Rick the Librarian
11-25-2014, 06:31
I wasn't quite sure where to insert this, but a friend of mine came across some interesting "old" pictures of the M1909 Benet-Mercie "machine rifle", which was adopted by the U.S. Army several years before WWI.
According to Bruce Canfield's book on U.S. WWI weapons, it was based on a Hotchkiss design and used 30-round "strips", which HAD to be inserted the right way. At 30 pounds, it was heavier than a typical automatic rifle but lighter than a heavy machine gun. Interesting to me, it came with a Warner-Swasey scope, similar to that used on early M1903 sniper rifles.
Rightly or wrongly, it got a bad "rap" and was called derisively "the daylight gun" because it was almost impossible to assemble or repair at night or under poor lighting. Edward Crossman, who wrote quite a bit about M1903s, claimed it went through parts, especially extractors and firing pins, at an alarming rate, especially during cold weather. As I recall, Julian Hatcher (author of "Hatcher's Notebook" and other firearms books) sort of stood up for them and said that poor training was the reason for their indifferent performance.
670 of these were made by both Colt and Springfield Armory. The only service they saw was at the Mexican border and training. To my knowledge, none got overseas and they were quickly discarded after WWI.
Good or bad, the pictures are interesting. Also note that most of the pictures show the firearm being used with "iron sights", not the W-S.
http://www.fototime.com/7B095B36CB2E9E8/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/292DAC1E63BD89B/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/1282C186C4709E9/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/EA8A1C230745F3A/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/93A6889EC2D10DA/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/261F7344E6A9298/standard.jpg
According to Bruce Canfield's book on U.S. WWI weapons, it was based on a Hotchkiss design and used 30-round "strips", which HAD to be inserted the right way. At 30 pounds, it was heavier than a typical automatic rifle but lighter than a heavy machine gun. Interesting to me, it came with a Warner-Swasey scope, similar to that used on early M1903 sniper rifles.
Rightly or wrongly, it got a bad "rap" and was called derisively "the daylight gun" because it was almost impossible to assemble or repair at night or under poor lighting. Edward Crossman, who wrote quite a bit about M1903s, claimed it went through parts, especially extractors and firing pins, at an alarming rate, especially during cold weather. As I recall, Julian Hatcher (author of "Hatcher's Notebook" and other firearms books) sort of stood up for them and said that poor training was the reason for their indifferent performance.
670 of these were made by both Colt and Springfield Armory. The only service they saw was at the Mexican border and training. To my knowledge, none got overseas and they were quickly discarded after WWI.
Good or bad, the pictures are interesting. Also note that most of the pictures show the firearm being used with "iron sights", not the W-S.
http://www.fototime.com/7B095B36CB2E9E8/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/292DAC1E63BD89B/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/1282C186C4709E9/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/EA8A1C230745F3A/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/93A6889EC2D10DA/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/261F7344E6A9298/standard.jpg