30 April 2014, 22:42
Alberta CanuckLever action machine gun?
Think about this a bit....which world power temporarily adopted a lever action machine gun as one of their standard military weapons, and what was it commonly called?
Easy answer for those who ever saw or used one.
04 May 2014, 09:47
NormanConquestAlbert,I can not answer your question as phrased but I will tell about John Browning's design in the 1880's. Seems he was at a match where the shooters were firing prone. He noticed the movement of the grass past the muzzles + saw the effect of gas. He went back to his shop + (here's the hard part to believe had it been anyone but John M.B.;he built this prototype in 45 minutes.).He took a lever action,attached a rod to the front of the lever,removing the hand held part + building up an 'burr' that would touch the trigger + attached that to a flapper pivoted below the bore which was drilled to bore circ.The end result was that once one fired the first round, the gas would activate the flapper,thus activating the rod which would work the action which would pull the trigger,ad infinitum (or until the mag was empty).This is a fun bit of history + regaling that genius John Browning but it is also a wakeup call for those of us who see no threat when the anti-gun group says "or any gun that could be made full auto.".....Btw Albert,I would like to know the answer to your query.
08 May 2014, 18:17
GatogordoColt-Browning M1895 adopted by US, saw limited use in Cuba in 1898 chambered in 6mm Lee (4 guns I think.) and 7x57 (2 guns, I think). There was a good article on the above "potato digger" in the Am. Rifleman not too long ago.
09 May 2014, 02:35
butchlocthe rifleman - chuck conners - still on cable reruns (the devil made me do it)
09 May 2014, 04:58
Alberta CanuckIt was indeed the Colt-built Browning Potato-digger.
Different sources tell different stories about where it was used..Cuba is one listed, another was the Boxer Rebellion in China, and it was reportedly our official machine gun when we entered the First World War...though we used lots more of other makes and models.
It's military weakness was one of the reasons (again supposedly) the Browning M1919 .30-06 was developed and used by the U.S. in who-only knows-how-many more wars.