Ever wonder how a Lewis gun works?

[Drydock]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxbzMRVh6kg&feature=em-subs_digest


Great Video of a wonderful design.

[LT Col Long]

Nope!
My dad was in the 1st Div, 7th Reg, 1st Batt, D Co. of our USMC.  After rifle training he was trained on the Lewis gun.  His recounts of how to keep water in the jacket using alternate means of adding water.  The fresh water was usually consumed by him and his crew.  He always said that the Browning smelled better!!  Talked very fondly of the Lewis gun and what he and his crew put into it besides ammo...

In Service,

LtCol Long

[Drydock]

(?)The Lewis gun was aircooled.  Something sounds mixed up there.

[LT Col Long]

You are correct!  Lewis gun developed by BSA in England.

[LT Col Long]

Got my Brownings mixed up.

My dad started with the water cooled M1917, then before leaving Guadalcanal Marine gunners got the M1919.  He and his crew tried to displace a Japanese gun on Okinawa.  One was hit by the Japanese gunner, one by w/p (never found) and pop got out with a dislocated right shoulder and 2 bullets to his right arm and shoulder.

He re-joined the 1 Batt after re-cooperating in an Army MASH hospital and continued on until the 1st Div was pulled out of N China.

I'm glad he kept all of his service records.

[PJ Hardtack]

You are correct!  Lewis gun developed by BSA in England.

Colonel I.N. Lewis USA was the designer of the Lewis LMG. There is a good history of it in "Hatcher's Notebook".

It is a more successful design than it is credited to be, used by several armies by many countries on the ground and in the air.

After failed tests chambered in .30-'06 before WWI, Lewis submitted the gun to the British where it faired much better with the .303 British rimmed cartridge.

The Lewis guns employed by General Pershing in his pursuit of Pancho Villa were part of a purchase of 350 guns from the Savage Arms Co. Eventually, Savage worked out the bugs with the .30-'06 chambering and the Army ordered 2500 as of May, 1917. The Navy and Marines got 9270.
A stripped and lightened version for aircraft use was developed and the Army purchased 47,000.

[Pay Dirt Norvelle]

The video was great!  I enjoyed seeing how they worked.  I only wish I lived in a State where I could buy one and also I wish I had the money.   

[Cowtown Scout]

Very COOL video!

[Grapeshot]

After watching the video I noticed that the operating rod, bolt and firing pin are almost exact copies of what was used in the M60GPMG 50 years later.  Thanks for the video.  Just goes to prove that great engineering stands the test of time.

[Charles Isaac]

    Yes. In MOS School  for USMC Machinegunners, they are taught the design for the operating rod/bolt system for the M60 came from the Germans FG42. I didn't inform the instructor that the Germans copied it from the American Lewis Gun. I would have probably received on the spot counseling that's, like, really bad.

[Drydock]

Take away the clockwork spring, and replace it with a direct acting coil spring, and you've got the long stroke piston/rotating bolt locking system for many modern gas actuated firearms.  Lewis knew what he was doing!  Even the clockwork spring makes sense with the metallurgy of the time, getting that fragile component away from the heat and corrosion of propellant gasses.

[Pitspitr]

Take away the clockwork spring, and replace it with a direct acting coil spring, and you've got the long stroke piston/rotating bolt locking system for many modern gas actuated firearms.  Lewis knew what he was doing! 

Yeah, when I watched the segment on the bolt I thought of the Garand or the Mini-14. It's shaped a little different, but works about the same way.

[smoke]

speaking of Lewis guns.

[PJ Hardtack]

Recently watched "The Professionals" on the tube. Lee Marvin (arguably the best 'Soldier of Fortune' actor ever) makes good use of a Lewis in the movie.

Two good lines from the flick, the first from Burt Lancaster.

- "There is only one revolution, my friend - the good guys against the bad guys. The question is, who are the good guys?"

The next is by Lee Marvin after he was called a 'bastard" by the husband of the woman he was sent to rescue.

- "Yes, Sir. In my case, an accident of birth. In your's, you're a self-made man."

[Guns Garrett]

Recently watched "The Professionals" on the tube. Lee Marvin (arguably the best 'Soldier of Fortune' actor ever) makes good use of a Lewis in the movie.

Two good lines from the flick, the first from Burt Lancaster.

- "There is only one revolution, my friend - the good guys against the bad guys. The question is, who are the good guys?"

The next is by Lee Marvin after he was called a 'bastard" by the husband of the woman he was sent to rescue.

- "Yes, Sir. In my case, an accident of birth. In your's, you're a self-made man."

[Scattered Thumbs]

Yes I did. Thank you very much for a very instructive video.