also produced there, but in our country this machine gun - thanks to the cartridge and the ordering procedure - was always considered “English”. In addition to it, the Russian army was armed with a 37-mm automatic gun Mac Klena, whose main task was to fight machine guns.
In Great Britain, the Model 1915 Lewis machine gun was equipped with a 47-round magazine in October 1916 and given the designation Mkl. At the end of the war it was replaced by the 1923 model. The old Lewis remained in the countries of the British Commonwealth, modifications with other calibers were supplied to Japan and Estonia. In December 1916, the Savage company received an order from the US Army for Lewis machine guns chambered for the 30-06 Springfield cartridge. This order was associated with preparations for the entry of the United States into the war on the side of the Entente. True, in American army The Lewis was primarily used as an aircraft machine gun. By 1917, Savage had increased Lewis production to 400 units per week.
Although the Lewis was very heavy - almost half the weight of the mounted Vickers - of all the variety of light machine guns used in the First World War, it turned out to be the most “long-serving”. In the mid-20s, he was the only one in Russia who continued to be listed as service weapon rifle units. We have these machine guns in our country last time showed themselves in the first months of the Great Patriotic War, when they were issued to the militia and new formations. However, at that time “Lewis” was also used by other armies. Lewis's last "great war" was Korean War, but later they surfaced in various parts Sveta.
Being the most successful model of a light machine gun of its time, the Lewis machine gun also became widely known as an aircraft machine gun. On October 11, 1915, General Belyaev, assistant to the Minister of War, wrote: “I believe it is necessary... to order the Lewis company a thousand machine guns to equip airplanes.” That is, the Lewis machine gun was originally purchased by Russia for aviation. General Hermonius reported on July 14, 1916: “50 Lewis air machine guns marked “Aviation” were sent July 10-23 to the Naval General Staff. In Great Britain, the aviation modification of the Lewis Mk 2 machine gun was adopted in November 1915 - a month after the land Mkl was adopted (although the Lewis had been used in air combat since 1914). Mk 2 was distinguished by the presence of a second control handle located in place of the butt, a sleeve-collector bag, a 97-round magazine, the casing and radiator were shortened on parts of the machine guns, and a flame arrester was installed. In 1918, the radiator was removed - the oncoming air flow during flight sufficiently cooled the barrel. In May 1918, the Lewis began to be converted into the Mk 2 with changes in automation parts and an enlarged gas outlet. Automation has been modified to increase the rate of fire. This machine gun, which was being produced anew, received the designation Mk 3. When aviation “Lewis” began to be used on the ground in World War II, it turned out that a massive radiator was not really needed for a light machine gun.
The procedure for unloading the Lewis machine gun is: Lowering it down, turn on the fuse located on the left above the trigger guard. By pressing the latch located inside the magazine opening, separate it. Remove the cartridge from the receiving window (from under the feed lever) of the receiver. Lift up the fuse and turn it off. By pressing the trigger, smoothly release the bolt frame from cocking.
The procedure for partial disassembly of the Lewis machine gun:
1. Unload the machine gun.
2. Separate the butt plate and butt. To do this, press the latch located at the bottom behind the pistol grip and turn the butt 1/8 turn to the left.
3. The trigger box is separated. To do this, press the trigger to push the box back.
4. The box with the return spring and gear is separated.
5. Separate the receiver cover by sliding it back.
6. The feed lever is removed from the cover. To do this, move the feed lever latch forward; turn the lever to the right so that the cutout is positioned opposite the protrusion on the glass.
7. Remove the bolt carrier and bolt from the receiver. To do this, you need to pull the charging handle back. Remove the handle from the frame by moving it to the side. Remove the bolt and bolt carrier.
8. The bolt is separated from the bolt frame.
Assembly is carried out in reverse order. When assembling, you must pay attention to the fact that when attaching the feed lever, the protrusion of the bolt tail fits into the curved groove on the feed lever; Before attaching the box, the return spring must be preloaded (partially twisted).
Technical characteristics of the Lewis light machine gun:
Cartridge – .303 “British” (7.71*56);
The weight of the weapon without bipod and cartridge is 10.63 kg;
Loaded magazine weight – 1.8 kg;
Weapon length – 1280 mm;
Barrel length – 660 mm;
Rifling – 4 right-hand;
Initial bullet speed – 747 m/s;
Sighting range – 1850 m;
Rate of fire - 500-600 rounds per minute;
Combat rate of fire - 150 rounds per minute;
Magazine capacity – 47 rounds;
The height of the firing line on the bipod is 408 mm;
Machine type – tripod;
Machine weight – 11.5 kg;
The vertical pointing angles of the machine gun on the machine are from -62 to +42 degrees;
The horizontal pointing angle of the machine gun on the machine is 360 degrees.
Based on materials: S. Fedoseev - Machine guns in the First World War
The Lewis light machine gun, created in 1913, became a real symbol of the First World War. During the war, he was not only the main machine gun of the countries British Commonwealth, but was also widely used around the world, including taking part in the Russian Civil War. The machine gun was withdrawn from service in the 1930s, but with the outbreak of World War II, after partial modernization, the “old man” had to be returned to service. In our country, this machine gun is familiar even to those who have never been particularly interested in firearms. He became a real hero not only of world cinema, but also of domestic cinema. In particular, in the beloved movie “ White sun Desert" with a Lewis machine gun you can see the Red Army soldier Sukhov.
To be fair, it should be noted that not only the real Lewis machine gun was filmed in the famous Soviet Eastern film. In the shooting scenes it was replaced with a Soviet DP (Degtyarev infantry) light machine gun. For filming, the machine gun was specially “made up” to look like a “Lewis” using a characteristic barrel casing and a finned disc lining. Most likely, during filming the real Lewis was simply faulty or was not available for him blank cartridges. At the same time, the Lewis machine gun appeared in many Soviet/Russian films about the Civil War.
The Lewis machine gun, or simply "Lewis" is a British light machine gun that was created in 1913. It is worth noting that the idea of designing a machine gun belonged to Samuel McLean, but it was brought to life by an American, Colonel Isaac Lewis. Initially, he wanted to use this machine gun as a machine gun with water cooling, but during development he abandoned this idea in favor of creating a light machine gun with forced air cooling of the barrel.
The creator of the famous machine gun, American Army Colonel Isaac N. Lewis, was a leading weapons expert in the US Army. He received his education at the famous West Point Military Academy, from which he successfully graduated in 1884. In 1911, Lewis became commander of the artillery school located at Fort Monroe. Here he achieved fame as a very good specialist in electrical engineering and mechanics. As his retirement from the military approached, the colonel began working as a consultant for the Ohio-based Automatic Arms Company.
For a number of years Isaac has been developing his own light machine gun, the automation of which would work using the energy of powder gases. At this time, the AAC company acquired the rights to a machine gun created by Dr. Samuel McLean. Lewis used McLean's technical solutions to create his own machine gun. For the right to produce this weapon, the AAS company transferred to him a controlling stake and control over the production and distribution of the machine gun. Two years later, in 1913, the Lewis machine gun with a disc magazine and air-cooled barrel was finally ready.
Initially, Lewis wanted to offer his product to the American army, but received a strict refusal, which was caused by a long-standing personal conflict between the designer and General Crozier, who was at that time the head of the US Army Weapons Department. As a result, the first country to adopt the Lewis light machine gun was Belgium, which happened already in 1913. At the same time, just before the war, the British also liked the machine gun; production was launched in England at the BSA factories. By the end of 1915, the new production workshops located in Birmingham were operating at full capacity, with production of Lewis machine guns reaching 300 units per week.
The machine gun's combat debut came during the First world war and it turned out to be very successful. Due to the maneuverability and general stealth of this weapon, the soldiers of the Kaiser's Germany nicknamed the Lewis machine gun " rattlesnake" The characteristic sound of a fired machine-gun burst also contributed to this nickname. At the same time, the Germans themselves actively used captured Lewis machine guns, converting them to the 7.92 Mauser cartridge and actively using them in assault troops along with other trophies obtained in battles.
The automatic machine gun operated on the principle of removing powder gases. When firing, gases passed through a hole in the barrel and pressed on the piston. The piston, moving back, turned the gear of the spiral (same as in a watch) return spring with a rack, thus winding it. Structurally, the light machine gun consisted of the following main parts and mechanisms: a barrel with a casing and radiator, a receiver with a feed mechanism and a cover, a butt plate with a butt, a bolt, a bolt frame, a fire control handle, a recoil spring with a box, a magazine and a bipod.
« Business card The Lewis-designed light machine gun had a casing whose edges extended far beyond the muzzle and created a kind of ejector there with its profile - when firing, a wave of powder gases passing through it, with its inertia, contributed to the creation of a vacuum in the rear part of the casing. As a result, a portion of cold air was drawn under the casing along the longitudinally finned barrel of the machine gun. At that time, active air cooling was not used anywhere else in small arms.
In the front part of the casing there was a gas chamber regulator, which had two holes for venting gases with letter designations: “S” - a smaller hole and “L” - a larger hole. In order to move the regulator from one hole to another, it had to be rotated 180 degrees using the regulator lever. The machine gun barrel was locked by turning the bolt, the lugs of which fit into the transverse grooves of the receiver. The rotation of the bolt of a light machine gun when locking is carried out by a curved groove on the bolt and the base of the bolt frame post.
The machine gun used a striker-type impact mechanism, which was mounted on the bolt frame rack. The trigger mechanism of the weapon allows only automatic fire from it. Extraction of the cartridge case (cartridge) was carried out by two ejectors fixed in the bolt, and reflection was carried out by a lever-type reflector, which was located in the receiver. The light machine gun had a safety, which consisted of two slats with cutouts at both ends. Rails were placed on the left and right sides of the receiver. The cutouts were designed to secure the bolt carrier in the forward and rear positions. In order to put the bolt carrier on safety, the bar (left or right, depending on which side the charging handle was located) had to be moved up.
The machine gun barrel and receiver had threaded connection. The barrel is air cooled. The cooling of the light machine gun barrel was enhanced due to the presence of a radiator and a casing with a pipe. For ease of shooting, the light machine gun was equipped with a bipod. Sights were represented by a frame diopter sight and a triangular front sight. In the case of using a machine gun as a light easel, it was attached to the swinging part of the machine, while the butt plate with the butt of the machine gun was replaced with a butt plate with a handle.
The machine gun was fed with cartridges using disk magazines for 47 and 97 rounds attached to it on top, which were multi-layered (in two or three rows, respectively). The cartridges in the store were located radially to the axis of the disk. At the same time, the magazines in the Lewis light machine gun did not have a feed spring - their rotation to feed the next cartridge to the ramming line took place using a specially provided lever, which was located on the machine gun and driven by the bolt. The disk magazine was kept from turning to the left or right using two levers that were placed on the receiver cover. In the infantry version, the Lewis was equipped with a removable bipod and a wooden butt. Sometimes a special handle could be installed on the barrel casing, designed for carrying a light machine gun.
The design of the infantry version of the Lewis machine gun remained unchanged for almost the entire First World War. However, the military conflict required the use of a machine gun in aviation. Aviation option the machine gun already had its differences. It turned out that the massive “pipe” of the radiator casing prevented the air gunner from taking aim, since due to the large windage the machine gun was subjected to very strong pressure air flow. It also turned out that due to air blowing during flight, the barrel of a machine gun is less susceptible to overheating than on the ground, so the unnecessary casing on aircraft machine gun refused, although the radiator itself remained in place.
It was also found that spent cartridges, which flew overboard, could lead to damage to the fabric covering of the aircraft, and in cars with a rear engine, also to the propeller. Therefore, combat units independently began equipping machine guns with special boxes or bags for collecting cartridges. After receiving official complaints from pilots, BSA began producing cartridge case collection bags for turret versions of its machine guns with a capacity of 94 cartridge cases. However, for intensive air combat The capacity turned out to be insufficient, and the capacity of the bags was increased to 330 cartridges.
Reliability of the Lewis design light machine gun in any, even the most unfavorable conditions ensured the weapon's reputation as one of the best light machine guns of the First World War, although the weight of the weapon caused certain difficulties for the shooters. The machine gun was only withdrawn from service in the UK in the late 1930s. However, defeats in the first battles of World War II, when large number weapons of the English Expeditionary Force were left in France, as well as the need to quickly deploy mass army and to equip the territorial defense troops with something, they returned the machine gun to service. To the army, which experienced a shortage of automatic small arms, approximately 59 thousand Lewis system light machine guns were returned from warehouses. At the same time, all machine guns underwent minor modernization, in particular, aluminum radiators were removed from them, a flash suppressor appeared on the muzzle, and the heavy bipod was replaced with a single-legged telescopic one.
Military parade on Red Square. Moscow, November 7, 1941. The photo is especially interesting because the Red Army soldiers are dressed in winter helmets, which were canceled in July 1940, and are also armed with old English machine guns Lewis systems
The Lewis machine gun was widely used in our country. Back in 1913 Russian army showed interest in this development by purchasing a pilot batch. But these machine guns appeared en masse in Russian Empire Only in 1917, in 1916, an agreement was signed for the purchase of 9,600 American-made machine guns and 1,800 British-made machine guns. After Russia exited the First World War, these machine guns were widely used during the Civil War. For example, light machine guns Lewis system was armed with the personal guard of Nestor Makhno.
In the Red Army, Lewis machine guns remained in service until the mid-1920s, remaining in military warehouses until the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. It is also curious that Estonian Kalev-class submarines of British production were armed with Lewis machine guns. These boats, along with machine guns, became part of the Baltic Fleet in 1940. By the autumn-winter of 1941, the Red Army was faced with the same problem as the British - there was a shortage of automatic small arms for the newly formed units. The existing Lewis light machine guns were returned from warehouses, including those used by militia units defending the approaches to Moscow and Leningrad.
This light machine gun was also used by the Axis countries during the Second World War. Since the end of 1944, the Germans have armed Volkssturm battalions with them, transferring 2891 Lewis M1920 machine guns from the arsenals of occupied Holland to their arsenal. In Japan, Type 92 Lewis machine guns (they were produced in this country under license) were used until the end of World War II, while in Japanese army they could additionally be used from special tripod machines.
Tactical and technical characteristics of the Lewis machine gun:
Weight - 13 kg.
Length - 1280 mm.
Barrel length - 670 mm.
Cartridges - 7.7x56 mm (.303 British), 7.62x63 mm (.30-06 Springfield), 7.62x54 mm R.
Rate of fire - 550 rounds/min.
The initial bullet speed is 740 m/s.
Effective fire distance - 800 m.
Magazines - disk for 47 or 97 rounds.
Sources of information:
http://www.airwar.ru/weapon/guns/lewis.html
http://www.megasword.ru/index.php?pg=550
http://world.guns.ru/machine/usa/lewis-r.html
http://gunmagazine.com.ua/index.php?id=313
Open source materials
The First World War radically changed the military's views on methods of conducting combat operations. And if at the beginning of the “tight” defense there was no need for highly mobile means of infantry support, then by the end of the war they became vitally necessary. One of them were light machine guns, of which the Lewis machine gun is considered by many experts to be the best.
History of creation
The technical concept of the new machine gun was developed by Samuel McLean, but to bring it to real prototype Only US Army officer Isaac Lewis succeeded. He patented the idea, and the machine gun received his name - the Lewis light machine gun. However, it did not immediately become “tame”; initially it was with tank machine gun with water cooling, but then Lewis used the original design of forced air cooling of the barrel, which significantly reduced the weight of the machine gun and made it possible to make it manual (by the way, this system is found nowhere else except Russian machine gun"Pecheneg" was not used). The production of weapons was established at the BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) factories in the United Kingdom. The first army to use the Lewis machine gun was the Belgian army (1913). She was the first to test it in battle.
The machine gun turned out to be very successful, especially in comparison with similar weapons of the time, and was soon adopted by many armies of the world. Moreover, not only its infantry version, but also its aviation modification became widespread. The latter was distinguished by the absence of a cooling system and a cartridge disk of greater capacity. The Lewis machine gun served in linear units of the armies until the beginning of the next great war, in which it was also used, but in small quantities. Production stopped completely in 1942.
Machine gun design
The Lewis machine gun operates by venting powder gases. The barrel is locked by turning the bolt, which, with its lugs, fits into grooves machined into the steel box. The rotation itself is carried out due to a curved groove on the bolt and the base of the bolt frame strut. Only automatic fire is allowed from a machine gun. Shooting starts with the bolt open, which negatively affects the accuracy of the weapon. The ammunition comes from the original disk, the cartridges in which are arranged in several layers.
Depending on the magazine capacity, there can be two (47 rounds) or four (97 rounds) of these layers. The magazine does not have a feed spring, which fundamentally distinguishes it from other systems. The supply of cartridges occurs due to the rotation of the disk, into which the automatic machine gun drives it. The rate of fire can be adjusted using a tap on the gas chamber. The return spring is of the drum type, which allows it to be adjusted using a special key.
Machine gun characteristics
The Lewis machine gun fires 7.62 mm bullets with initial speed 747 meters per second and a rate of fire of 550 rounds per minute. Range effective shooting 1800 meters. Weight with disk filled with cartridges: 17.8 kg.
Role Model
The qualities of the new machine gun were appreciated not only by the Entente countries, but also by their opponents. German soldiers The Lewis gun was nicknamed the “rattlesnake.” He received this nickname for his high mobility, secrecy and characteristic “voice”. The Germans converted the captured machine guns to the Mauser cartridge and actively used them. It must be assumed that the experience of getting to know these weapons pushed German designers to create their own version, which we know as the best German machine gun MG-42.
In 2010, in the state of ILLINOIS in the USA, a discussion arose among small arms enthusiasts. One of the small arms enthusiasts, a war veteran, found a Lewis machine gun inoperative in an old estate. To be more precise, it was a .30 caliber Lewis produced by the 1917 Savage Arms Co. in the city of New York.
About this find, they wrote to the head of the Catholic Society of War Veterans, Mike Anthony, asking him to explain how they could leave the machine gun in their organization, as I understand it, which was engaged in the reconstruction of past military operations. He asked a question to an ATF agent (Bureau of Firearms, Tobacco, Alcohol and Explosive), they in turn advised to hand over the machine gun to the authorities. And the machine gun had to be handed over to the sheriff, otherwise those who owned it would face a 10-year sentence and a fine of $250,000.
In this whole story, I liked the reaction of the local sheriff. He did not open a case against the finders, but tried in every possible way to help them solve this problem. They were even ready to give the machine gun to the museum, but the ATF demanded that the rarity be destroyed. In turn, Sheriff Myrl Justus said that for now the find will be kept as a docket until a way is found to save this perfectly preserved machine gun, which, according to gunsmith experts, can still be restored.
"Unfortunately, we are limited in what we can do," Sergeant John Fulton, administrative assistant for the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department, told the press. - “we will either keep it at home or be obliged to hand it over for destruction, these are the requirements of the law.”
At the same time, the state rifle association is confident that it is worth fighting for the safety of this shooting exhibit, stating that the ATF, as a federal agency, should control, and not confiscate or destroy, what is the history of the United States of America.
Let me note that this attitude towards machine guns in general is not found in all US states! There are states where their personal storage is allowed.
From idea to metal
Lewis (“Lewis”) is a British machine gun from the First World War. It was created in 1913.
The original idea for the design of the machine gun belongs to a certain Samuel McLean. This idea was improved by an American, American Army Captain Isaac Lewis, and then patented. Initially, Lewis planned his machine gun as an easel machine gun, with water cooling, but later moved on to the idea of a light machine gun with forced air cooling of the barrel.
The machine gun was proposed by the designer for arming the American army, but in response there was a harsh refusal (caused by a long-standing personal conflict between the inventor and General Crozier, the then head of the US Army Weapons Department).
Having failed to convince the leadership of the American army of the need to adopt his design, Lewis retired and left the United States in 1913.
First he went to Belgium, and soon to the UK. In Belgium, he founded the Armes Automatique Lewis company in Liege to produce a machine gun. In the UK, Lewis worked closely with Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) to overcome some of the difficulties encountered in the production of the weapon.
Production of the machine gun began at the BSA factories (England), and the Belgian army was the first to adopt the Lewis RP in 1913, and the Lewis received its baptism of fire in 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War. By the end of the 1930s, it was withdrawn from service for the first time, but closer to the Second World War it was returned to service after a partial modernization, during which the radiators were removed and the two bipods were replaced by one telescopic one. In addition to the army ones, there were also aviation options.
Japanese Type 92 Lewis machine guns (produced under license) could additionally be used from special tripod machines. These machine guns were used by Japan until the end of World War II.
Design Features
The automatic machine gun operates on the principle of removing powder gases. The machine gun consists of the following main parts and mechanisms: a barrel with a radiator and casing, a receiver with a cover and a feed mechanism, a butt plate with a butt, a fire control handle with a trigger mechanism, a bolt, a bolt frame, a recoil spring in its box, a magazine and a bipod . The hallmark of the card system is the casing, the edges extending far beyond the muzzle and forming a kind of ejector there with its profile - when fired, a wave of powder gases, passing through it with its inertia, created a vacuum in the rear part of the casing - and as a result - stretching portions of cold air under the casing, along longitudinally ribbed trunk. Active air cooling has never been used anywhere else in the history of small arms.
The barrel bore is locked by turning the bolt, the lugs of which fit into the transverse grooves of the receiver. The rotation of the bolt when locking is carried out by a curved groove on the bolt and the base of the bolt frame strut. The striker-type impact mechanism is mounted on the bolt frame rack. The trigger mechanism allows only automatic fire. Shooting only from an “open bolt”, which negatively affects the accuracy of the fire. When firing, the machine gun is fed with cartridges from an original disk magazine with a multi-layer (2 or 4 rows, capacity 47 and 97 rounds, respectively) arrangement, which is driven into rotation by a feed mechanism. The magazine does not contain a feed spring, which fundamentally sets it apart from all modern systems of this type.
The feed mechanism is a lever type, driven by the protrusion of the bolt tail, which fits into the curved groove of the feed lever. The rate of fire (the rate of operation of the automation) is regulated by a tap on the gas chamber. The same tap compensates for lubricant thickening at low temperatures.
The recoil spring is not telescopic like in modern systems, but a plate drum type, located inside a gear drum, the mating part of the bolt frame is made of a gear rack. Allows tightening in case of loss of elasticity, for which there is a key in the machine gun accessory. The accessory is a leather bag containing tools for minor repairs and eliminating weapon jams. There are also spare recoil springs and firing pins, as well as a tool for assembling and disassembling the weapon.
Technical parameters of the Lewis machine gun mod. 1915
Caliber 7.71 mm
Length 1280 mm
Weight without cartridges 14.5 kg
Weight of the machine gun with magazine and cartridges. 17.8 kg
Initial bullet speed 747 m/s
Rate of fire 450 v/m
Rate of fire 150 v/m
Sighting range 1800 m
Disc capacity 47 (97) rounds
The total length of the machine gun is 1,280 mm
Effective fire range 800 m
Sighting range 1830 m
The Lewis machine gun is also used as a light mounted machine gun, for which it is mounted on a light alarm machine.
Lewis machine guns of 7.62 mm caliber (-300) may be encountered. These machine guns have the number “300” on the butt plate.
A magazine with 97 rounds is intended for aviation.
LEWIS in RUSSIA
Due to their maneuverability and overall stealth, Lewis machine guns were nicknamed "rattlesnake" by the soldiers of the Kaiser's Germany, helped by the characteristic sound of machine gun fire. Captured machine guns were actively converted by the Germans to use the 7.92 mm Mauser cartridge and were used in assault detachments along with other trophies.
Lewis machine guns appeared in Russia in 1917 - they were supplied to the needs of the Russian army as part of a military procurement agreement (9,600 American-made and 1,800 English-made machine guns), so they managed to get first to the front, and only then to revolutionary hands military units all over western front. So LUISA machine guns ended up in the UPR troops and among the guards of Father Makhno’s headquarters, and, accordingly, in service with the Red Guard.
There were also difficulties in their operation - some of the machine guns were of British caliber, and some were of the standard “three lines” - 7.62 mm. Machine guns American origin were manufactured for the 7.62 mm Mosin cartridge (the mark on the butt plate of the machine gun is 0.3). The British fired with the .303 British cartridge. So basically English Lewis machine guns were used in Russia in aviation.
With the rearmament of the Red Army, Lewis machine guns remained in military warehouses until the Great Patriotic War, and were used in battles with the advancing by German units in the period from 1941 until the beginning of 1943.
The most famous photograph, confirming this is a company of machine gunners with “Lewis”, marching in a parade along Red Square on November 7, 1941, before leaving for the front.
Military parade on Red Square. Moscow, November 7, 1941. The photo is interesting because the Red Army soldiers are wearing winter helmets, which were abolished in July 1940, and are armed with old English Lewis machine guns.
By the way, some of the LUIS ended up in the Baltic Fleet as trophies. These machine guns were installed on British-made Estonian Kalev-class submarines that joined the Soviet Baltic Fleet in 1940.
LEWIS' second wind
By the beginning of World War II, the Lewis machine guns in the British Army were largely replaced by the more advanced Bren machine guns. It would seem that this is the final military career Lewis machine gun. But chance intervened.
When the British carried out a hasty evacuation of troops from Dunkirk in June 1940, they were forced to leave the enemy with the most modern weapons that the British army had. While the industry was desperately trying to increase output modern weapons, british army in 1940-1941, its deficiency was compensated by the return of old systems, as well as a number of improvisations. Among other things, about 50 thousand Lewis machine guns, which had been removed from service in previous years, were returned to the army.
Aviation Lewis Mk 4, manufactured by Birmingham Small Arms, was returned to the ground category. They were mainly issued to local defense units or installed as anti-aircraft machine guns to mobilized ships. Several hundred old "Lewis" chambered for .30-06 were purchased and received under Lend-Lease in the United States along with BAR - these were mainly aviation "Lewis" manufactured by "Savage" (in the UK they were called "Savage-Lewis") . Aviation machine guns "Lewis" did not have a barrel casing and a massive radiator, they were equipped with a simplified sight, which was designed for 400 yards, and a skeletal metal butt with a back and wooden overlays was welded to the handle. A conical flame arrester-compensator was installed on the barrel. These machine guns were adopted by the British Navy. To distinguish between American machine guns and machine guns chambered for the British cartridge, a large red stripe was applied to the receiver behind the Savage Lewis magazine nest, and the rear half of the magazine was also painted over in red. In addition, the old Hotchkiss and Lewis were used on armored trains of local defense, various anti-aircraft installations, urgently completed armored vehicles and light aircraft.
In August 1942, to redesign the Navy machine guns, the so-called SS modification (Shoulder Shooting, also called Mk XI SS) was adopted - the radiator, handguard, shortened butt were removed from the English Lewis guns (caliber 303), and a muzzle compensator was installed. There are references to the transfer of a small number of Lewis machine guns to the Soviet Union.
It should be noted that in German army old captured Lewis machine guns were also used - for example, about 3.9 thousand machine guns of the 6.5 mm M.20 modification were captured in Holland and transferred to German troops under the designation MG.100(h). These machine guns were equipped with a disk magazine with a capacity of 97 rounds and weighed 13 kilograms.
LEWIS - retired
The Lewis machine gun was often used in Soviet feature films about the Civil War, which gave rise to one of the film critics to call him “on duty, concert Lewis” by analogy with the piano.
In the cult Soviet film “White Sun of the Desert,” the Red Army soldier Sukhov was supposed to use Lewis in a battle with the Basmachi. Because film crew It was not possible to find the appropriate weapon for filming, it was decided to use the DT-29 (Degtyarev tank machine gun) “made up to look like” Lewis thanks to the use of a special fake casing. And in the film “A Friend Among Strangers, a Stranger Among Our Own” it is also implied that Captain Brylov, played by Nikita Mikhalkov, uses a Lewis machine gun, but this is the same imitation as in the film “White Sun of the Desert.”
By the way, LEWIS was also successfully used in HOLLYWOOD, not only in films about war, but also in science fiction action films, where he played the role of a heavy blaster, as was shown in the film by D. Lucas - Star Wars.
The Lewis light machine gun, created in 1913, became a real symbol of the First World War. During the war, it was not only the main machine gun of the British Commonwealth countries, but was also widely used throughout the world, including taking part in the Russian Civil War. The machine gun was withdrawn from service in the 1930s, but with the outbreak of World War II, after partial modernization, the “old man” had to be returned to service. In our country, this machine gun is familiar even to those who have never been particularly interested in firearms and his history. He became a real hero not only of world cinema, but also of domestic cinema. In particular, in the beloved movie “White Sun of the Desert” you can see the Red Army soldier Sukhov with a Lewis machine gun.
To be fair, it should be noted that not only the real Lewis machine gun was filmed in the famous Soviet film. In the shooting scenes it was replaced with a Soviet DP (Degtyarev infantry) light machine gun. For filming, the machine gun was specially “made up” to look like a “Lewis” using a characteristic barrel casing and a finned disc lining. Most likely, during filming the real Lewis was simply faulty or there were no blank cartridges available for it. At the same time, the Lewis machine gun appeared in many Soviet/Russian films about the Civil War.
The Lewis machine gun, or simply "Lewis" is a British light machine gun that was created in 1913. It is worth noting that the idea of designing a machine gun belonged to Samuel McLean, but it was brought to life by an American, Colonel Isaac Lewis. Initially, he wanted to use this machine gun as a machine gun with water cooling, but during development he abandoned this idea in favor of creating a light machine gun with forced air cooling of the barrel.
The creator of the famous machine gun, American Army Colonel Isaac N. Lewis, was a leading weapons expert in the US Army. He received his education at the famous West Point Military Academy, from which he successfully graduated in 1884. In 1911, Lewis became commander of the artillery school located at Fort Monroe. Here he achieved fame as a very good specialist in electrical engineering and mechanics. As his retirement from the military approached, the colonel began working as a consultant for the Ohio-based Automatic Arms Company.
For a number of years, Isaac was developing his own light machine gun, the automation of which would work using the energy of powder gases. At this time, the AAC company acquired the rights to a machine gun created by Dr. Samuel McLean. Lewis used McLean's technical solutions to create his own machine gun. For the right to produce this weapon, the AAS company transferred to him a controlling stake and control over the production and distribution of the machine gun. Two years later, in 1913, the Lewis machine gun with a disc magazine and air-cooled barrel was finally ready.
Initially, Lewis wanted to offer his product to the American army, but received a strict refusal, which was caused by a long-standing personal conflict between the designer and General Crozier, who was at that time the head of the US Army Weapons Department. As a result, the first country to adopt the Lewis light machine gun was Belgium, which happened already in 1913. At the same time, just before the war, the British also liked the machine gun; production was launched in England at the BSA factories. By the end of 1915, the new production workshops located in Birmingham were operating at full capacity, with production of Lewis machine guns reaching 300 units per week.
The machine gun's combat debut occurred in the First World War and turned out to be very successful. Because of the maneuverability and general stealth of this weapon, the soldiers of the Kaiser's Germany nicknamed the Lewis machine gun the “rattlesnake.” The characteristic sound of a fired machine-gun burst also contributed to this nickname. At the same time, the Germans themselves actively used captured Lewis machine guns, converting them to the 7.92 Mauser cartridge and actively using them in assault troops along with other trophies obtained in battles.
The automatic machine gun operated on the principle of removing powder gases. When firing, gases passed through a hole in the barrel and pressed on the piston. The piston, moving back, turned the gear of the spiral (same as in a watch) return spring with a rack, thus winding it. Structurally, the light machine gun consisted of the following main parts and mechanisms: a barrel with a casing and radiator, a receiver with a feed mechanism and a cover, a butt plate with a butt, a bolt, a bolt frame, a fire control handle, a recoil spring with a box, a magazine and a bipod.
The “calling card” of the light machine gun designed by Lewis was the casing, which with its edges extended far beyond the muzzle and created a kind of ejector there with its profile - when firing, a wave of powder gases passing through it, with its inertia, contributed to the creation of a vacuum in the rear part of the casing. As a result, a portion of cold air was drawn under the casing along the longitudinally finned barrel of the machine gun. At that time, active air cooling was not used anywhere else in small arms.
In the front part of the casing there was a gas chamber regulator, which had two holes for venting gases with letter designations: “S” - a smaller hole and “L” - a larger hole. In order to move the regulator from one hole to another, it had to be rotated 180 degrees using the regulator lever. The machine gun barrel was locked by turning the bolt, the lugs of which fit into the transverse grooves of the receiver. The rotation of the bolt of a light machine gun when locking is carried out by a curved groove on the bolt and the base of the bolt frame post.
The machine gun used a striker-type impact mechanism, which was mounted on the bolt frame rack. The trigger mechanism of the weapon allows only automatic fire from it. Extraction of the cartridge case (cartridge) was carried out by two ejectors fixed in the bolt, and reflection was carried out by a lever-type reflector, which was located in the receiver. The light machine gun had a safety, which consisted of two slats with cutouts at both ends. Rails were placed on the left and right sides of the receiver. The cutouts were designed to secure the bolt carrier in the forward and rear positions. In order to put the bolt carrier on safety, the bar (left or right, depending on which side the charging handle was located) had to be moved up.
The machine gun barrel and receiver had a threaded connection. The barrel is air cooled. The cooling of the light machine gun barrel was enhanced due to the presence of a radiator and a casing with a pipe. For ease of shooting, the light machine gun was equipped with a bipod. Sights were represented by a frame diopter sight and a triangular front sight. In the case of using a machine gun as a light easel, it was attached to the swinging part of the machine, while the butt plate with the butt of the machine gun was replaced with a butt plate with a handle.
The machine gun was fed with cartridges using disk magazines for 47 and 97 rounds attached to it on top, which were multi-layered (in two or three rows, respectively). The cartridges in the store were located radially to the axis of the disk. At the same time, the magazines in the Lewis light machine gun did not have a feed spring - their rotation to feed the next cartridge to the ramming line took place using a specially provided lever, which was located on the machine gun and driven by the bolt. The disk magazine was kept from turning to the left or right using two levers that were placed on the receiver cover. In the infantry version, the Lewis was equipped with a removable bipod and a wooden butt. Sometimes a special handle could be installed on the barrel casing, designed for carrying a light machine gun.
The design of the infantry version of the Lewis machine gun remained unchanged for almost the entire First World War. However, the military conflict required the use of a machine gun in aviation. The aviation version of the machine gun already had its differences. It turned out that the massive “pipe” of the radiator casing prevented the air gunner from taking aim, since due to the large windage, the machine gun was subjected to very strong air flow pressure. It also turned out that due to air flow during flight, the machine gun barrel is less susceptible to overheating than on the ground, so the unnecessary casing on the aircraft machine gun was abandoned, although the radiator itself remained in place.
It was also found that spent cartridges that flew overboard could lead to damage to the fabric covering of the aircraft, and also to the propeller for rear-engined aircraft. Therefore, combat units independently began equipping machine guns with special boxes or bags for collecting cartridges. After receiving official complaints from pilots, BSA began producing cartridge case collection bags for turret versions of its machine guns with a capacity of 94 cartridge cases. However, the capacity was not enough for intense air combat, and the capacity of the bags was increased to 330 cartridges.
The reliability of the Lewis-designed light machine gun in any, even the most unfavorable conditions, ensured the weapon's reputation as one of the best light machine guns of the First World War, although the weight of the weapon caused certain difficulties for the shooters. The machine gun was only withdrawn from service in the UK in the late 1930s. However, defeats in the first battles of the Second World War, when a large number of weapons from the English Expeditionary Force were left in France, as well as the need to quickly deploy a massive army and equip the territorial defense forces with something, returned the machine gun to service. Approximately 59 thousand Lewis system light machine guns were returned to the army, which experienced a shortage of automatic small arms. At the same time, all machine guns underwent minor modernization, in particular, aluminum radiators were removed from them, a flash suppressor appeared on the muzzle, and the heavy bipod was replaced with a single-legged telescopic one.
Military parade on Red Square. Moscow, November 7, 1941. The photo is especially interesting because the Red Army soldiers are wearing winter helmets, which were abolished in July 1940, and are also armed with old English Lewis machine guns
The Lewis machine gun was widely used in our country. Back in 1913, the Russian army showed interest in this development, purchasing an experimental batch. But these machine guns appeared en masse in the Russian Empire only in 1917; in 1916, an agreement was signed for the purchase of 9,600 American-made machine guns and 1,800 British-made machine guns. After Russia exited the First World War, these machine guns were widely used during the Civil War. For example, Nestor Makhno’s personal guards were armed with Lewis system light machine guns.
In the Red Army, Lewis machine guns remained in service until the mid-1920s, remaining in military warehouses until the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. It is also curious that Estonian Kalev-class submarines of British production were armed with Lewis machine guns. These boats, along with machine guns, became part of the Baltic Fleet in 1940. By the autumn-winter of 1941, the Red Army was faced with the same problem as the British - there was a shortage of automatic small arms for the newly formed units. The existing Lewis light machine guns were returned from warehouses, including those used by militia units defending the approaches to Moscow and Leningrad.
This light machine gun was also used by the Axis countries during the Second World War. Since the end of 1944, the Germans have armed Volkssturm battalions with them, transferring 2891 Lewis M1920 machine guns from the arsenals of occupied Holland to their arsenal. In Japan, Type 92 Lewis machine guns (they were produced in this country under license) were used until the end of World War II, while in the Japanese army they could additionally be used from special tripod machines.
Tactical and technical characteristics of the Lewis machine gun:
Weight - 13 kg.
Length - 1280 mm.
Barrel length - 670 mm.
Cartridges - 7.7x56 mm (.303 British), 7.62x63 mm (.30-06 Springfield), 7.62x54 mm R.
Rate of fire - 550 rounds/min.
The initial bullet speed is 740 m/s.
Effective fire distance - 800 m.
Magazines - disk for 47 or 97 rounds.