Old Photo # 22

[Sam Johnson]

Motor cycle machine gun and crew. About 1918. What make / model machine gun ?

 

[psyclone66]

Benet-Mercie Model 0f 1909
edit add:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotchkiss_ ... achine_gun

 

[mt]

Notice the look on that driver's face...he's thinking about that gun going off right in front of his nose. I can see it now, that rig wasn't very accurate...the driver keeps flinching.

mt

 

[plusp]

I would hate to depend on that little puny shield in front to stop the enemy from plugging me while attacking.

 

[mt]

From the looks of the slot cut in that "shield" it may be designed to attach to the two guide rods on either side of the gun? That woud still leave the driver to face the music.

mt

 

[psyclone66]

With the shields in place. 8)

Anybody interested in reading more about this nifty machine rifle most folks never heard of? It sorta filled the gap between the Gatling Gun and the truly world class inventions of JMBrowning.
http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ ... 13803.html
http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread. ... hine-Rifle

 

[Mike Armstrong]

The Benet-Mercie is an ancestor/relative of the Nambu light machine guns that the Japanese killed so many of us with in WWII. Basically a Hotchkiss (U.S.) design that was used well by the French and the Brits, too. Might have served us well if we'd ever stuck with it long enough to get the bugs out and get our troops properly trained. But machine guns were a new technology, and we were still figuring out what they were good for, and how to use them for it.

 

[psyclone66]

September 2010 American Rifleman--

This machine rifle is written up on page 84.