Lewis Machine Gun Rate Of Fire
In return the infantry received an ever increasing number of lewis light machine guns two guns per company by the summer of 1916 and at least one per platoon by 1917.
Lewis machine gun rate of fire. The weight of the lewis gun was about twelve kilograms 26 46 pounds and the length was about 128 3 centimetres 50 5 inches. One of the weapons considered was the british vickers machine gun. It could be carried and used by one soldier. The lewis gun managed to survive the budget cuts of the interwar years across several militaries of the world.
The gun s cyclic rate of fire was approximately 500 600 rounds per minute. In fact the lewis gun will forever be known as the first machine gun successfully fired from an airplane. Despite costing more than a vickers gun to manufacture the cost of a lewis gun was 165 in 1915 and 175 in 1918. Army fired a prototype lewis gun from a.
It weighed 28 lb 12 7 kg only about half as much as a typical medium machine gun of the era such as the vickers and was chosen in part because being more portable than a heavy machine gun it could be carried and used by a single soldier. The gun fired about 500 600 rounds per minute. Began to search for a superior automatic weapon. Military had a mixed collection of automatic machine guns in use that included m1895 potato diggers 287 m1904 maxims 670 m1909 benét mercié guns and 353 lewis machine guns.
In 1913 the u s. The vickers cost about 100 lewis machine guns were in high demand with the british military during the first world war. Charles chandler of the u s. The lewis gun was lighter weighing 26 lbs and more mobile and could better support the infantry in attack than the heavier vickers guns.
The lewis gun had a rate of fire of 550 rounds per minute and it took either the 303 cartridge the 30 06 cartridge and several other cartridges depending on where it was manufactured. It weighed 28 lb 12 7 kg only about half as much as a typical medium machine gun of the era such as the vickers machine gun. In june 1912 capt. Despite it being replaced in some circles the british went on to adopt the excellent czech based bren light machine gun the lewis series was still in circulation by the time of world war 2.