Lewis gun
| Lewis Gun | |
|---|---|
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|
| Type | Light machine gun |
| Place of origin | United States and United Kingdom |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1914–1953 |
| Used by | See Users |
| Wars |
First World War Easter Rising Emu War Banana Wars Irish War of Independence Irish Civil War Latvian War of Independence Second World War Korean War Malayan Emergency 1948 Arab–Israeli War The Troubles and other conflicts |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Samuel McClean Colonel Isaac Newton Lewis The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited |
| Designed | 1911 |
| Manufacturer | The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited or BSA Savage Arms Co. |
| Produced | 1913–1942 |
| Variants | Mks I–V Aircraft Pattern Anti-Aircraft configuration Light Infantry Pattern Savage M1917 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 28 pounds (13 kg) |
| Length | 50.5 inches (1,280 mm) |
| Barrel length | 26.5 inches (670 mm) |
| Width | 4.5 inches (110 mm) |
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| Cartridge |
.303 British .30-06 Springfield 7.92×57mm Mauser |
| Action | Gas-operated |
| Rate of fire | 500–600 rounds/min |
| Muzzle velocity | 2,440 feet per second (740 m/s) |
| Effective firing range | 880 yards (800 m) |
| Maximum firing range | 3,500 yards (3,200 m) |
| Feed system | 47- or 97-round pan magazine |
| Sights | Blade and tangent leaf |
The Lewis gun (or Lewis automatic machine gun or Lewis automatic rifle) is a First World War-era light machine gun of US design that was perfected and mass-produced in the United Kingdom, and widely used by British and British Empire troops during the war. With its distinctive barrel cooling shroud and top mounted pan magazine, the Lewis saw service to the end of the Korean War. It was also widely used as an aircraft machine gun, almost always with the cooling shroud removed, during both world wars.
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 US military, most likely because of political differences between Lewis and General William Crozier, the Chief of the Ordnance Department. Lewis became frustrated with trying to persuade the U.S. Army to adopt his design and so ("slapped by rejections from ignorant hacks", as he said), retired from the army. He 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 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 Lewises 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 Col. Lewis receiving significant royalty payments and becoming very wealthy. Lewis and his factory moved to England before 1914, away from possible seizure in the event of a German invasion. The Belgian army acquired only a handful of his guns. They were not on general issue in the Belgian Army, and were used only in a few forays by motor vehicles, south of Antwerp, against the flank of the invading German Army.
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Wikipedia