Lewis machine gun: "Belgian rattlesnake"

100
Lewis machine gun: "Belgian rattlesnake"
As you can see, the Lewis machine gun was even used by the Empire's stormtroopers in their "star wars" with the rebels, and it could not be better advertised! Frame from the IV series of the epic "New Hope"


“I want to ask to be transferred to the machine gun team. — Are you familiar with the machine gun? — I know the systems of Shosh, Berthier, Madsen, Maxim, Hotchkiss, Bergman, Vickers, Lewis, Schwarzlose. - Wow! I'll talk to the regimental commander."
Mikhail Sholokhov. Quiet Don

stories about weapons. The machine gun, which will be discussed today, was designed by Colonel of the American Army Isaac Newton Lewis in 1911, while he used the developments of Samuel McLean. But here, between General William Crozier, the head of the US artillery department, and Isaac Lewis, as they say, "a black cat ran", and the American army did not receive a machine gun then. Lewis himself was offended and left the army.




Machine gun and spare discs for it. Photo forgottenweapons.com

In 1913, he moved to Belgium, and already there, in the city of gunsmiths Liege, he created his own company Armes Automatique Lewis. He began promoting his machine gun in Europe back in 1910. Then he sold the rights to it to the American company Automatic Arms Company of Buffalo in New York and the Belgian Factory National. The Belgians in 1913 produced a small number of his machine guns under the British .303 cartridge, and in 1914 he managed to sell a license for his machine gun to the British company Birmingham Small Arms (BSA). So for him, inventive activity ended in the best way: Lewis was paid a lot of money, and he became a very rich man. And then, together with his factory, he completely moved to England and ended up there just in time - literally on the eve of the German invasion.

With the outbreak of the First World War, the production of Lewis machine guns under the designation Model 1914 was deployed by the BSA company in Birmingham and the Savage Arms Company in the USA. It was officially adopted by the British Army on October 15, 1915.


Model 1916 machine gun. Royal Arsenal, Leeds

The main difference between these two designs was that the BSA weapons were designed for .303 British cartridges, while the Savage produced machine guns for .30-06 cartridges, which required certain alterations to the magazine, feed mechanism, bolt, barrel, extractor and gas operating system. But Savage also produced machine guns chambered in .303 British: M1916 and M1917, which were exported to Canada and the UK. A lot of machine guns fell into the US Army (although officially she didn’t take it into service!) And went to the naval the fleet. And later they were delivered to the UK under Lend-Lease during the Second World War.


Ammo feeding mechanism. View from above. Royal Arsenal, Leeds

Note that the creators of the machine gun fully took into account the love of the military for simple and technically advanced systems and made a truly simple and technically perfect weapon. Automatic machine gun had a gas drive. Part of the powder gases expanding after the shot was removed from the barrel and pushed the piston under the barrel back. The piston rod, which was included in the receiver, had a serrated thread, just like the Saint-Etienne machine gun. But it was located on its outer surface and rotated the gear wheel not inside it, but outside, located in front of the trigger guard in a characteristic tide. Interestingly, the return spring was located just inside this wheel, which made it possible to significantly reduce the size of the receiver. It should be noted that the return spring in the Lewis machine gun also had an adjusting device for changing the recoil resistance depending on changes in temperature and wear. As unusual as this decision may seem, the Lewis design turned out to be quite reliable and was then even copied by the Japanese and widely used by them during World War II.


Schematic diagram of the Lewis machine gun. On the left, its shutter is very well shown, and on the right, the piston rod with gear cutting and a protrusion with a striker

At the rear of the piston there was a vertical rack with a striker, on which a bolt was put on, hollow inside. When the force of the return spring returned the piston after firing and retreating to the rearmost position, the rack moved along the helical cam track in the bolt and rotated it at the end of its stroke, when it was at the breech. This allowed the three lugs at the rear of the bolt to fit into the slots in the receiver to secure the bore. And the fixed drummer at that time still continued to move forward and through the hole in the shutter mirror struck the primer.


Schematic diagram of the Lewis machine gun: Fig. 1. Bolt box; Fig. 2. Ammo feed lever; Fig. 3. Cartridge feed mechanism

But perhaps the most unusual part of this machine gun was the aluminum barrel casing, which forced the muzzle stream of powder gases to draw air out of it and thereby cool the barrel, on which an aluminum radiator with radial fins was put on from the muzzle to the breech inside the barrel. There was a discussion about whether the casing was really necessary, since during the Second World War many old aviation machine guns that did not have a casing-radiator were transferred to anti-aircraft units of the British militia on British airfields, and they all functioned perfectly without it.


Store device diagram

The Lewis machine gun used unusual open bottom disc magazines for 47 or 97 rounds. In such stores, the cartridges are held by the central disk by the nose, and they themselves are located inside in the form of a radial fan. There is no spring in such a store, and the supply occurs due to the fact that the cartridges simply fall into the machine gun as a result of mechanical action. So, the store at Lewis was driven by a cam at the top of the bolt, which, through a special curved lever, ensured the operation of the cartridge feed mechanism and at the same time turned the store itself.


Shop for 47 rounds. Photo forgottenweapons.com

The machine gun showed a rate of fire of about 500-600 rounds per minute, and an aircraft machine gun of 1918 with a recoil amplifier fired up to 800 rounds per minute. The version for ground use had a weight of 12,7 kg, that is, half as much as the Vickers machine gun, and was convenient in that only one soldier could shoot from it.

Already in the first days of the war, the machine gun was used during the defense of Namur, and it began to be issued to British infantry battalions in early 1916. At the same time, the heavier and less mobile Vickers machine guns were withdrawn from the infantry for use by a specialized machine gun corps. In early 1917, the US Navy and Marine Corps adopted the M1917 Lewis machine gun chambered in .30-06 caliber.


Store device for 97 rounds. Photo forgottenweapons.com

The machine gunners on the Western Front noted the “invulnerability” of the machine gun (it did not have a casing with water, which was easily penetrated by bullets and shrapnel, after which the machine gun failed), but were not too happy with the fact that they were continuously firing from it, shooting 12 stores in a row, impossible. Machine gunners were required not only to be able to shoot accurately, but also to maintain their weapons. So, it was necessary to completely disassemble it, and then, blindfolded, reassemble it correctly in just one minute, and this despite the fact that the machine gun consisted of 104 parts!

The machine-gun team consisted of seven people: two shooters No. 1 and No. 2 and five ammunition carriers. Accordingly, the tactics of the British infantry also changed. If earlier she went on the attack with chains, now a squad or a platoon, under the cover of a Lewis machine gun, fled to the nearest shelter, from where they covered the machine gunners running towards him with fire, after which everything was repeated. The Germans appreciated this tactic (as well as the machine gun!) And immediately adopted both. At the same time, they nicknamed him "] i] Belgian rattlesnake [/ i]", which, perhaps, best of all characterizes his high fighting qualities.


Scheme of the machine gun "Lewis" from the patent

In 1917, the Russian Empire purchased 10 Lewis machine guns from the British government and ordered another 000 guns from the United States. The US government was unwilling to supply Tsarist Russia with these machine guns, and there is some doubt as to whether they were actually sent, although records exist that show that 10 Savage machine guns were delivered to Russia by March 000, 31. In any case, machine guns of this type during the years of the civil war in Russia were used by both whites and reds, as well as all kinds of nationalist formations.


Sometimes this machine gun was equipped with an additional carrying handle. "Lewis" Mk. I (1915-1942). Royal Arsenal, Leeds

to British Tanks Mark IVs were also supplied with these machine guns, as the military appreciated the compactness of their magazines. However, they did not take into account one circumstance! It turned out that the tank's ventilation system leads to a reverse flow of air through the cooling jacket of the machine gun, as a result of which powder gases are blown directly into the shooter's face during firing. Therefore, as soon as an improved machine-gun belt was developed for the Hotchkiss machine gun, the Lewis was immediately replaced by them on all later models of tanks.


Japanese model machine gun "Lewis" Type 92 (1932). Royal Arsenal, Leeds

The only serious drawback compared to the Vickers machine gun was the high price of the Lewis. It cost £165 in 1915 and £175 in 1918, while the price of a Vickers was only about £100. But the assembly of the Lewis was about 80% faster than the Vickers, not to mention the fact that it was much more portable. As a result, by the end of the First World War, the number of Lewis machine guns exceeded the number of Vickers machine guns in a ratio of about 3: 1.

To be continued ...
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  1. +3
    25 September 2022 04: 35
    With such a unit at the ready, you look no worse than Schwarzenegger-Terminator.
    It looks like the Germans threw the handle and the inner barrel onto their machine gun ... painfully similar.
    I look forward to continuing, dear Vyacheslav. hi
    1. +8
      25 September 2022 05: 44
      I join the kind words about the machine gun and the Author who wrote about it!
      My favorite machine gun, without exaggeration !!!
      Thanks, have a good day everyone!
    2. +11
      25 September 2022 07: 29
      Glad you liked it. To the whole honest company IN good morning, good day, and, of course, good night when the day is over!
      1. +1
        25 September 2022 20: 22
        Thanks for the entire article series. Informative.
      2. 0
        25 September 2022 21: 50
        Vyacheslav Olegovich, everything is fine, except:
        Note that the creators of the machine gun fully took into account the love of the military for simple and technically advanced systems

        The further description does not characterize the device as simple. Easier than competitors, perhaps, but clearly not simple.
        As I understand it, it was the gear wheel with the spring that was the most important mechanism of this machine gun. What about reliability? It seems to be like an analogue of a watch mechanism part. It’s usually bad with it if it’s dirty, if it’s in the oil ... but next to it every time the capsule ignites, heats up and the oil burns out. But from the outside it’s just a casing and just a suction of hot gases ...
        The simple is always harder to explain. Here everything seems to be clear as in AK or PM, but that’s why it’s not clear. I apologize for the beginning of my post.
        Yours! hi
    3. +3
      25 September 2022 09: 47
      inner barrel


      Began to eat and "external"? Is it like a double shotgun?
      1. +2
        25 September 2022 22: 01
        Konstantin, well, it’s clear that the “outer” is a casing. You wanted to pin Vyacheslav Olegovich laughing hi
        The article is good...
        By the way, and if you make a double-barreled shotgun, in which one carbide bullet will fly inside another cylindrical one ...
        The core breaks through the armor plates, and the outer one then flies into the punched hole and injures the organs ...
        So, something Ostap suffered on fantasy. drinks
        1. +1
          25 September 2022 22: 28
          The core breaks through the armor plates, and the outer one then flies into the punched hole and injures the organs ...
          So, something Ostap suffered on fantasy.


          Well, why did it "carry", a sub-caliber anti-tank projectile works almost on the same principle, and no fantasies. smile drinks

          1. +2
            25 September 2022 23: 17
            This is understandable, but the sub-caliber flies from one barrel, but if it's a "double-barreled gun". When there is an inner barrel and an annular outer one. And we can vary when the inner core flies out, and / or / together the outer annular cartridge. Already "double-barreled", so "double-barreled". Technically difficult, practically not necessary, but ..
            In one magazine I read an article about models of the universe. The description of one of them sounded like this: "Mathematically beautiful, but has no physical meaning." But..
            Probably, as an idea, such a "double-barreled shotgun" can be patented laughing laughing laughing
            If there is one core, this is a lesion right through with minimal damage to organs. If external cylindrical - stopping effect. Well, everything is assembled - the ability to work on a target in body armor. Brad, but it's "mathematical beautiful."
  2. +19
    25 September 2022 04: 44
    Comrade Sukhov immediately came to mind, firing at Abdullah's gang. Here he has a serviceable Degtyarev machine gun, camouflaged as a Lewis machine gun.

    The real "Lewis", which the film studio had, could not shoot, although it got into the frame. In the film, this is a scene where a Red Army soldier assembles a machine gun.
    1. +10
      25 September 2022 05: 46
      One of our best domestic films! About the Civil War, perhaps the most emotionally authentic!
      1. +10
        25 September 2022 06: 50
        I will reveal one secret about the White Sun... As they say, there is a tradition among astronauts to watch this film before the flight. And almost no one knows how the tradition arose. And astronauts watch the film many times and not only before the launch. This film was shot perfectly both in terms of directing, cinematography and the skill of staging the frame. Astronauts are taught to shoot with a camera using film as a teaching aid. There, every frame is a complete work of art, even the credits, but that's another story.
        1. +7
          25 September 2022 11: 23
          Know a little. The fact is that astronauts must shoot in orbit, and in the "white sun" the work of the operator is recognized as a textbook, and the astronauts not only enjoyed the masterpiece (I'm not afraid of this word), but also learned the basics of camera work. Something like this hi
          1. +2
            25 September 2022 11: 33
            Not only the camera work is a textbook, but also the storyboard of the production designer V. Kostrin is complete, every frame, every mise-en-scene ... they probably don’t work like that anymore. One running wave from the wives of Abdullah is worth a lot. Stadiums weren't even in the project yet when it was filmed.
      2. +14
        25 September 2022 08: 24
        Quote: Kote pane Kohanka
        reliable

        Good morning! How not to remember the wonderful film "Two Comrades Were Serving"? hi

        1. +7
          25 September 2022 09: 48
          "We gave him vodka, yeah.
          We gave him vodka
          Our friend fell laughing

          Hello Seryozha! drinks
          1. +7
            25 September 2022 10: 03
            "You are a heroic man, of proletarian behavior, which means we are friends!" bully
            Hi Konstantin! hi
            1. +8
              25 September 2022 10: 40
              And as soon as the props were not thrown out in order to give the "image" a resemblance to the original. laughing



    2. +14
      25 September 2022 06: 32
      Good morning!
      The same story happened on the set of our other "western".
      Film 1974 "At home among strangers, a stranger among our own."
    3. +10
      25 September 2022 08: 05
      Quote: Comrade
      Comrade Sukhov immediately came to mind

      hi
      You are right.
      In some episodes of the film, another famous machine gun "starred" in the role of "Lewis":
      DP (Degtyareva Infantry), “made up” under the “Lewis” with the help of a characteristic barrel casing and a “ribbed” lining on the disk.
      The DP “replaced” the Lewis machine gun in those episodes where they fired from it, while there were no suitable blank cartridges for the real Lewis.

      Why "Lewis"?
      The artists of the painting "White Sun of the Desert" wanted
      so that the Red Army soldier Sukhov fired back with this particular machine gun,
      because, unlike the well-known "Maxim", the hero's face does not cover the armored shield.
      That is, for photogenicity.
      * Source: Lenfilm.

      Storage of Lenfilm.
      The same machine gun "Lewis" model 1913, which "starred" in the movie "White Sun of the Desert"





      1. +3
        25 September 2022 09: 09
        Storage of Lenfilm.
        The same machine gun "Lewis" model 1913, which "starred" in the movie "White Sun of the Desert"

        That's not the same machine gun. Above there are stills from the film and you can compare.
        The production designer of The White Sun of the Desert, Valery Petrovich Kostrin, would not have allowed such a disc without ribs. And on the frames you can see a flat disk DP-27 of a larger diameter, disguised by a ribbed cover, and on the disassembly frames there are other bipods and a native ribbed disk.
        1. +2
          25 September 2022 09: 27
          Quote: Konnick
          not the same machine gun

          Photo from the official Lenfilm website.
          Maybe some elements of disguise have fallen off since then?
          Or were they filmed for other films?
          1. +4
            25 September 2022 09: 34
            Photo from the official Lenfilm website.
            Maybe some elements of disguise have fallen off since then?
            Or were they filmed for other films?

            It's called PR. The main thing is to write, the majority will take the word. But the machine gun from Mosfilm, they say, is the one that Sukhov dismantled and it looks more like it, even a disc for 47 rounds. And the DP-27 was disguised as a disc for 97 rounds.
            1. +4
              25 September 2022 09: 52
              Quote: Konnick
              It's called PR

              Who did I hype?

              Here is a screenshot of the source
              here is the direct link
              https://www.lenfilm.ru/news/2015/04/Pulemet_krasnoarmeytsa_Suhova_hranitsya_na_Lenfilme

              1. +4
                25 September 2022 10: 04
                Who did I hype?

                I didn’t make a complaint to you, but to Lenfilm, read more carefully, minuser. And also look at "City Zero", where the main character ends up in such a museum.
                1. +3
                  25 September 2022 10: 59
                  Quote: Konnick
                  minuser

                  I didn't downvote you.
                  How tender...
                  Look how they worry about their rating.

                  You can argue endlessly, up to personal insults.
                  I wrote the same letters to Mosfilm and Lenfilm.
                  I'll get answers and let you know.
                  Be healthy and don't kill yourself like that for your rating

          2. +2
            25 September 2022 10: 45
            Hi Michael!
            Maybe some elements of disguise have fallen off since then?
            Everything is bad with storage at Lenfilm.
            https://mr-7.ru/articles/232797/?ysclid=l8h1cghqvb715712811
      2. +10
        25 September 2022 09: 35
        Michael, hello and best wishes! smile

        The same machine gun "Lewis" model 1913, which "starred" in the movie "White Sun of the Desert"

        This is not "Lewis!", this is a compilation: the body is from DP, the disk is from DT 29, the bipod is generally from MG-34.

        The film was shot at the production base of both Lenfilm and Mosfilm, and the real Lewis, which Comrade Sukhov, as it were, is "repairing" from the arsenal of Mosfilm, at least the guys from the arsenal of the Moscow film studio told me so. smile
        1. +3
          25 September 2022 09: 54
          Quote: Sea Cat
          Michael, hello

          hi
          Mutually!
          Answered above, for Konnick
  3. +7
    25 September 2022 06: 33
    There was a discussion about whether the casing was really so necessary, since during the Second World War, many old aircraft machine guns that did not have a radiator casing were transferred to the anti-aircraft units of the British militia on British airfields, and they all functioned perfectly without it.

    So it was possible to sell the casing at a higher price to the state. To justify the purchase price, officials requested cost estimates for products. This is how it is happening now, for example, plastic blotches, the butt and the collimator sight of the AK-12 assault rifle cost like an AK-74 assault rifle, Capitalism... profit, now the defense industry is joint-stock enterprises.
    Therefore, Soviet weapons were distinguished by simplicity, reliability, manufacturability, and, accordingly, low cost. The cost of the AKM assault rifle was less than 40 rubles in prices of the 60-70s.
  4. +7
    25 September 2022 07: 16
    ,,, in modern films also flashes.
    [Center]
    1. +8
      25 September 2022 08: 05
      He does not appear there, one of the storylines of the first season of "Peaky Blinders" is tied to a stolen batch of machine guns.
      Hello, Sergey!
  5. +2
    25 September 2022 07: 18
    an aluminum casing of the barrel, which forced the muzzle stream of powder gases to draw air out of it and thereby cool the barrel

    And yet, it is curious how the barrel was still cooled. Passive cooling in the form of a single aluminum casing is clearly not enough. I suspect that there was still a removable barrel ...
    1. +9
      25 September 2022 07: 45
      To change the barrel it was necessary to remove the casing. The barrel itself was with radiator fins. Should I carry another one like this? The casing with the radiator cools very strongly. There, the draft is stronger than in the chimney!
    2. +6
      25 September 2022 09: 25
      Quote: Luminman
      an aluminum casing of the barrel, which forced the muzzle stream of powder gases to draw air out of it and thereby cool the barrel

      And yet, it is curious how the barrel was still cooled. Passive cooling in the form of a single aluminum casing is clearly not enough. I suspect that there was still a removable barrel ...

      A fairly effective method, today it is used in the domestic Pecheneg.
      1. +4
        25 September 2022 09: 33
        You can shoot one store with such a cooling system. Perhaps two are possible. However, with very intense shooting, such a cooling system is unlikely to help. There is also a hot climate, where cooling with hot air is somehow not very good. This also applies to the Lewis machine gun ...
        1. +6
          25 September 2022 09: 40
          The text explicitly says:
          it is impossible to conduct continuous fire from it, having shot 12 stores in a row.
          1. +4
            25 September 2022 09: 43
            The text explicitly says:
            it is impossible to fire continuously from it, having shot 12 magazines in a row

            What about five stores? Or four? And eight? wink
            1. +6
              25 September 2022 09: 49
              Colleague, do you have specific refutations of what is stated in the text?
              1. +6
                25 September 2022 09: 52
                Hello Anton!

                Twelve discs in a row and without a break? "Lewis" and after half will begin to spit, and in the Sahara even earlier.
                1. +4
                  25 September 2022 09: 58
                  Hi Uncle Kostya!
                  Perhaps you are right, but I do not yet see a specific argument against what is stated in the text. You know me well, I'm a big fan of looking for jambs from authors, but I always try to back up my intrigues with facts.
                  1. +5
                    25 September 2022 10: 24
                    I always try to back up my intrigues with facts.


                    Regarding the "Lewis", only the one who shot more than one hundred rounds of ammunition from him, and I only held him in my hands, can specifically clarify the situation.
                    So there are no complaints against Olegych. smile
                    1. +4
                      25 September 2022 15: 04
                      Regarding the "Lewis", only the one who fired more than one hundred rounds of ammunition from him can specifically clarify the situation,

                      The Lewis machine gun also had options on the machine from the Mk IV Vickers with a magazine for 400 rounds. That is, the machine gun completely withstood intense shooting.
                      1. +4
                        25 September 2022 15: 28
                        The standard belt for the Maxim machine gun is 250 rounds, but try to shoot without water. wink
                      2. +3
                        25 September 2022 15: 37
                        Tried. If you don’t get carried away, but fire in the DP-27 mode, you can hold out. By the way, judging by the photographs, such cases took place in real life.
                      3. +4
                        25 September 2022 15: 41
                        If the fire regime is economical enough, then, of course, you can shoot five hundred, I mean continuous fire, which can be decisive under certain circumstances. And on the range, you can have fun as you like.
                      4. +3
                        25 September 2022 15: 46
                        I meant continuous fire, which is decisive under certain circumstances.

                        Are you talking about the film "Chapaev"?
                        Even if you have water in the casing, you will not be able to conduct a long continuous fire - the water will boil. Therefore, stationary installations had an appropriate system with water circulation. In the field, no one pulled such a device.
                      5. +4
                        25 September 2022 16: 10
                        Are you talking about the film "Chapaev"?


                        They made me laugh, the right word, although ... even children know that cinema never lies. laughing
              2. -1
                25 September 2022 13: 52
                Quote: 3x3zsave
                Colleague, do you have specific refutations of what is stated in the text?

                You should teach the Law of God at school - there is no need to refute any texts - you just need to believe ... wink
                1. +7
                  25 September 2022 14: 00
                  1. Colleague, I have already refuted your theses with facts twice over the past month, so with faith - this is more likely to you.
                  2. Have you decided to get personal?
                  1. +4
                    25 September 2022 15: 17
                    Have you decided to get personal?


                    Do not pay attention, maybe a friend ate something. wassat

                    1. +5
                      25 September 2022 15: 23
                      Yes, in general, everything is fine, you know that it’s very difficult to offend me, but I can’t stand chilling. Maybe a person joked unsuccessfully (and it happens to me), but he was stuffed with minuses ...
                      1. +3
                        25 September 2022 15: 33
                        and I can't stand swearing


                        And in general, the occupation is meaningless. request
                    2. +4
                      25 September 2022 18: 58
                      Mushrooms should be sorted out before frying.
                      1. +5
                        25 September 2022 19: 36
                        "Why did Grandma die?
                        - Mushrooms ate ...
                        -Why are you tied to the bed?
                        "I didn't want to eat..."
                      2. +2
                        25 September 2022 20: 12
                        Any patience can have a limit.
                      3. +2
                        25 September 2022 20: 22
                        Where love is at least a drop, there is patience --- the ocean.
                      4. +2
                        25 September 2022 21: 07
                        Where there is no gut, there you will not help later.
                        The price of such efforts is a penny.
                        Only preaching with sincere flight
                        A mentor in faith can be good
                        And the one who is poor in thought and assiduous,
                        Dripping in vain retelling
                        Phrases borrowed from everywhere
                        The whole thing is limited by excerpts.
                        He might create authority
                        Among children and stupid fools,
                        But without a soul and high thoughts
                        There are no living paths from heart to heart
                      5. +3
                        25 September 2022 21: 12
                        All topics are beaten
                        All phrases are worn out
                        Talents are buried
                        All people are wearing masks...

                        Who is a genius is not needed
                        Who is an abomination is in demand,
                        Who is honest is in a puddle
                        Who is smart - shot ...

                        I'm scared - terrified
                        But it's boring to be gray
                        Maybe I need
                        But there is no certainty...
        2. +5
          25 September 2022 11: 23
          Quote: Luminman
          You can shoot one store with such a cooling system. Perhaps two are possible. However, with very intense shooting, such a cooling system is unlikely to help. There is also a hot climate, where cooling with hot air is somehow not very good. This also applies to the Lewis machine gun ...

          I shot in my time from both Lewis and Kord. Of course, not for intensity, but for the sake of pleasure, but still in bursts and not one. When the barrel warms up, especially Lewis gets the feeling that you are holding a vacuum cleaner. You can feel the flow of air physically.
          Pecheneg even has a bar on top so that the haze from the hot barrel does not interfere with aiming.
          Regarding the hot climate, the air temperature will always be lower than the temperature of the combustion gases from the shot.
          About reliability. If the shorty “AKS-74U” can withstand 50-70 people without tension, who fire two horns (60 rounds) at firing practice. The truth spits already at 10-12 stores.
          Then, with competent work with a machine gun, Lewis can easily withstand 10-20 disks, Pecheneg - five to six times more.
          1. +1
            25 September 2022 13: 55
            I shot my time in and out of Lewis

            If it's not a secret, where did you dig it up? wink
            1. +2
              25 September 2022 14: 30
              It's not me, but he dug me up. But I can’t tell his story, it’s not mine. Before the end of the year, a new weapons museum will open in Yekaterinburg under the auspices of the UMMC, where this handsome man will also be.
              1. +1
                25 September 2022 15: 50
                Quote: Kote pane Kohanka
                a new weapons museum will open in Yekaterinburg under the auspices of the UMMC, where this handsome man will also be

                Well, in the museum you can’t really shoot from it! I envy white envy ...
                1. +3
                  25 September 2022 16: 17
                  And in the museum you can’t shoot at all, museum samples of firearms are “bachelor”. You can ask the "Sea Cat" how this happens.
                2. +2
                  25 September 2022 18: 11
                  Then it was not yet a museum exhibit. Now already ka years 15 as SHP. It's still a pity.
                  1. +2
                    25 September 2022 18: 18
                    I'm thinking, but "one and a half" for a reasonable cost in the Urals are not dug up? I would dig...
                    1. +2
                      25 September 2022 20: 30
                      Quote: 3x3zsave
                      I'm thinking, but "one and a half" for a reasonable cost in the Urals are not dug up? I would dig...

                      Of the rarities, I have a four-sided bayonet from a mosquito - a kopanka. Oanshe also had a shell from a 152mm projectile, but in the wild 90 they stole it and gave it to a non-ferrous metal.
                      Although someone is lucky. In the 70s, during the repair of the dam on the Goat Pond, a Maxim machine gun was dug up. Now exhibited in the Verkhneserginsky Museum of Local Lore. The remaining exhibits and "trophies" are "mining" taken from scrap metal, which was brought for remelting to the open-hearth workshops of the plant after World War II.
                      1. +3
                        25 September 2022 20: 39
                        Come on, Vlad, kill it! That's right, personal dreams. I know how much a decent "bastard" replica costs.
    3. +6
      25 September 2022 09: 28
      This premium is used in many places. In particular, in modern lighting technology on LEDs, which also need to be cooled. It is mainly used in street and other high power lamps. A simple radiator with fins or needles always loses in weight and efficiency to one that uses the tube effect.
    4. +1
      25 September 2022 22: 21
      how did the trunk cool

      Ejection.
      The “visiting card” of the 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, created a rarefaction in the rear of the casing with its inertia and, as a result, pulling portions of cold air under casing along the longitudinally ribbed shaft.

      Ejector air suction is used in modern Pecheneg.
    5. 0
      10 November 2022 08: 30
      Cooling was due to ejection, as in Pecheneg now, and the barrel was not removable, if the sources are not mistaken
  6. +5
    25 September 2022 10: 14
    The machine gun, which will be discussed today, was designed by Colonel of the American Army Isaac Newton Lewis in 1911, while he used the achievements of Samuel McLean


    Samuel McClean was a fairly prolific designer, although he was a doctor by profession. Among his developments are automatic cannons, machine guns, automatic rifles, and pistols. But all his developments did not reach practical application. One of the main reasons is too overcomplicated designs.
    The same thing happened with the machine gun. The machine gun could not withstand more than 200-300 shots and something broke in it, including a magazine with a mechanical drive for 148 rounds. Lewis was asked to try to bring the machine gun to mind. As you can see, he coped with the task.
  7. +3
    25 September 2022 11: 17
    I heard that cartridge "discs" for cartridges without a "flange-rim" (American cartridge) were without original ribs.
    Ribbed "discs" were created for the use of British cartridges that had a "rim".
    1. +1
      25 September 2022 14: 50
      I heard that cartridge "discs" for cartridges without a "flange-rim" (American cartridge) were without original ribs.

      Don't believe the rumors, they are lying.

      Original US WWI Lewis Light Machine Gun .30-06 Cal.
      1. +1
        25 September 2022 15: 14
        Didn't it occur to you that it was not profitable to produce two types of discs and the Americans simply transferred the disc for the British "Lewis" to machine guns under their own cartridge?
        1. +1
          25 September 2022 15: 23
          Sorry, the flight of your thought is so tortuous that I somewhat lost the essence. First you state that there were two types of discs - smooth and ribbed. Then, when you were told that the discs were ribbed for all calibers, you will raise the question: "Did it ever occur to you that it was not profitable to produce two types of discs?" Don't you think that this thought should have occurred to you?
          1. +2
            25 September 2022 16: 17
            You yourself brought a photo of the progenitor of the manual "Lewis", and he has a disk without ribs!
            And if you have an inexhaustible storehouse of data and photographs, would you be kind enough to post a photo of the Belgian machine gunners with their Lewises fighting off the Germans in 1914.
            And if a ribbed disk is visible there, this will indicate the rejection of a smooth disk when the Lewis was put into production in Belgium.
            1. +1
              25 September 2022 18: 19
              You yourself brought a photo of the progenitor of the manual "Lewis", and he has a disk without ribs!

              So the Lewis prototypes have a store without ribs.

              This photo is from 1912. But serial machine guns during the First World War had magazines with ribs. And in 1920, the Dutch "Lewis" appeared in caliber 6,5 mm and 7,92 mm. Their 97-round magazine was also without ribs.
              1. +4
                25 September 2022 18: 40
                So the "rumors" about disks without ribs were not "born" out of nowhere!
                It's just that the one who released this inaccurate information did not own the entire mass of data on the history of the creation and use of these "handbrakes", and also did not know all the modifications of this machine gun.
                At the same time, 6,5 and 7,92 were cartridges without a "rim".
                1. +2
                  25 September 2022 21: 25
                  It's just that the one who released this inaccurate information did not own the entire mass of data on the history of the creation and use of these "handbrakes", and also did not know all the modifications of this machine gun.

                  Such "someone" in the network - the sea spilled. The author of the article is a prime example.
                  1. -1
                    25 September 2022 22: 38
                    I will repeat after Konstantin Kot Morsky - write your article!
                    Describe in it ALL types of the Lewis machine gun, their specific differences and combat use.
                    And the society will read and compare.
                    And the comparison is very hard.
                    1. +2
                      26 September 2022 01: 14
                      And the society will read and compare.
                      And the comparison is very hard.

                      Do you really think that only those who write articles have the right to critical remarks? You are greatly mistaken. By the way, what specifically in my comments do you not like? They are not related to the topic of the article, do not carry information relevant to the topic, do they contain any expressions that are offensive to the author?
                      I will repeat after Konstantin Kot Morsky - write your article!
                      Describe in it ALL types of the Lewis machine gun, their specific differences and combat use.

                      The book, which satisfies all your requests, has a volume of 550 pages. You can, of course, following the example of the author of the article, launch a cycle like "Lewis machine gun - from dawn to dusk" and post on the site on the article every day for a whole year, but why, if this has already been done and anyone can take and read at any convenient for him time? What is the meaning of such writing?
              2. -2
                27 September 2022 11: 51
                This photo cannot be from 1912, the machine gun was launched in 1913.
                1. +1
                  27 September 2022 13: 22
                  And you try, before blurting out something, strain your thinking apparatus so as not to disturb the neighborhood with your exclamations! After all, before any type of weapon begins to be mass-produced, prototypes, prototypes are created, which are tested. Haven't heard of this?
            2. +1
              25 September 2022 21: 39
              Quote: hohol95
              on the rejection of a smooth disk when putting the "Lewis" into production in Belgium.

          2. +1
            25 September 2022 17: 32


            Then why are the rims without ribs in these photos of the Lewis?
            1. +1
              25 September 2022 20: 44
              Then why are the rims without ribs in these photos of the Lewis?

              Because both photos show the Dutch "Lewis" M20, which began to be produced in 1920. In the first photo - 1940, Dutch machine gunners. On the second - Yugoslav partisans, approximately 1942.
              1. +1
                25 September 2022 21: 36

                A British BSA G14 motorcycle with an M20 Lewis machine gun mounted on a sidecar.
            2. +1
              25 September 2022 21: 53
              Quote: hohol95
              Lewis has rims


              Danish "Lewis" М1940
  8. +2
    25 September 2022 13: 11
    Lewis machine gun: "Belgian rattlesnake"

    The sound of shots and the rumble of moving parts was amplified by the aluminum fins, together with a pipe that amplified the sound. Therefore, for the characteristic sound inherent only in this machine gun, the Germans called it that.
  9. +3
    25 September 2022 13: 14
    I saw cartoons on the Web with the mechanics of this machine gun. Beautiful video. And the mechanics are beautiful. Purely aesthetic. Almost Kalashnikov.

    Something doesn't work... Okay, here's the link. https://cdn.fishki.net/upload/post/2020/11/23/3481730/guns-06.gif
  10. +3
    25 September 2022 15: 22
    Vyacheslav Olegovich!
    I accidentally came across information on the Internet that one British-made Lewis was supposed to have 64 cartridge discs!
    And this was the composition of the British machine gun squad:
    https://borianm.livejournal.com/1331998.html
    “So, how many discs and, accordingly, cartridges did the British machine gun squad (which was then 1 per platoon) carry in the final period of the WWII:
    It consisted of 9 people (corporal + 8 privates), and all of them were trained in handling a machine gun, cleaning it, shooting, delays. In fact, the machine gunner carried an equipped machine gun in battle, had a revolver as a personal weapon, next to him was the second number, also with a revolver, carried a bag with spare parts and 4 magazines. The third number, already with a rifle, like all subsequent ones, carried 8 stores, and the remaining 4 shooters - from 4 to 8 stores, depending on the conditions. Two more were considered "scouts or runners" and as a rule carried fewer magazines to the machine gun or did not carry them at all. Their task was to cover the fire group and, most importantly, reconnaissance, determining the optimal position and approaches to it. Those. at least 1+4+8+(4x4) came out - 29 discs, i.e. 1336 rounds."
    The author of this article posted in it many photos of pouches for carrying Luce discs.
    And a photo of a document describing the complete set of "consumables" laid on one machine gun.
    1. +3
      25 September 2022 15: 28
      Quote: hohol95
      It consisted of 9 people (corporal + 8 privates), and all of them were trained in handling a machine gun, cleaning it, shooting, delays. In fact, the machine gunner carried an equipped machine gun in battle, had a revolver as a personal weapon, next to him was the second number, also with a revolver, carried a bag with spare parts and 4 magazines. The third number, already with a rifle, like all subsequent ones, carried 8 stores, and the remaining 4 shooters - from 4 to 8 stores, depending on the conditions. Two more were considered "scouts or runners" and as a rule carried fewer magazines to the machine gun or did not carry them at all. Their task was to cover the fire group and, most importantly, reconnaissance, determining the optimal position and approaches to it. Those. at least 1+4+8+(4x4) came out - 29 discs, i.e. 1336 rounds."

      Thanks, Alexey! Somewhere I read exactly this, but did not insert it into the text - this is more of a tactic, and the volume of the article is already large. And photos of pouches also caught my eye. There were a lot of things there. You just can't write everything. But as an addition - very interesting.
  11. +1
    25 September 2022 18: 36
    Author, I appreciate your knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon caliber designation system, and I see your desire to show off your erudition, but out of respect for readers, you should indicate the English caliber 7,69 mm (or later 7,71 mm) and the American 7,62 mm .
    1. +2
      25 September 2022 20: 48
      Quote: Panzerjager
      and I see your desire to show off erudition

      It's not about the desire to shine - 1780 materials on VO is not enough for this - but simply because ... it's faster. After all, those who are just interested in this are enough, who are interested, but want to go deeper - the Network is at their service, where they themselves can find a lot of things that will not fit in any article. You may have come across articles here with 25 characters? Agree - they were difficult to read. In addition, it takes a lot of time to search for illustrative material. Therefore... I have to write as soon as possible so that I have more time to look for information and photos. Yes, and uploading a lot of photos to the site is very difficult. The limit is somewhere around 20-25. And there are, for example, topics where there are 15-20 photos for one sample of weapons, and if you write about several, then their selection alone will take time.
  12. 0
    25 September 2022 19: 39
    Write, sir, write. although he is known from literature, but you better write like that. Thanks am
  13. 0
    26 September 2022 04: 44
    Eh, "White Sun in the Desert", his machine gun has the wrong system ... a beautiful machine gun, the hero of many films - "At home among strangers, a stranger among friends" ...
  14. 0
    27 September 2022 11: 03
    16000 pieces were delivered to the Russian army, mainly chambered for the three-line cartridge, the order was completed in full.
  15. 0
    27 September 2022 11: 34
    The machine gun itself is very good, but if the gramophone spring is old, then it begins to reduce the rate of fire, and when heated, the rate drops sharply, and it is not great anyway 500 vst per minute, in general, a very original model and reliable.
  16. 0
    27 October 2022 21: 57
    The picture from ZV is very well chosen, straight to the point. This blaster-machine gun always resembled the Lewis, apparently the authors took the idea from it. good

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