Gas outlet of the Browning M1895 / 14 machine gun.
The same knot is large. The rod on the left of the lever is clearly visible, which served as a reloading handle.
Bottom view.
A hole was made under the barrel of this machine gun, which was closed with a "plug" at the end of the lever, which was thrown back by 170˚ by the pressure of powder gases beating from this hole and at the same time pushed the lever connected to the tilting bolt. The bolt together with the lever moved back, removed the spent cartridge case from the chamber, and when the lever with the "plug" by the spring force again went forward, it pulled the bolt along with it, which fed the cartridge into the chamber, and then twisted and locked it.
Lever mechanism.
Tape drive mechanism.
Receiver with left panel removed.
All the other machine guns did the same. But only with the Browning machine gun there were 137 parts, including 10 screws and 17 springs, but in the Austrian Schwarzlose machine gun, which was considered almost the simplest, there were 166 of them, in the British Vickers 198, (including 16 screws and 14 springs). Finally, in the Russian "Maxim" of the 1910 model, there were even more of them - 360, (13 screws and 18 springs). That is, it was both technologically advanced and simple enough for soldiers to master it. The machine gun did not require water, as the "machines" based on the "maxim", and also did not require as much oil as the "Schwarzlose". That is, of course, he had to be lubricated, but he did not consume oil in liters. In addition, the machine gun itself was light enough - about 16 kg.
Gate.
Trigger, pistol grip and sight.
Fly.
Aim.
However - and this is important for any designer to remember, many of the advantages of this system turned out to be just … a consequence of his own shortcomings! So, the low weight of the machine gun was "compensated" by the large weight of its machine, which simply could not be light because of the vibration inherent in this machine gun when firing. Well, vibration was its characteristic feature because of the lever pounding from below along the barrel and it could not be eliminated in any way, and it was because of it that … a heavy tripod machine was required. And if our heavy "Maxim" could easily be carried across the battlefield by two people, moving not only the machine gun itself, but also the ammunition, the "Colt" had to be dragged by three, otherwise it was simply impossible to move it with ammunition to a new firing position.
Sector tripod mechanism.
Air cooling, even on the improved 1914 model of the year with powerful barrel ribbing, did not allow continuous fire in long bursts, since the barrel heated up so much that the machine gun failed.
John Moses Browning fires his machine gun.
Finally, before firing, the ground in front of him had to be watered so that the gases spurting from the barrel did not raise dust from the ground. The tripod, too, could not be lowered too low, since the lever could rest on the ground under the barrel. And reloading this machine gun was not easy. After all, for this it was necessary to pull back the lever under the barrel, and for this to somehow reach it.
Browning patents for the design of his M1895 machine gun.
Well, again, vibration. Because of it, the accuracy of fire, especially at long distances, this machine gun was worse than that of all other models. At the same time, its prime cost, and the price, of course, were lower than that of all the others. So sit and decide what you need: a simple, cheap machine gun with high "soldier resistance", but not too accurate and incapable of continuous fire, or heavy, complex and expensive, but capable of firing for hours.
Disassembled Browning M1895 machine gun. These are all his details, except for the tripod.
True, the Colt Browning machine guns have proven themselves quite well in aviation, where they were installed on rear-engined reconnaissance aircraft and bombers. The oncoming air stream cooled their trunks well, there was no dust in the air, the low weight for the then whatnot was of great importance, but it turned out to be quite simple to protect the plane from the blows of the lever swinging under the barrel: a fence in the form of a semicircle was fixed on the barrel, inside of which this the lever could move freely without touching.
Training in shooting at air targets. The machine gun is equipped with a protective arc.
Browning machine gun on an airplane.
Here, however, it’s time to wonder how Moses Browning didn’t come up with another scheme of automation, acting by the force of recoil. Moreover, just in the traditions of that era, and not today. Imagine a machine gun with a radiator on the barrel (or the same Winchester with an under-barrel magazine), which below the barrel (or magazine) has a long rod with an L-shaped protrusion ending at the muzzle, at the end of which there is a concave cup with a hole in the center for bullets. In the body of the machine gun, this rod goes into a toothed rack, above which there is a gear rolling over it, connected to a spring. Accordingly, there is also a toothed thread on the bolt carrier, and the bolt itself turns during movement, locking the breech.
The rich arsenal of the young Red Army!
When fired, the gases escaping from the barrel press against the cup and it moves forward from the barrel a few centimeters. In this case, the rack spins the gear, and it compresses the spring. Since the rack goes forward, the bolt carrier, accordingly, goes back, the bolt turns, disengages and extracts the sleeve. Due to the energy accumulated by the spring, the gear rotates in the opposite direction. The bolt carrier together with the bolt goes forward, loading is performed, and the rod returns to its previous position, pressing the cup against the muzzle. In order to prevent the flame from blinding the shooter, a flame arrester in the form of a beveled cylinder is put on at the end of the barrel, on which the front sight is attached.
And it turns out that according to such a scheme, an automatic rifle (and even with a bladed bayonet on the right of the barrel) with an underbarrel magazine or a middle one, similar to the magazine for the BAR - a later Browning rifle, a light machine gun with an upper magazine location, like in “Bren "," Lewis "or" Madsen ", or easel, with a traditional tape feed. That is, it could well have been the first unified small arms system. Just look - all the details for this design were already in operation at that time: rotary locks of Swiss and Austrian rifles, a gear with a spring from Lewis, various types of stores … Even a patent for a cup at the end of the barrel, albeit with different automation already was. In a word - everything was, but it's a pity that Browning himself did not think of this system and did not test it in action.
John Moses Browning Frank Burton, chief designer of Winchester, inspecting the production sample of the BAR rifle.
But on the other hand, when the American troops needed an automatic rifle for the war in Europe, he quickly constructed it already in 1917, especially for the US Expeditionary Force. And not just designed, but created a sample that has served for more than half a century! They began to remove it from service only at the end of the 50s of the last century!
BAR M1918 rifle with bipod.
Major modifications.
And, again, the rifle was simple and reliable. Locking was carried out by tilting the bolt upward, there was a buffer against which the bolt carrier hit when retreating backward, the reloading handle remained stationary during firing and was conveniently placed on the left, and the casings were thrown out on the right. By the way, the rifle mechanism was reliably sheltered from dirt, although the manufacture of a milled receiver was a certain difficulty. Its main drawback, perhaps, was firing from an open bolt, which reduced the accuracy of single shots, as well as a large weight. According to this indicator, the rifle turned out to be somewhat strange - it is heavier than all other automatic rifles, but lighter than all other light machine guns.
Device diagram.
Close-up mechanism.
The high quality of this Browning development allowed the Americans to enter the international market with BAR after the end of the First World War. It was supplied (in the form of a light machine gun) to China, Turkey, France, Siam, India and Australia, Brazil, South Korea and Bolivia, and to a number of other countries. Belgium, Poland and Sweden acquired a license for its production and began to produce BAR both for their own needs and for export.
Reloading handle on the left.
In a word, Browning created a real masterpiece for his time. Interestingly, after 1939, some of the Polish wz. 1928 came to the USSR and in the fall of 1941 was used to arm the Soviet militia along with Lewis machine guns. Even in Vietnam, the use of this "rifle" continued, although it was no longer so intense.
Swedish machine gun Kg M1921, based on the BAR.
Swedish machine gun Kg M1937, with a replaceable barrel.
But in the United States, many gangsters used the BAR rifle, in particular the famous couple Bonnie and Clyde! Accordingly, the FBI agents have acquired its lightweight modification "Colt-Monitor"! In general, we can say that even if Browning had created only this sample, then even then his contribution to the development of small arms would be quite noticeable!
The Colt Monitor R80 is an FBI weapon. It featured a shortened barrel, pistol grip and powerful muzzle brake-compensator.
