Lewis Gun

Описание: Firing a WWI vintage .303 British caliber Lewis Gun. This one was made in Birmingham, England by BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) and later used by the Irish Army.

I've seen them in museums, but to actually fire a "Belgian Rattlesnake" is a rare treat indeed. Very cool.

We were shooting Sellier & Belloit brand .303 British ammo with 174 grain FMJ bullets. He only brought one box of 20 to test the weapon, so I got to try 5, and feel lucky about that.

I got to learn how the magazine works. The whole drum actually turns, a step at a time. There are two types of drums, 47 or 97 shot. Each drum has 50 slots, which take either one or two cartridges in each slot. You can't use 3 of the slots, because of the way the loading mechanism works, so therefore the drums held either 47 or 97 shells.

The barrel is shrouded with an internally finned casing. You can see the backs of the fins just behind the shroud and under the magazine in this film. The idea was to use muzzle blast to create a draft thru the casing over the barrel, pulling cooling air through the fins inside the casing. Years after WWI they figured out the bulky barrel shroud was not necessary for cooling. In the end barrels cooled just as well without the casing. That saved a few pounds.