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72-445: The type equipped a number of RFC and RNAS squadrons both in its original observation role and, equipped with a forward-firing Lewis gun mounted on the top wing, as a fighter. Data from Parmentier General characteristics Performance Armament Lewis gun The Lewis gun (or Lewis automatic machine gun or Lewis automatic rifle ) is a First World War–era light machine gun . Designed privately in

144-461: A Foster mount , which allowed firing directly forward outside the propeller arc. The Foster mount usually incorporated an arc-shaped I-beam rail as its rearmost structural member, that a Lewis gun could be slid backwards and downwards along the rail towards the cockpit, to allow the ammunition drum to be changed in flight – but RFC fighter ace Albert Ball VC also understood that the Lewis gun in such

216-604: A Foster mounting on the top wing to elevate a Lewis gun above the propeller arc for unsynchronized firing, including production S.E.5/S.E.5a fighters and field-modified examples of the Avro 504 . For the use of observers or rear gunners, the Lewis was mounted on a Scarff ring , which allowed the gun to be rotated and elevated whilst supporting the gun's weight. Until September 1916 Zeppelin airships were very difficult to attack successfully at high altitude, although this also made accurate bombing impossible. Aeroplanes struggled to reach

288-467: A cam (similar to the action of a screw thread ) which retracts the striker, compressing the cocking spring and holding it there. When the cocking handle is rotated closed, the cocking cam disengages but the striker is retained in the cocked position by the trigger sear. Introduced in the Mauser Model 1871 , it significantly reduced the risk of accidental discharge upon closing. The system of operation

360-656: A German advance along the Calonne/Robecq road, noting 'we fired the gun in turns until it was too hot to hold' and recording that 400 German casualties were caused, 'chiefly by my Lewis gun!'. The US Army never officially adopted the weapon for infantry use and even went so far as to take Lewis guns away from US Marines arriving in France and replace them with the Chauchat LMG —a practice believed to be related to General Crozier's dislike of Lewis and his gun. The divisions of

432-612: A Vickers gun to manufacture (the cost of a Lewis gun was £165 in 1915 and £175 in 1918; the Vickers cost about £100), Lewis machine guns were in high demand with the British military during the First World War. The Lewis also had the advantage of being about 80% faster to build than the Vickers, and was a lot more portable. Accordingly, the British government placed orders for 3,052 guns between August 1914 and June 1915. Lewis guns outnumbered

504-400: A breech-loading shotgun for his cartridge, using a firing pin and external hammer. The Dreyse needle gun of 1836 uses a paper cartridge with a priming as part of a sabot which cradles the projectile and is forward of the propelling charge. The needle-like firing pin projects from the bolt-face and pierces the cartridge when the breech is closed. On firing, the spring-loaded needle strikes

576-477: A chambered round) as it is possible for the firing pin to strike the face of the camber and deform it or damage the firing pin. In 1808 by the Swiss gunsmith Jean Samuel Pauly in association with French gunsmith François Prélat created the first cartridges to integrate a primer and be self-contained. The paper cartridge used a metal base with a through-hole coated in a percussive priming compound. Pauly also developed

648-399: A field-achieved configuration, however, neither gun-jam clearing, nor drum magazine replacement were possible on their Lewises during a mission. Lewis guns were also carried as defensive guns on British airships. The SS class blimps carried one gun. The larger NS class blimps carried two or three guns in the control car and some were fitted with an additional gun and a gunner's position at

720-401: A fixed firing pin mounted in the breech plug. When a mortar round is dropped down the barrel, a primer in the base of the mortar round strikes the firing pin and ignites the propelling charge. In firearms terminology, a floating firing pin is one which is unrestricted by a firing-pin return spring or similar. While it will be captive and unable to simply fall out, either forward or backward, it

792-516: A mount also retained its original trigger, and could thus be fired upwards . He used the upward firing Lewis to attack solitary German two-seater aircraft from below and behind, where the observer could not see him or fire back. It was his use of the weapon in this way, in a Nieuport, that led to its later introduction on the S.E.5/S.E.5a: Ball had acted in a consultant capacity on the development of this aeroplane. The later Sopwith Dolphin , already armed with twin synchronized Vickers guns just forward of

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864-456: A primer in the base of the disposable launch tube. The cap contains a fixed firing-pin inside. The flare is fired by placing the cap over the base and striking it by hand. Hand grenades of the type that use a safety lever (such as the M26 grenade ) use a striker that is similar to the classic spring-loaded mousetrap . It is held under tension until the lever is released and then flips over to strike

936-578: A quadruple mount was developed for motor torpedo boats . British submarines generally carried two guns on single mounts. Although it was gradually replaced by the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon , new corvettes were still being fitted with twin Lewises as late as 1942. Lewis guns were also carried by the Royal Air Force 's air-sea rescue launches . American forces used the Lewis gun (in .30-06 calibre) throughout

1008-410: A similar function. Such equipment or devices include: artillery , munitions and pyrotechnics . The typical firing pin is a thin, simple rod with a hardened, rounded tip that strikes and crushes the primer . The rounded end ensures the primer is indented rather than pierced (to contain propellant gasses). It sits within a hole through the breechblock and is struck by the hammer when the trigger

1080-428: A square or rectangular cross-section and a blunt chisel point. Flat firing pins can be stamped from flat metal stock and usually operate in a slot cut in the breechblock (rather than a hole) that is parallel but offset from the centerline of the barrel. These production methods are generally simpler and reduce production costs. It is generally recommended not to excessively "dry fire" rimfire firearms (ie firing without

1152-651: A typical altitude of 10,000 feet (3,000 m), and firing the solid bullets usually used by aircraft Lewis guns was ineffectual: they made small holes causing inconsequential gas leaks. Britain developed new bullets, the Brock containing spontaneously igniting potassium chlorate , and the Buckingham filled with pyrophoric phosphorus , to set fire to the Zeppelin's hydrogen . These had become available by September 1916. When combined with explosive Pomeroy bullets which ripped open

1224-403: A typical firing pin. Many small- caliber rimfire bolt-action rifles and some centerfire automatic weapons (e. g., vz. 58 ) may appear to have a striker-operated firing mechanism but are actually a type of linear hammer . The hammer can be likened to that of a pile driver and is mainly contained within the bolt. It is much like the striker already described except that the "hammer" upon which

1296-453: A typical medium machine gun of the era, such as the Vickers machine gun , and was chosen in part because, being more portable than a heavy machine gun, it could be carried and used by one soldier. BSA even produced at least one model (the "B.S.A. Light Infantry Pattern Lewis Gun", which lacked the aluminium barrel shroud and had a wooden fore grip) designed as a form of automatic rifle . During

1368-409: Is "pulled". A light firing-pin spring is often used to keep the firing pin rearward. It may be termed a firing-pin return spring , since it returns it to the unfired position. In semi-automatic firearms , this prevents premature firing from the inertia of the firing pin as the breech mechanism closes in the reloading part of the firing cycle. Firing pins of this type are often too short to contact

1440-408: Is a part of the firing mechanism of a firearm that impacts the primer in the base of a cartridge and causes it to fire. In firearms terminology, a striker is a particular type of firing pin where a compressed spring acts directly on the firing pin to provide the impact force rather than it being struck by a hammer . The terms may also be used for a component of equipment or a device which has

1512-586: Is not known for certain whether these were the Savage-made weapons being trans-shipped through the UK, or a separate batch of UK-produced units. White armies in Northwest Russia received several hundred Lewis guns in 1918–1919. British Mark IV tanks used the Lewis, replacing the Vickers and Hotchkiss used in earlier tanks. The Lewis was chosen for its relatively compact magazines, but the ventilation system inside

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1584-421: Is otherwise free to slide within these stops. The trapdoor Springfield Model 1865 is an example of a floating firing pin. Hammer-operated firing mechanisms use a relatively light firing pin and rely on a transfer of momentum received from a spring -loaded hammer , in the same fashion as a punch or chisel relays the blow from a mallet . In firearms terminology, a striker (or striker mechanism) derives

1656-606: The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) in an effort to overcome some of the production difficulties of the weapon. The Belgians bought a small number of Lewis guns in 1913, using the .303 British round and, in 1914, BSA purchased a licence to manufacture the Lewis machine gun in England, which resulted in Lewis receiving significant royalty payments and becoming very wealthy. Lewis and his factory moved to England before 1914, away from possible seizure in

1728-643: The British during the course of the war. In addition to their reserve weapon role in the UK, they also saw front-line use with the Dutch, British, Australian, and New Zealand forces in the early years of the Pacific campaign against the Japanese. The Lewis gun saw continued service as an anti-aircraft weapon during the war; in this role, it was credited by the British for bringing down more low-flying enemy aircraft than any other AA weapon. Peter White indicates that his battalion of

1800-564: The British government, and ordered another 10,000 weapons from Savage Arms in the US. The US government was unwilling to supply the Tsarist Russian government with the guns and some doubt exists as to whether they were actually delivered, although records indicate that 5,982 Savage weapons were delivered to Russia by 31 March 1917. The Lewis guns supplied by Britain were dispatched to Russia in May 1917, but it

1872-590: The King's Own Scottish Borderers was still using the Lewis on Universal Carriers in 1945. Royal Naval Commandos were also designated use of the weapon for their beach parties. At the start of the Second World War, the Lewis was the Royal Navy 's standard close-range air defence weapon. It was installed on major warships, armed trawlers and defensively equipped merchant ships . It was often used in twin mountings and

1944-554: The Lewis gun during the Second World War by BSA was over 145,000 units, a total of 3,550 guns were produced by the Savage Arms Co. for US service: 2,500 in .30-06 and 1,050 in .303 British calibre. A commercial venture in 1921 by the Birmingham Small Arms Company was a version which fired the 12.7×81mm (0.5-inch Vickers) ammunition, intended for use against aircraft and tanks. At around the same time, BSA developed

2016-535: The Light Infantry Model which had a 22-round magazine and a wooden fore-stock in place of the radiator fins and shroud; it was intended to be used in a similar way to the Browning Automatic Rifle . Another development was a twin Lewis for aircraft use in which the bodies of the two weapons were joined side-by-side and the drum magazines were mounted vertically, one on each side. None of these projects

2088-425: The Second World War. The Lewis gun was gas operated . A portion of the expanding propellant gas was tapped off from the barrel, driving a piston to the rear against a spring. The piston was fitted with a vertical post at its rear which rode in a helical cam track in the bolt, rotating it at the end of its travel nearest the breech. This allowed the three locking lugs at the rear of the bolt to engage in recesses in

2160-514: The US II Corps attached to the British Army were equipped with the gun. The US Army eventually adopted the Browning Automatic Rifle in 1917 (although it was September 1918 before any of the new guns reached the front). The US Navy and Marine Corps continued to use the .30-06 calibre Lewis until the early part of the Second World War. The Russian Empire purchased 10,000 Lewis guns in 1917 from

2232-640: The US. The Lewis was produced by BSA and Savage Arms during the war, and although the two versions were largely similar, enough differences existed to stop them being completely interchangeable, although this had been rectified by the time of the Second World War . The major difference between the two designs was that the BSA weapons were chambered for .303 British ammunition, whereas the Savage guns were chambered for .30-06 cartridges, which necessitated some difference in

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2304-699: The United States though not adopted there, the design was finalised and mass-produced in the United Kingdom, and widely used by troops of the British Empire during the war. It had a distinctive barrel cooling shroud (containing a finned breech-to-muzzle aluminium heat sink to cool the gun barrel), and top-mounted pan magazine . The Lewis served until the end of the Korean War , and was widely used as an aircraft machine gun during both World Wars, almost always with

2376-510: The Vickers by a ratio of about 3:1. The Lewis gun was the first machine gun fired from an aeroplane; on 7 June 1912, Captain Charles Chandler of the US Army fired a prototype Lewis gun from the foot-bar of a Wright Model B Flyer. Lewis guns were used extensively on British and French aircraft during the First World War, as either an observer's or gunner's weapon or an additional weapon to

2448-406: The barrel. A striker mechanism will consist of the striker spring (firing spring) and the striker. The striker spring is a relatively strong spring sufficient to initiate firing. A typical striker consists of a narrow striking point, a heavier section that acts as a spring guide for the striker spring, a shoulder to restrain the spring, and a catch piece which is engaged by the trigger sear to hold

2520-437: The base of the cartridge. The pin needs to be aligned with a corresponding slot in the chamber; a disadvantage compared with rimfire and centerfire cartridges that followed and that are also safer. Early rifle designs that fired metallic cartridges typically used a side-lock mechanism, with the hammer mounted to one side rather than inline with the axis of the barrel. In the trapdoor Springfield Model 1865 (and similar)

2592-502: The bolt is pushed forward to close the breech, the striker catch is held by the trigger sear. The firer must close the bolt with sufficient force to overcome the force exerted by the cocking spring. Notably, the Lee–Enfield and Belgian Mauser cock on closing as do many small-caliber rimfire bolt-action rifles. The breech of a bolt action rifle is opened by first rotating the bolt handle . In cock-on-open operation, this rotation acts on

2664-432: The center of the base of the cartridge. Firing pins for centerfire cartridges usually have a round cross-section and their movement is usually through a hole in the breechblock along the axis of the center of the barrel 's bore. Rimfire cartridges however, must be struck on the base about the rim of the cartridge. While rimfire firearms may use a firing pin with a round cross-section, it is common for them to be flat, with

2736-630: The chief of the Ordnance Department. Lewis became frustrated with trying to persuade the U.S. Army to adopt his design, claiming that he was "slapped by rejections from ignorant hacks", and retired from the army. Lewis left the United States in 1913 and went to Belgium, where he established the Armes Automatique Lewis company in Liège to facilitate commercial production of the gun. Lewis had been working closely with British arms manufacturer

2808-503: The cooling shroud removed, as air flow during flight offered sufficient cooling. A predecessor to the Lewis gun incorporating the principles upon which it was based was designed by Ferdinand Mannlicher . The Lewis gun was invented by U.S. Army colonel Isaac Newton Lewis in 1911, based on initial work by Samuel Maclean. Despite its origins, the Lewis gun was not initially adopted by the U.S. military, most likely because of political differences between Lewis and General William Crozier ,

2880-476: The envelopes, they proved very successful, and Lewis guns loaded with a mixture of Pomeroy, Brock and Buckingham ammunition were often employed for balloon-busting against German Zeppelins, other airships and Drache barrage balloons. On the French Nieuport 11 and later Nieuport 17 sesquiplanes , a Lewis gun was mounted above the top wing (in a similar way as fitted to the British S.E.5a ) – sometimes on

2952-587: The event of a German invasion. The onset of the First World War increased demand for the Lewis gun, and BSA began production, under the designation "Model 1914". The design was officially approved for service on 15 October 1915 under the designation "Gun, Lewis, .303-cal." No Lewis guns were produced in Belgium during the war; all manufacture was carried out by BSA in England and the Savage Arms Company in

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3024-420: The fact that it is useless for setting up a barrage, and also that the system of air cooling employed does not allow of more than 12 magazines being fired continuously'. He records its weight as 26 lbs unloaded and 30 + 1 ⁄ 2 lbs loaded (though later he mentions that it weighed 35 lbs loaded), and that it had 47 cartridges in a fully loaded magazine; also that it was supported by a bipod in front and by

3096-399: The firing spring acts and the firing pin are separate units. Confusingly, parts lists will often refer to this type of hammer as a "striker". Striker-fired (or similar) bolt action firearms may be classified as cock-on-close or cock-on-open . When the breech is opened and retracted rearward, the striker is also carried rearward so that the striker catch passes over the trigger sear. When

3168-689: The first days of the war, the Belgian Army had put in service 20 prototypes (5 in 7.65×53mm and 15 in .303) for the defense of Namur . The United Kingdom officially adopted the Lewis gun in .303 British calibre for land and aircraft use in October 1915. The weapon began to be issued to the British Army 's infantry battalions on the Western Front in early 1916 as a replacement for the heavier and less mobile Vickers machine gun, which had been withdrawn from

3240-411: The gun fired, the bolt recoiled and the cog was turned, tightening the spring until the resistance of the spring had reached the recoil force of the bolt assembly. At that moment, as the gas pressure in the breech fell, the spring unwound, turning the cog, which, in turn, wound the operating rod forward for the next round. As with a clock spring, the Lewis gun recoil spring had an adjustment device to alter

3312-430: The gun's body to lock it into place. The post also carried a fixed firing pin , which protruded through an aperture in the front of the bolt, firing the next round at the foremost part of the piston's travel. The gun's aluminium barrel-shroud caused the muzzle blast to draw air over the barrel and cool it, due to the muzzle-to-breech, radially finned aluminium heat sink within the shroud's barrel, and protruding behind

3384-405: The impact force to strike the primer from a spring acting directly upon the firing pin – similar to a crossbow , where the striker (firing pin) is like the crossbow bolt (arrow). A striker mechanism is very common in bolt-action firearms but not to the exclusion of hammer-operated mechanisms. It is also found in other actions where the breechblock reciprocates directly inline with the axis of

3456-513: The infantry for use by the specialist Machine Gun Corps . The US Navy and Marine Corps followed in early 1917, adopting the M1917 Lewis gun (produced by the Savage Arms Co.), in .30-06 calibre. Notes made during his training in 1918 by Arthur Bullock, a private soldier in the 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry , record that the chief advantage of the gun was 'its invulnerability' and its chief disadvantages were 'its delicacy,

3528-472: The magazine, feed mechanism, bolt, barrel, extractors, and gas operation system. Savage did make Lewis guns in .303 British calibre, though. The Model 1916 and Model 1917 were exported to Canada and the United Kingdom, and a few were supplied to the US military, particularly the Navy. The Savage Model 1917 was generally produced in .30-06 calibre. A number of these guns were supplied to the UK under lend-lease during

3600-510: The more common Vickers. The Lewis's popularity as an aircraft machine gun was partly due to its low weight, the fact that it was air-cooled and that it used self-contained 97-round drum magazines. Because of this, the Lewis was first mounted on the Vickers F.B.5 "Gunbus", which was probably the world's first purpose-built combat aircraft when it entered service in August 1914, replacing the Vickers machine gun used on earlier experimental versions. It

3672-453: The operator's shoulder at the rear. About six months into his service, Bullock was sent on Lewis gun refresher course at La Lacque, and he recalled that the rigour of the training meant that 'everyone passed out 100 percent efficient, the meaning of which will be appreciated when I say that part of the final test was to strip down the gun completely and then, blindfolded, put those 104 parts together again correctly in just one minute.' The gun

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3744-491: The pilot and just above its V-8 engine , could also use one or two Lewis guns mounted on the forward crossbar of its cabane structure, between the top wing panels, as an anti-Zeppelin measure. A few of the Dolphins in use with No. 87 Squadron RAF in the summer of 1918, alternatively mounted their twin Lewises atop the lower wings just inboard of the inner wing struts for an additional pair of forward-firing machine guns; in such

3816-412: The primer when the hammer is resting against it. This is a safety measure to prevent discharge from external forces such as a drop. Firing relies upon the transfer of momentum from the hammer to give the firing pin sufficient impact energy to cause firing. The two main types of metallic cartridges used in modern firearms are centerfire and rimfire . In centerfire cartridges, the primer is located in

3888-455: The primer. Many revolvers use a firing pin that is fixed to the hammer. Simple blowback sub-machine guns that fire from the open-bolt position often have a fixed firing pin that protrudes from the face of the bolt. As the bolt fully closes on the breech the primer of the newly chambered round is struck, causing the cartridge to fire. The Owen and F1 submachine gun are examples that use bolt-face fixed firing-pins. Some mortars use

3960-403: The priming in the sabot. Unlike Pauly's cartridge, which was not widely accepted, Dreyse's rifle was adopted by Prussia as its infantry service rifle . It was the first military breechloader to use a self-contained cartridge and consequently, the first to employ a firing pin. The pinfire cartridge patented in 1835, uses a metallic cartridge with an integrated firing pin located radially near

4032-439: The propeller arc of such aircraft; only the unusual French SPAD S.A "pulpit plane" which possessed a unique hinged gunner's nacelle immediately ahead of the propeller (and the pilot), and the British pusher fighters Vickers F.B.5 , Airco D.H.2 , Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2 and F.E.8 could readily use the Lewis as direct forward-firing armament early in the war. Some British single-engined tractor configuration fighters used

4104-410: The rear of the firing pin tube within the breechblock is angled away from the centerline of the barrel toward the hammer. The Sharps rifle uses a firing pin block to solve this alignment problem. The block sits within a recess in the breechblock. When struck by the hammer, the whole block is propelled forward. That part of the block with the firing pin sits on the centerline of the barrel and strikes

4176-506: The recoil resistance for variations in temperature and wear. The Lewis design proved reliable and was even copied by the Japanese and used extensively by them during the Second World War. The gun's cyclic rate of fire was about 500–600 rounds per minute. A recoil enhancer was added to the 1918 aircraft gun variant (and refitted to many 1917 models) which increased the rate of fire to about 800 rounds per minute. The ground use versions weighed 28 lb (12.7 kg), only about half as much as

4248-419: The shroud's aft end, running lengthwise in contact with the gun barrel (somewhat like the later American M1917/18 Marlin-Rockwell machine gun 's similar gun barrel cooling design) from the "bottleneck" near the shroud's muzzle end and protruding externally behind the shroud's rear end. Some discussion occurred over whether the shroud was necessary: in the Second World War, many old aircraft guns that did not have

4320-556: The spring under tension when "cocked" and ready to fire. The striker spring is compressed between the striker's shoulder and the rear of the breechblock. A striker may be assembled from several component; however, the stored energy in the striker spring is transferred directly to the striker and then to the primer without any intermediate transfer of energy or momentum. As striker mechanisms combine both functions of hammer and firing pin in one piece, they are generally considered to be mechanically simpler but are more robust in construction than

4392-744: The tank caused the airflow to be reversed through the Lewis cooling jacket, resulting in hot air and fumes being blown into the gunner's face. As soon as an improved belt feed for the Hotchkiss was developed, the Lewis was replaced by them in later tank models. As their enemies used the mobility of the gun to ambush German raiding parties, the Germans nicknamed the Lewis "the Belgian Rattlesnake". They used captured Lewis guns in both World Wars, and included instruction in its operation and care as part of their machine-gun crew training. Despite costing more than

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4464-558: The time (such as an ambidexterous magazine release), the U.S. Army still chose to adopt the BAR. A short-barrelled light machine gun variant was developed at the start of the Second World War . It came with a hand guard and was fed from a 30-round Bren magazines; however, it was decided by the British authorities to concentrate production on the Bren, which had the advantage of a changeable barrel. Firing pin A firing pin or striker

4536-741: The top of the gasbag. By the Second World War, the British Army had replaced the Lewis gun with the Bren gun for most infantry use. As an airborne weapon, the Lewis was largely supplanted by the Vickers K , a weapon that could achieve over twice the rate of fire of the Lewis. In the crisis following the Fall of France, where a large part of the British Army's equipment had been lost up to and at Dunkirk, stocks of Lewis guns in both .303 and .30-06 were hurriedly pressed back into service, primarily for Home Guard , airfield defence and anti-aircraft use. 58,983 Lewis guns were taken from stores, repaired, refitted and issued by

4608-405: The tube/heatsink cooling system on their deck-mounted AA-configuration Lewis guns. The Lewis gun used a pan magazine holding 47 or 97 rounds. Pan magazines hold the ammunition nose-inwards toward the center, in a radial fan. Unlike the more common drum magazines , which hold the rounds parallel to the axis and are fed by spring tension, pan magazines are mechanically indexed. The Lewis magazine

4680-519: The tubing were issued to antiaircraft units of the British Home Guard and to British airfields, and others were used on vehicle mounts in the Western Desert; all were found to function properly without it, which led to the suggestion that Lewis had insisted on the cooling arrangement largely to show that his design was different from Maclean's earlier prototypes. Only the Royal Navy retained

4752-440: The war. The US Navy used the weapon on armed merchant cruisers, small auxiliary ships, landing craft and submarines. The US Coast Guard also used the Lewis on their vessels. It was never officially adopted by the US Army for anything other than aircraft use. The Germans used captured British Lewis guns during the war under the designation MG 137(e) , whilst the Japanese copied the Lewis design and employed it extensively during

4824-605: The war; it was designated the Type 92 and chambered for a 7.7 mm rimmed cartridge that was interchangeable with the .303 British round. The Lewis was officially withdrawn from British service in 1946, but continued to be used by forces operating against the United Nations in the Korean War . It was also used against French and US forces in the First Indochina War and the subsequent Vietnam War . Total production of

4896-471: Was accepted by any armed forces. Lewis had also experimented with lighter, 30-06 calibre, box magazine-fed infantry rifle variants intended for shoulder or hip fire as a competition to the BAR. They were dubbed "Assault Phase Rifle" – what could be understood as the first use of the term "Assault Rifle", despite the weapon being, by today's designation, a battle rifle. Despite being three pounds lighter than it and loaded with very forward-thinking features for

4968-507: Was also fitted on two early production examples of the Bristol Scout C aircraft by Lanoe Hawker in mid-1915, mounted on the port side and firing forwards and outwards at a 30° angle to avoid the propeller arc. The problem in mounting a Lewis to fire forward in most single-engined tractor configuration fighters was due to the open bolt firing cycle of the Lewis, which prevented it from being synchronized to fire directly forward through

5040-402: Was driven by a cam on top of the bolt which operated a pawl mechanism via a lever. An interesting point of the design was that it did not use a traditional helical coiled recoil spring, but used a spiral spring, much like a large clock spring, in a semicircular housing just in front of the trigger. The operating rod had a toothed underside, which engaged with a cog which wound the spring. When

5112-542: Was operated by a team of seven. Bullock was the First Lewis Gunner who carried the gun and a revolver, while 'The Second Gunner carried a bag containing spare parts, and the remaining five members of the team carried loaded pans of ammunition'. Bullock noted, 'all could fire the gun if required, and all could effect repairs in seconds'. Bullock provides several vivid descriptions of the gun's use in combat. For example, on 13 April 1918 he and his fellow soldiers intercepted

5184-760: Was widely adopted and is used almost exclusively in modern centerfire rifle designs. The Mauser Gewehr 98 , the Mosin–Nagant and M1903 Springfield are examples of service rifles using this type of operation. Modern era guns in general (and not just firearms) use a firing pin of some description to initiate firing. Mechanical contact fuzes in explosive ordnance will employ a firing pin or striker to initiate detonation . Such devices include: artillery projectiles , aerial bombs and land mines . In landmines, non-metallic firing pins, made from ceramics for example, may be used to minimise their magnetic signature . The M127A1 signal rocket (and other similar flares ) have

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