Lewis light machine gun. Lewis light machine gun English civil war machine gun

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a triumphal march of automatic weapons began across the battlefields, one of the most successful examples of which is the Lewis light machine gun.

The fusion of revolutionary solutions and dead-end moves took its place on the pedestal of the most long-lived weapons, along with the masterpiece of Hiram Maxim. Few people know that for the first time in a hundred years I repeated schematic diagram barrel cooling, tested on Lewis mod. 1913.

But there were also plenty of dead-end solutions - the use of a springless magazine, leaf spiral springs in the mechanism and an overcomplicated bolt. But first things first.

History of creation

Long stroke circuit gas piston appeared in Samuel McLean. At that time it was difficult heavy machine gun with the usual water cooling at this time. But the idea was implemented, in a slightly modified version, by Colonel American army Isaac Lewis.

The changes he made turned a mediocre heavy machine gun into a revolutionary light machine gun. Was introduced new system cooling, the locking system has been slightly modified. But as often happened in the USA at that time, due to the lobby of General William Crosier, Lewis's application for the competition was rejected.

Colonel Lewis resigned and moved to Europe to promote his weapons in pre-war Britain.

It was 1913, the tension of a future war was already hanging in the air.

The weapon was adopted into service in Belgium and the royal armed forces Great Britain.

In Belgium, Lewis organized his own enterprise. But due to the lack of production capacity, all weapons were produced to order in the Birmingham Small Arms workshops in Britain, and later in the USA, at the Savage Arms Company factories.

In 1913, Lewis machine guns were produced chambered for .303 British, or 7.7x56R. In the USA, weapons were produced under American rifle cartridge.30-06 Springfield.

After the outbreak of the Great War, the Lewis machine gun became truly world famous. It was used by all warring states. Including Germany, captured machine guns were converted to use the 8 (7.92 mm) mm Mauser cartridge and they fought again, only on the other side of the front.

About 15 thousand of these machine guns were delivered to the Russian Empire. They were actively used both in rifle units and in the nascent aeronautical units of Russia.

It is worth noting that once again, but not last time Some of the supplied machine guns were re-barreled for Russian cartridge 7.62x53R.

After the end of the First World War, in the 20-30s, these machine guns were actively produced in Europe and were in service with a number of countries.

Moreover, in 1923 in Britain, Lewis underwent modernization during which the production process was somewhat simplified and the machine gun itself was lightened.

Lewis weapons were also used in the Second World War; moreover, single examples of these weapons fought in the 50s, in Korea.

Design, features and principle of operation

Lewis light machine gun mod. 1913 is an automatic weapon. The principle of operation of the automation is based on the energy of removal of powder gases from the barrel, with a long piston stroke, a rotary bolt, with 4 stops.

The fire mode is automatic only, shooting is carried out from an open bolt. Lewis's device is extremely original in a number of ways, and in many ways was ahead of its time.

Peculiarities

The main feature of this weapon is its cooling system, a metal casing with an aluminum radiator inside.

This pipe gives it a somewhat eccentric image of a minigun; work to lighten this design was carried out constantly, but they only came to operate the machine gun without it at all.

The barrel cut ended in the casing itself; when fired, air was drawn through the radiator, thereby cooling the barrel. Now this cooling system is often criticized, citing the example of the post-war years and the use of Lewis without radiators.

But we must take into account that at the time the release began, this decision was completely justified.

Moreover, the Pecheneg control panel now uses the same cooling scheme.

The use of a coil mainspring is a characteristic feature of the Lewis design. The production of such springs was quite expensive, and in addition, the metal of these springs quickly “tired.”

The magazine is disk, located on top of the receiver. The design of the magazine is quite original; it does not have a feed spring; the cartridge is fed by the lever of the weapon mechanism when the magazine rotates.

The magazine capacity was 47 or 97 rounds. The store had extremely simple form, his equipment was organized quite simply. I turned the disk axis, inserted the cartridge into the socket, turned the axis and inserted the next one.

Despite the original and simple design, the store has the following disadvantages:

• the duration of the equipment, each cartridge is inserted one by one with the axis scrolling, the use of the bar did not greatly speed up the process;
• the magazine box open at the bottom led to contamination of the cartridges, which could cause delays in shooting;
• rotation of the magazine disk during shooting could cause injuries if the weapon was handled carelessly.

Nevertheless, despite all the shortcomings, the design of the store was simple, the store itself had a significant capacity, and in addition, it required only automatic actions from the equipment operator.

Operating principle

The principle of operation of the machine gun was quite simple; when fired, part of the powder gases entered the underbarrel gas chamber.

The gas piston moved, releasing the bolt and moving it back, while simultaneously twisting the spring and turning the magazine disk.

The bolt, moving, removed the spent cartridge case from the chamber and threw it to the side, while simultaneously cocking the rear sear. Having moved to the rearmost point, the shutter stopped. The mainspring unwinded and moved it forward. The feed lever lowered the cartridge from the magazine down to the bolt.

The cartridge was sent into the chamber, and at that moment the shot occurred. The cycle repeated itself again.

Performance characteristics and comparison

At the start of his career, Lewis had only three main competitors - the German MG-08/15, the Danish Madsen and the French. But practically the MG-08/15 was a converted Maxim, adapted as a manual one; with a weight of 18 kilograms and external bulkiness, mobility was below average.

Which, in general, affected its use.

The Madsen system is a fairly successful weapon, but it has inherent flaws, such as a protruding box magazine that blocked the shooter’s view.

The Shosh system, with a 20-round magazine and disadvantages such as constant jamming and contamination, is also not a full-fledged competitor.

Thus, it was the English machine gun that was the king of the First World War. This was due to both a successful design and performance characteristics. In addition, one must take into account the fact that it had significant reserves for modernization.

This was shown by numerous modifications for different cartridges, both with a 7.62x53R welted case and an 8 mm Mauser without a welt.

The 1913 Lewis machine gun had the following characteristics:

• cal.303 British;
• weight (empty) – 11.8 kg;
• barrel length – 665 mm;
• total length – 1283 mm;
• technical rate of fire 650 rounds/min;
• magazine capacity 47 or 97 rounds, weight 1.8 kg (47 rounds);
• sighting range 3200 meters.

In terms of the totality of characteristics at the time of the start of production, this machine gun overtook all analogues. A fully equipped machine gunner carried a loaded Lewis machine gun weighing 13 kg and two magazines to it. The remaining disks were in the second number of the calculation.

Application

The peak of its career came during the First World War, where it was used on all fronts. Among the Landwehr infantrymen, Lewis earned the nickname " rattlesnake", which is to some extent deserved by the sound of fire, but its mobility and tactics of use on the battlefield also played a significant role.

The machine gun was produced after the end of the war, and moreover, it was actively used as an air defense weapon on ships and boats back in the 40-50s.

Moreover, a well-known photograph of the parade on November 7, 1941, where Red Army soldiers go to the front with Lewis machine guns, apparently taken from long-term storage warehouses.

Lewis also captured a lot of historical footage while serving in the royal troops and Her Majesty's Navy.

Britain used them everywhere, but mainly on secondary sectors of the front.

The machine gun was also actively used as a turret for aviation. But they stopped using it for aircraft defense in the early 40s. Rifle-caliber bullets could no longer damage an all-metal aircraft with a single hit.

And the low rate of fire did not allow achieving a significant number of hits on a high-speed target.

In cinema

Lewis's most famous appearance is in the movie " White sun Desert", where its role was played by the DP machine gun.

Lewis also appeared in the film “A Friend Among Strangers, a Stranger Among Our Own.” In the TV series “Makhno” and “Chapaev”, where he occasionally appears in the frame.

In foreign films, he appeared in the films “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “The Battle of the Cortes,” “The Mummy” and others.

In computer games

The machine gun model is found in a number of modifications of the game "STALKER", in addition, the Lewis gun can be seen in the simulator "World of Guns: Gun Disassembly".

In Battlefield I, the Lewis machine gun is carried by members of the fire support group.

In addition, it was Lewis who was taken as the basis for creating the appearance of the blaster in the game Star Wars Battlefront.

Video Review

Aviation machine gun "Lewis".

Developer: A. Lewis
Country: USA
Year of creation: 1912

Light machine gun, whose thick black “pipe” on the bipod is familiar to many from films about the Civil War, was a remarkable weapon for its time. The combination of low weight, simplicity and reliability of design with rate of fire ensured its rapid spread in many countries around the world. The machine gun was widely used as an infantry machine gun, but its aviation variants were no less famous.

The creator of the machine gun, Colonel Isaac Newton Lewis, was a leading weapons specialist in the US Army. He was educated at West Point Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1884. In 1911, Lewis became commander of the artillery school at Fort Monroe, where he received worldwide recognition as a specialist in mechanical and electrical engineering. As the moment of leaving the army approached, the colonel began working as a consultant for the AAC (Automatic Arms Company) in Ohio (Colonel I. Lewis in the photo).

For a number of years, Lewis worked on the creation of a light machine gun, the automation of which was powered by the energy of powder gases. At that time, the AAC company bought the rights to a machine gun created by Dr. Samuel McClean. Lewis used McClean's technical solutions when developing his machine gun. For the right to produce a machine gun designed by Lewis, the AAS company transferred to him a controlling stake and control over production and distribution. Two years later, Lewis created a machine gun with a disc magazine and air-cooled barrel. The automatic machine gun operated on the principle of gas exhaust. When fired, gases passed through a hole in the barrel and pressed on the piston. The piston, moving back, turned the gear of the spiral (like in a watch) return spring with a rack and thus wound it up.

At the same time, the stand on the rod rotated the bolt and moved its lugs out of the annular groove of the bolt box. With further movement of the piston with the bolt, the sleeve was removed from the breech, which was then thrown out by the reflector. The bolt protrusion, acting on the feeder, rotated the magazine and fed the next cartridge to the receiving window. After the parts moved back, the return spring unwinded and sent the rod and bolt forward. The bolt captured the next cartridge and sent it into the chamber. The feeder turned to the right and jumped over the next ledge of the store. The rod stand, moving along the slot of the bolt, rotated it, the combat protrusions entered the grooves of the box, the firing pin broke the primer and fired the next shot.

One of the problems with any automatic weapon is the intense heat generated when firing. To solve this problem, Lewis came up with an original air cooling system. The machine gun barrel was enclosed in an aluminum radiator, covered with a large cylindrical casing.

During firing, powder gases flying out of the barrel at high speed drew air into the casing, which, passing through the radiator channels, took away heat from it. But despite the fact that this design cooled the barrel, bursts longer than 20 shots led to it overheating, and it was necessary to take a break. A disk magazine with a capacity of 47 rounds was fired in just six seconds, but it was considered that this was enough, since the empty magazine was easily replaced.

While serving in the US Armed Forces, Lewis repeatedly brought his inventions to the command, but did not find understanding. He realized that the army brass's biased attitude toward "upstart" inventors was working against him. So Lewis decided to take a different approach.

College Park, Maryland, housed a "reconnaissance air corps" equipped with several Wright biplanes. It was commanded by Lewis's old acquaintance, Captain De Forrest Chandler. Lewis explained to him his idea for a new weapon and invited him to take part in the first aerial tests of a machine gun. Chandler got down to business with great enthusiasm. Pilot Lieutenant De Witt Milling was involved in the tests.

Lewis informed interested officers about his project and the wooden biplane took off on June 2, 1912. Chandler fired a burst at the canvas stretched out on the grass in front of the hangar. He shot the rest of the ammunition into a nearby pond. This historic flight was widely covered in the press, but the army command was extremely indignant that Lewis did not even notify him in advance about this event. However, the flight received wide publicity and Lewis was asked to conduct official tests of his machine gun. The tests were successful, but the machine gun was again rejected because Artillery Directorate had already made a choice in favor of the French Bene-Mercier machine gun, which was in many ways inferior to the Lewis system, and in addition used inconvenient hard tape clips. By that time, Lewis had left the US Army and moved to Europe.

Lewis's offer to demonstrate his machine gun was accepted by a group of Belgian businessmen. The machine gun performed well, and as a result, an agreement was signed according to which a new company, Armes Automatic Lewis, was created to produce Lewis machine guns in Europe. However, the only manufacturer capable of offering the necessary production capacity was the English company Birmingham Small Arms (BSA), with which they signed an agreement. The Burningham plant began preparing production tooling.

With the help of the BSA public affairs department, Lewis arranged for a public aerial firing demonstration of his machine gun. The display took place at the Beazley shooting range on November 27, 1913. The plane of the famous pilot Graham White was equipped with an additional seat for the gunner, which was occupied by the Belgian Lieutenant Stellingwerf. The car was piloted by Marcus Menton. At the appointed time, the biplane entered the training ground at an altitude of 120 meters, and Stellingwerf opened fire on a square target measuring 7.5 meters. The results of this and subsequent shootings confirmed Lewis's claims - an average of 28 hits on the target from each cartridge disk.

The BSA company received orders for test batches of the machine gun from the military departments of England, Belgium, Russia, as well as a number of other countries. Weapons experts from Woolwich carried out thorough tests. Despite the problem with barrel overheating, the machine gun was generally rated positively and recommended for adoption. In the same year, the machine gun was officially adopted by the Belgian army.

Trial tests were important in the fate of the Lewis machine gun. aerial shooting conducted by the British Royal Air Corps (RFC - Royal Flight Corps) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS - Royal Navy Air Service). After them, it became obvious that the Lewis machine gun was one of the best candidates for the role aviation weapons. However, the British War Ministry showed caution, and BSA had to begin shipping batches of machine guns already produced to Russia and Belgium. Focusing on the future great war in Europe, BSA management decided to expand production and ordered new machines in the USA.

Literally on the eve of the war, in June 1914, the War Ministry and the British Admiralty, as if “waking up”, urgently ordered 10 Lewis machine guns, and two weeks later 45 more. Immediately after the start of hostilities, the BSA received an order for 200 machine guns, the production of which was then underway carried out at a rate of 25 pieces per week. And after the Lewis Infantry, which was in service with the Belgian army, showed itself brilliantly in battle (the Germans, faced with this formidable weapon, nicknamed it the “rattlesnake”), applications for new machine guns poured in like a cornucopia.

It soon became clear that BSA alone could not cope with the growing wave of orders, so the British, together with the Canadians, ordered 12,000 machine guns from the large American arms company Savage Arms Company. By the end of 1915, the new production plants in Burningham were operating at full capacity and the production of Lewis machine guns there reached 300 pieces per week.

The design of the infantry version of the Lewis machine gun remained virtually unchanged until the end of the First World War. But for use in aviation, the machine gun began to be intensively modernized. The first change was the replacement of the rifle stock with a Maxim-type handle, more convenient when handling a machine gun mounted on a rifle turret. Moreover, in this case it was not necessary to rest it on the shoulder to parry the recoil.

The massive “pipe” of the radiator casing made it difficult for the shooter to aim, since due to the large windage, the machine gun was subjected to strong air pressure. It soon became clear that due to airflow in flight, the barrel was less susceptible to overheating than on the ground, and the awkward casing was abandoned, although the radiator itself remained.

It also turned out that spent cartridges flying overboard damaged the fabric covering of the aircraft, and on aircraft with a rear engine, also damaged the propeller. Combat units began to independently equip machine guns with bags or boxes for collecting cartridges. After receiving an official complaint, BSA began producing cartridge case collection bags for turret variants of the Lewis machine gun with a capacity of 94 cartridge cases. But for intense combat the capacity turned out to be insufficient and it was increased to 330 cartridges.

The double-row disk magazine with 47 rounds also turned out to be too small for aerial shooting, since changing it often in thick mittens in the piercing wind was very problematic. To make life easier for shooters, a new four-row magazine with 97 rounds was created in 1916. The magazine was equipped with a handle that allowed it to be replaced with one hand.

During operation of the Lewis machine gun, damage to the gas cylinder located under the barrel often occurred. To protect it, the barrel and cylinder were covered with a lightweight metal pipe with a diameter of 2.5 inches (6.25 cm). This modification, as well as a number of others, were carried out by BSA specialists in November 1915. A modified version of the Lewis Mk.II machine gun was launched in mass production in mid-1916.

The operating principle of the machine gun did not allow it to be used with a synchronizer. Consequently, to fire forward, the line of fire had to be directed outside the sweep zone propeller. As a rule, on biplane fighters the Lewis machine gun was mounted on racks above the upper wing. Changing magazines in such installations was initially dangerous. acrobatic stunt" The pilot had to unfasten his seat belts and remove his feet from the pedals, stand at his full height in the cockpit, hold the control stick between his legs and in this position remove the empty magazine and install a full one in its place. It is clear that in conditions air combat It was simply impossible to engage in such manipulations.

In 1916, for the convenience of replacing magazines in England, a special device was created. Its inventor is considered to be Sergeant Foster of the 11th RFC. This installation or “Foster carriage” was an arched rail on which a machine gun was mounted and along which it could be moved back and down. To replace the magazine, the pilot unlocked the holder lock on the rail and pulled the machine gun towards himself until it stopped. In this position, the magazine was easily changed, and these could be done with one hand, without getting tired from the chair. In particular, the widespread British RAF SE.5a fighters were equipped with such installations.

Appeared in Russia around the same time similar installation for Nieuport fighters, developed by engineer Jordan. But in it the machine gun did not lower into the cabin along a guide, but leaned back on a hinge.

In 1915, the Lewis machine gun became the standard defensive armament of Royal Air Corps and Royal Air Force aircraft, as well as the French Air Force. The machine gun was also highly valued by German aviators, who willingly removed them from crashed and captured Entente aircraft and used them on their own aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Lewis machine gun, like any equipment, had its drawbacks. In flight at low temperatures The lubricant often froze. The gas cylinder required cleaning after every 600 shots, otherwise the piston would jam. There was still a danger of the barrel overheating when firing in long bursts, but during air battles, shooters often forgot about this, which led to weapon failures.

The Royal Naval Air Service used a slightly different version of the Lewis machine gun than the RFC. In many divisions, radiators were removed from machine guns, and a steel casing was installed to protect the gas cylinder. The machine guns modified in this way were successfully used.

In 1917, RFC experts concluded that the naval version of the machine gun was significantly lighter and had less air resistance than the Lewis Mk.II. Improvements made by naval specialists, as well as a number of others that made it possible to reduce the weight of weapons and increase the rate of fire, were decided to be implemented in the new modification of the Lewis Mk III machine gun. This option has become widespread in air force Oh various countries over the next 20 years. The Lewis machine guns in service in the Russian Empire and the United States used the 7.62 mm cartridge, while France, Italy and Japan used the standard British 0.303 (7.7 mm) cartridge.

Due to the increased rate of fire to 750-850 rounds per minute, the new modification experienced more frequent failures and accelerated wear of the mechanisms. And increased flight altitudes have exacerbated the problem of lubricant freezing. As a result, by the early thirties of the 20th century, the Lewis was already considered an obsolete and insufficiently reliable weapon.

In 1936, it was replaced in the British Royal Air Force by the more advanced and reliable Vickers. But even during the Second World War, Lewis machine guns on anti-aircraft turrets were still often used in British air defense.

Lewis turret machine guns, as a rule, were equipped with conventional ring sights, which were later replaced by ring sights with a weathervane movable front sight designed by Lieutenant Norman. The weather vane sight took into account the aircraft's own speed, which made it possible to aim more accurately.

Modification: Lewis Mk.I(II) / Lewis Mk.III
Length, mm: 1280 / 1080
Barrel length, mm: 670 / 610
Caliber, mm: 7.7 or 7.62 / 7.7 or 7.62
Rate of fire, shots/min: 550 / 550-850
Weight, kg: 11.5 / 7.7

Infantry version of the Lewis machine gun.

A version of the Lewis machine gun for installation on aircraft is the Lewis 1915.

Aviation machine gun "Lewis" with a magazine for 97 rounds.

Lewis machine gun on the upper wing of a Nieuport N.11 fighter.

Lewis machine gun mounted on a Morane-Saulnier L.

One of the options for installing Lewis machine guns on the Farman F.40 aircraft.

Lewis machine guns on a Russian aircraft air fleet Caudron G.IV.

Voisin LA reconnaissance aircraft of the Russian air fleet with a Lewis machine gun.

The pilot reloads the Lewis machine gun.

Lewis machine gun on Foster's carriage.

Outside the window it has been drizzling rain for three days now, and in the rare rainless hours everything is shrouded in thick fog... It’s just British weather outside... The family is already asleep, and I’m sitting in a chair by the dying fireplace, drinking whiskey (very little) and reading “Notes about Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle... I feel as if I am in the British Empire...
I don’t know about you, but the first association that comes to mind when I mention Britain is good old British weapons. First of all, of course, this is a Lewis light machine gun... Actually, this is the machine gun I want to tell you about today...

The beginning of the formidable 20th century was marked by the active development of automatic weapons, in particular machine guns. This type of weapon was enthusiastically introduced into the army; patent offices were literally inundated with various projects and ideas in the field of automatic weapons, often very far from the realities of life. However, some developments turned out to be very successful, were actively used in combat operations and took their place of honor on the pedestal of the history of manual small arms. A similar fate awaited the Lewis light machine gun...

British-made Lewis light machine gun (Russian order). Right view.

At the appointed time, the biplane entered the training ground at an altitude of 120 meters, and Stellingwerf opened fire on a square target measuring 7.5 meters. The results of this and subsequent shootings confirmed Lewis's claims - an average of 28 hits on the target from each cartridge disk.
Weapons experts from Woolwich carried out thorough tests. Despite the problem with barrel overheating, the machine gun was generally rated positively and recommended for adoption. In the same year, the machine gun was officially adopted by the Belgian army.
Test aerial firings carried out by the British Royal Flight Corps (RFC) and the Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS) were important in the fate of the Lewis machine gun. After them, it became obvious that the Lewis machine gun was one of the best candidates for the role of aviation weapons. However, the British War Ministry showed caution, and the BSA company had to begin shipping batches of machine guns already produced to Belgium. Focusing on the prospect of a major war in Europe, BSA management decided to expand production and ordered new machines from the USA.

Literally on the eve of the war, in June 1914, the War Ministry and the British Admiralty, as if “waking up”, urgently ordered 10 Lewis machine guns, and two weeks later 45 more. Immediately after the start of hostilities, the BSA received an order for 200 machine guns, the production of which was then underway carried out at a rate of 25 pieces per week. And after the Lewis light machine gun, which was in service with the Belgian army, showed itself brilliantly in battles (the Germans, faced with this formidable weapon, nicknamed it the “rattlesnake”), applications for new machine guns poured in like a cornucopia.

It soon became clear that BSA alone could not cope with the growing wave of orders, so the British, together with the Canadians, ordered 12,000 machine guns from the large American arms company Savage Arms Company. By the end of 1915, the new production workshops in Burningham were operating at full capacity and the production of Lewis machine guns there reached 300 pieces per week.
In 1915, the Savage Arms company from the USA refused to work on the order and acquired a license to produce these machine guns at its production facilities. In the USA, the production of Lewis machine guns of .30-06 caliber was organized. Mainly machine guns were supplied under government orders for the air force and Marine Corps, but a small number also reached the civilian market (Lewis machine guns appealed to travelers going to wild parts of the world - Africa, Asia, the Amazon).

Lewis machine guns appeared in the Russian Empire in 1917 (9,600 American-made and 1,800 English-made machine guns), when the tsarist government, concerned about the acute shortage of automatic weapons in the army, ordered their production from foreign contractors. It should be noted that some of the machine guns (according to some sources, about 1,200 pieces) were manufactured in 7.62*54 caliber - that is, for our standard rifle cartridge. In these machine guns, the number “300” was stamped on the butt plate with a percussion stamp.

After the end of the World War, Lewis machine guns remained in service with armies and participated in almost all armed conflicts until the mid-thirties. Licensed production machine guns were organized in Japan and Holland, where they were in service. Many countries (Latvia, Estonia, Turkey, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Australia, China, etc.) purchased these weapons.
The widespread use of Lewis guns during the First World War, along with the significant need of troops for such weapons, was also facilitated by the fact that the cost of one mounted Vickers was equal to the costs spent on producing six Lewis guns.

In the USSR during the Great Patriotic War The Lewises also returned to duty - they armed the militia forces and the formed partisan detachments.

In addition, it is known that Lewis was one of the types of weapons carried by Kalev-class submarines (built for Estonia in the UK). After Estonia joined the USSR, these submarines became part of the Baltic Fleet in 1940.

By the way, the Germans also armed their rear units with captured Lewis tanks. They had the index MG100(h).

After the war, noted use of Lewis in the Korean War and in combat Jewish people for the creation of the State of Israel. And in Africa, Lewis machines were used in the former British colonies until the 70s of the 20th century...

Machine gun design:
The automatic machine gun operates on the principle of removing powder gases.
The machine gun consists of the following main parts and mechanisms: a barrel with a radiator and casing, a receiver with a cover and a feed mechanism, a butt plate with a butt, a fire control handle with a trigger mechanism, a bolt, a bolt frame, a recoil spring with a box, a magazine and a bipod.
In the front part of the casing there is a gas chamber regulator, which has two holes for exhausting gases with letter designations: “L” is the larger hole and “S” is the smaller hole. To move the regulator from one hole to another, it is rotated 180° using the regulator lever.

The barrel bore is locked by turning the bolt, the lugs of which fit into the transverse grooves of the receiver. The rotation of the bolt when locking is carried out by a curved groove on the bolt and the base of the bolt frame post.
The striker-type impact mechanism is mounted on the bolt frame rack. The trigger mechanism allows only automatic fire. When firing, the machine gun is fed with cartridges from a disk magazine, which is driven into rotation by a feed mechanism. The feed mechanism is a lever type, driven by the protrusion of the bolt tail, which fits into the curved groove of the feed lever. There is a pawl on the feed lever, which, interacting with the transverse ribs of the magazine, rotates the magazine. The magazine is kept from turning to the right and left by two levers located on the receiver cover. Extraction of the cartridge case (cartridge) is carried out by two ejectors fixed in the bolt, and reflection is carried out by a lever-type reflector located in the receiver.

The machine gun has a safety guard consisting of two slats with cutouts at both ends. The straps are placed on the right and left sides of the receiver. The cutouts are designed to secure the bolt carrier in the forward and rear positions. To put the bolt carrier on safety, the bar (left or right, depending on which side the charging handle is located) must be moved up.
The connection between the barrel and the receiver is threaded. The barrel is air cooled. Cooling of the barrel is enhanced by the presence of a radiator and a casing with a pipe on the barrel. Frame sight, diopter; triangular shaped front sight. For ease of shooting, the machine gun has a bipod. When using a machine gun as a light machine gun, it is attached to the swinging part of the machine and the butt plate with the butt of the machine gun is replaced with a butt plate with a handle.
The machine gun has a rack-mount type sight. It is mounted on the receiver cover and has up to 20 divisions. The longest aimed shooting range is 2000 yards, which corresponds to 1830 m
The machine gun comes with a set of accessories for disassembly for cleaning and the following spare parts: a bolt, a reflector, a recoil spring with a gear and a box, a pawl and two magazine clamps, a feed lever and a tube for loading the magazine. Accessories and spare parts are placed in a special leather case.

And here is how Maxim Popenker describes the technical characteristics of the machine gun:
"Manual Lewis machine gun uses gas-operated automatics with a long-stroke gas piston located under the barrel. The barrel is locked by turning the bolt onto four lugs located radially at the rear of the bolt. Shooting is carried out from an open bolt, with automatic fire only. Features of the machine gun include a spiral return spring acting on the gas piston rod through a gear and gear train, as well as an aluminum radiator on the barrel, enclosed in a thin-walled metal casing. The radiator casing protrudes forward in front of the muzzle, so that when firing, an air draft is formed through the casing along the radiator, from the breech of the barrel to the muzzle. The cartridges were fed from disk magazines attached to the top with a multi-layer (2 or 4 rows, capacity 47 and 97 rounds, respectively) cartridges arranged radially, with bullets to the axis of the disk. At the same time, the magazine did not have a feed spring - its rotation to feed the next cartridge to the chambering line was carried out using a special lever located on the machine gun and driven by the bolt. In the infantry version, the machine gun was equipped with a wooden butt and a removable bipod; sometimes a handle for carrying the weapon was placed on the barrel casing. Japanese Type 92 Lewis machine guns (produced under license) could additionally be used from special tripod machines.”

Equipping the magazine and preparing for shooting.

Loaded magazine with 97 rounds.

Reliability of weapon operation in any conditions, incl. and unfavorable conditions deservedly earned it a reputation as one of the best light machine guns of that time, although the significant weight and labor-intensive maintenance caused certain difficulties for the machine gunners. It is quite possible to say about this machine gun that it was created in “its” time and “served” its service with honor in the armies of many countries around the world. The machine gun was widely used as an infantry one, but its aviation versions were no less famous.

In 2010, in the state of ILLINOIS in the USA, a discussion arose among small arms enthusiasts. One of the small arms enthusiasts, a war veteran, found a Lewis machine gun inoperative in an old estate. To be more precise, it was a .30 caliber Lewis produced by the 1917 Savage Arms Co. in the city of New York.

About this find they wrote to the head of the Catholic Society of War Veterans, Mike Anthony, asking him to explain how they could leave the machine gun in their organization, as I understand it, which was engaged in the reconstruction of past military operations. He asked a question to an ATF agent (Bureau Firearms Tobacco, Alcohol and Explosives), they in turn advised him to hand over the machine gun to the authorities. And the machine gun had to be handed over to the sheriff, otherwise those who owned it would face a 10-year sentence and a fine of $250,000.

In this whole story, I liked the reaction of the local sheriff. He did not open a case against the finders, but tried in every possible way to help them solve this problem. They were even ready to give the machine gun to the museum, but the ATF demanded that the rarity be destroyed. In turn, Sheriff Myrl Justus said that for now the find will be kept as a document until a way is found to save this perfectly preserved machine gun, which, according to gunsmith experts, can still be restored.

"Unfortunately, we are limited in what we can do," Sergeant John Fulton, administrative assistant for the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department, told the press. - “we will either keep it at home or be obliged to hand it over for destruction, these are the requirements of the law.”

At the same time, the state rifle association is confident that it is worth fighting for the safety of this shooting exhibit, saying that the ATF, as a federal agency, should control, and not confiscate or destroy, what is the history of the United States of America.

Let me note that this attitude towards machine guns in general is not found in all US states! There are states where their personal storage is allowed.

From idea to metal

Lewis (“Lewis”) is a British machine gun from the First World War. It was created in 1913.

The original idea for the design of the machine gun belongs to a certain Samuel McLean. This idea was improved by an American, American Army Captain Isaac Lewis, and then patented. Initially, Lewis planned his machine gun as an easel machine gun, with water cooling, but later moved on to the idea of ​​a light machine gun with forced air cooling of the barrel.

The machine gun was proposed by the designer for arming the American army, but in response there was a harsh refusal (caused by a long-standing personal conflict between the inventor and General Crozier, the then head of the US Army Weapons Department).

Having failed to convince the leadership of the American army of the need to adopt his design, Lewis retired and left the United States in 1913.

First he went to Belgium, and soon to the UK. In Belgium, he founded the Armes Automatique Lewis company in Liege to produce a machine gun. In the UK, Lewis worked closely with Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) to overcome some of the difficulties encountered in the production of the weapon.

Production of the machine gun began at the BSA factories (England), and the Belgian army was the first to adopt the Lewis RP in 1913, and the Lewis received its baptism of fire in 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War. By the end of the 1930s, it was withdrawn from service for the first time, but closer to the Second World War it was returned to service after a partial modernization, during which the radiators were removed and the two bipods were replaced by one telescopic one. In addition to the army ones, there were also aviation options.

Japanese Type 92 Lewis machine guns (produced under license) could additionally be used from special tripod machines. These machine guns were used by Japan until the end of World War II.

Design Features

The automatic machine gun operates on the principle of removing powder gases. The machine gun consists of the following main parts and mechanisms: a barrel with a radiator and casing, a receiver with a cover and a feed mechanism, a butt plate with a butt, a fire control handle with a trigger mechanism, a bolt, a bolt frame, a recoil spring in its box, a magazine and a bipod . The hallmark of the card 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 with its inertia, created a vacuum in the rear part of the casing - and as a result - stretching portions of cold air under the casing, along longitudinally ribbed trunk. Active air cooling has never been used anywhere else in the history of small arms.

The barrel bore is locked by turning the bolt, the lugs of which fit into the transverse grooves of the receiver. The rotation of the bolt when locking is carried out by a curved groove on the bolt and the base of the bolt frame post. The striker-type impact mechanism is mounted on the bolt frame rack. The trigger mechanism allows only automatic fire. Shooting only from an “open bolt”, which negatively affects the accuracy of the fire. When firing, the machine gun is fed with cartridges from an original disk magazine with a multi-layer (2 or 4 rows, capacity 47 and 97 rounds, respectively) arrangement, which is driven into rotation by a feed mechanism. The magazine does not contain a feed spring, which fundamentally sets it apart from all modern systems of this type.

The feed mechanism is a lever type, driven by the protrusion of the bolt tail, which fits into the curved groove of the feed lever. The rate of fire (the rate of operation of the automation) is regulated by a tap on the gas chamber. The same tap compensates for lubricant thickening at low temperatures.

The recoil spring is not telescopic like in modern systems, but a plate drum type, located inside a gear drum, the mating part of the bolt frame is made of a gear rack. Allows tightening in case of loss of elasticity, for which there is a key in the machine gun accessory. The accessory is a leather bag containing tools for minor repairs and eliminating weapon jams. There are also spare recoil springs and firing pins, as well as a tool for assembling and disassembling the weapon.

Technical parameters of the Lewis machine gun mod. 1915

Caliber 7.71 mm

Length 1280 mm

Weight without cartridges 14.5 kg

Weight of the machine gun with magazine and cartridges. 17.8 kg

Initial bullet speed 747 m/s

Rate of fire 450 v/m

Rate of fire 150 v/m

Sighting range 1800 m

Disc capacity 47 (97) rounds

The total length of the machine gun is 1,280 mm

Effective fire range 800 m

Sighting range 1830 m

The Lewis machine gun is also used as a light mounted machine gun, for which it is mounted on a light alarm machine.

Lewis machine guns of 7.62 mm caliber (-300) may be encountered. These machine guns have the number “300” on the butt plate.

A magazine with 97 rounds is intended for aviation.

LEWIS in RUSSIA

Due to their maneuverability and overall stealth, Lewis machine guns were nicknamed "rattlesnake" by the soldiers of the Kaiser's Germany, helped by the characteristic sound of machine gun fire. Captured machine guns were actively converted by the Germans to use the 7.92 mm Mauser cartridge and were used in assault detachments along with other trophies.
Lewis machine guns appeared in Russia in 1917 - they were supplied for the needs of Russian army within the framework of a military procurement agreement (9,600 American-made and 1,800 English-made machine guns), thus, they managed to get first to the front, and only then into the hands of the revolutionary military units along the entire western front. So LUISA machine guns ended up in the UPR troops and among the guards of Father Makhno’s headquarters, and, accordingly, in service with the Red Guard.

There were also difficulties in their operation - some of the machine guns were of British caliber, and some were of the standard “three lines” - 7.62 mm. The machine guns of American origin were manufactured for the 7.62 mm Mosin cartridge (the mark on the buttplate of the machine gun is 0.3). The British fired with the .303 British cartridge. So basically English Lewis machine guns were used in Russia in aviation.

With the rearmament of the Red Army, Lewis machine guns remained in military depots until the Great Patriotic War, and were used in battles with advancing German units from 1941 until the beginning of 1943.

The most famous photograph, confirming this is a company of machine gunners with “Lewis”, marching in a parade along Red Square on November 7, 1941, before leaving for the front.

Military parade on Red Square. Moscow, November 7, 1941. The photo is interesting because the Red Army soldiers are dressed in winter helmets, which were canceled in July 1940, and are armed with old English machine guns Lewis systems.

By the way, some of the LUIS ended up in the Baltic Fleet as trophies. These machine guns were installed on British-made Estonian Kalev-class submarines that joined the Soviet Baltic Fleet in 1940.

LEWIS' second wind

By the beginning of World War II, the Lewis machine guns in the British Army were largely replaced by the more advanced Bren machine guns. It would seem that this is the end of the military career of the Lewis machine gun. But chance intervened.

When the British carried out a hasty evacuation of troops from Dunkirk in June 1940, they were forced to leave the enemy with the most modern weapons that the British army had. While the industry was desperately trying to increase output modern weapons, the British army in 1940-1941 compensated for its lack by returning old systems, as well as a number of improvisations. Among other things, about 50 thousand Lewis machine guns, which had been removed from service in previous years, were returned to the army.

Aviation Lewis Mk 4, manufactured by Birmingham Small Arms, was returned to the ground category. They were mainly issued to local defense units or installed as anti-aircraft machine guns on mobilized ships. Several hundred old "Lewis" chambered for .30-06 were purchased and received under Lend-Lease in the United States along with BAR - these were mainly aviation "Lewis" manufactured by "Savage" (in the UK they were called "Savage-Lewis") . Aviation machine guns“Lewis” did not have a barrel casing and a massive radiator; they were equipped with a simplified sight, which was designed for 400 yards, and a skeletal metal butt with a back and wooden overlays was welded to the handle. A conical flame arrester-compensator was installed on the barrel. These machine guns were adopted by the British Navy. To differentiate American machine guns and machine guns chambered for British cartridges, on receiver A large red stripe was applied behind the Savage Lewis magazine nest, and the rear half of the magazine was also painted red. In addition, the old Hotchkiss and Lewis were used on armored trains of local defense, various anti-aircraft installations, urgently completed armored vehicles and light aircraft.

In August 1942, to redesign the Navy machine guns, the so-called SS modification (Shoulder Shooting, also called Mk XI SS) was adopted - the radiator, handguard, shortened butt were removed from the English Lewis guns (caliber 303), and a muzzle compensator was installed. There are references to the transfer of a small number of Lewis machine guns to the Soviet Union.

It should be noted that in German army old captured Lewis machine guns were also used - for example, about 3.9 thousand machine guns of the 6.5 mm M.20 modification were captured in Holland and transferred to German troops under the designation MG.100(h). These machine guns were equipped with a disk magazine with a capacity of 97 rounds and weighed 13 kilograms.

LEWIS - retired

The Lewis-type machine gun was often used in Soviet feature films about the Civil War, which gave rise to one of the film critics to call it “the duty, concert Lewis” by analogy with the piano.

In the cult Soviet film “White Sun of the Desert,” the Red Army soldier Sukhov was supposed to use Lewis in a battle with the Basmachi. Since the film crew was unable to find an appropriate weapon for filming, it was decided to use a DT-29 (Degtyarev tank machine gun) “made up to look like” Lewis thanks to the use of a special fake casing. And in the film “A Friend Among Strangers, a Stranger Among Our Own” it is also implied that Captain Brylov, played by Nikita Mikhalkov, uses a Lewis machine gun, but this is the same imitation as in the film “White Sun of the Desert.”

By the way, LEWIS was also successfully used in HOLLYWOOD, not only in films about war, but also in science fiction action films, where he played the role of a heavy blaster, as was shown in the film by D. Lucas - Star Wars.

The originality of the design and decent technical characteristics made the Lewis machine gun one of the most durable weapons of the first half of the twentieth century. Besides this, memorable appearance helped the machine gun remain in the minds of amateurs military history as one of the symbols of the largest military conflicts in history.

History of the development of the Lewis light machine gun

The first developments in this area belonged to the American Samuel McLean, but further development and “bringing to mind” was undertaken by Colonel of the American Army Isaac Lewis. It is curious that the colonel initially planned to create a water-cooled heavy machine gun, but abandoned this idea due to the niche being occupied by the already proven developments of Maxim and Browning.

A forced air-cooled light machine gun is introduced in 1913, but does not attract the attention of the US War Department, after which Lewis begins production in Europe. Thus, the company Armes Automatique Lewis is founded in Liege, Belgium, and production in the UK is carried out under the auspices of Birmingham Small Arms (later American industry gets involved in the business). In the same year, the Belgian army adopted the Lewis guns, and already in 1914 they successfully used them with the outbreak of the First World War.

The first batch of ten samples arrived in Russia in July 1913 for testing at the Officer Rifle School. Appreciating it new sample In comparison with the existing bulky analogues, two years later a decree was issued on the mass acquisition of the Lewis system for installation on light airplanes. Before the start of the revolutionary events, approximately 9,500 Lewis guns of American origin were purchased (for Mosin rifle ammunition) and about 1,900 British models (caliber 303 British).

Description of design and principle of operation

The already generally accepted principle of removing powder gases did not bypass this machine gun. Of the technical solutions that distinguish Lewis from its analogues, it is especially worth noting a special valve on the gas chamber to regulate the rate of fire, the extraordinary structure of the disk magazine along with the feeding mechanism. The magazine did not have a feed spring, so it rotated with a protruding tail on a spring. The purpose of the unusual-looking casing was forced air cooling: at the moment of firing, the powder gases, “stuck” in the casing, forced cold air to circulate along the barrel due to its rarefaction in the rear part and the temperature difference.

However, it is worth noting that although the aviation variation of the machine gun was produced without such a device, this did not create difficulties when using it by units of the British army, so the casing can be considered a design excess. It also looks unusual to abandon a cylindrical return spring in favor of a leaf spring. Due to its wear and shrinkage after long-term shooting, a special key for tightening the spring was added to the set of accessories for the machine gun.

Main design elements:

• Barrel (with casing and radiator);
• Receiver;
• Gate;
• Bolt carrier;
• Box with return spring;
• Shop;
• Bipod (later one telescopic).

The impact mechanism is of the striker type, mounted on the bolt frame rack. The barrel bore was locked by turning the curvilinear groove of the bolt. The fuse is located on the receiver, and the design trigger mechanism eliminated the possibility of firing single shots, which often led to wasted ammunition given the small capacity of the disk magazine.

Lewis machine gun cartridges

The “British of American origin” had practically no worthy opponents in his niche. For example, the German MG 08/15 was essentially a Maxim, having lost weight compared to the original, but was still too bulky. The French Shosha model was too unreliable and vulnerable to contamination, and its closest opponent, the Danish Madsen, despite its relative success, had absolutely no development potential due to a number of initial shortcomings. This situation allowed the designer to extract maximum benefit from his invention, and the machine gun was mass-produced for the following ammunition:

• .303 British (7.69*57 mm);
• Mosin rifle cartridge (7.62*54 mm);
• .30-06 Springfield (7.62*53 mm);
• .256 Mannlicher (6.5*53 mm);
• Less known options, in particular, chambered for the German 8 mm cartridge.

The first two options from this list are the most widespread.

Performance characteristics

For a general understanding, the following table shows the parameters of the first British production model. The differences with analogues adapted for other calibers are minimal.

Despite the fact that Lewis gun (that's how it's spelled in English, it's official name in the ranks of the British armed forces) successfully coped with its main task - supporting infantry in the offensive and even earned the nickname “a machine gun you can run with”; various designs of machines and tripods for it have been preserved in history.

Pros and cons of weapons

Repeating what was mentioned above, Lewis was the absolute leader among infantry weapons. First of all, due to the fact that now the machine gun crew of two people (the first number carries the weapon itself and two disk magazines, the second carries additional ammunition) became as mobile as most of infantry armed with rifles (later - PP). There are also successful examples of application in aviation on aircraft that are unable to carry more than heavy weapons, and as a means air defense. Until the 1940s, a number of machine guns were equipped with special wire sights.

The main disadvantage was the low density of fire - a standard magazine of 47 rounds with a mass of almost two kilograms was discharged in three seconds. The disk magazine was often criticized due to its constant rotation, which, if handled carelessly, often injured the shooters' fingers and led to misfires.

Lewis gun modifications

In addition to adaptations for various calibers, the British continued to develop the idea of ​​the designer.

Version chronology:

• Infantry modification Mk1 - a slightly modified model;
• Mk2 - specifically for air combat. Added a second handle for control, instead of the butt. For the first time, 97-round magazines are used, a bag for cartridges appears, the casing and radiator are shortened, and a flash suppressor is added;
• The Mk3 was redesigned from those already in service: the automation was improved and the gas outlet was enlarged.

Also widely used in Japanese aviation is a licensed copy - Type 92.

Application in history

Soon after being adopted, the first shots from the Lewis were fired in combat conditions. In the European theater of operations, it was valued by all warring parties for its multitasking and mobility. Soldiers from countries where it was not adopted sought to obtain it as a trophy.

But this model earned its greatest fame a little later, becoming the most recognizable of the machine guns of the Civil War. Now the Lewis MMG is almost a mandatory prop in any film about the confrontation between the “reds” and the “whites”. He earned special love among the Makhnovists - Makhno’s personal guards were entirely armed with them.

After the revolution, Lewis system machine guns lay in huge quantities in the warehouses of the Red Army until the beginning of World War II. The first of the formed divisions went to the front with them straight from the 1941 parade, and they were also massively equipped with militia units like the Tula Workers' Regiment.

The last conflict where it was noticed mass use systems of an American designer, became the Korean War.

I invite readers to discuss - was this system ahead of its time or turned out to be an unnecessary quirk of the designer?

We are waiting for your comments.

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