Youtube video, Colt-Browning M1895 "Potato digger" belt fed MG
- Thread starter tootall
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reminds me of a belt fed sks in a tapco stock with a loose bayo lug...
If there was EVER a automatic gun made that had a more direct method of utilizing barrel gasses I can't imagine what it would be This thing is about as basic as it gets.
It's hard to realize that this bit of "sideways engineering" came from ol' JMB hisself.
Still, it's so very cool to see and hear.
This thing is about as basic as it gets.It's hard to realize that this bit of "sideways engineering" came from ol' JMB hisself.
Still, it's so very cool to see and hear.
If there was EVER a automatic gun made that had a more direct method of utilizing barrel gasses I can't imagine what it would be
It's hard to realize that this bit of "sideways engineering" came from ol' JMB hisself.
Still, it's so very cool to see and hear.
If what I read was correct, some of his first work in automatic weapons was using a lever action rifle with a paddle in front of the muzzle to be acted upon by the muzzle blast. A couple levers, a spring, and a screw to act on the trigger as the lever closed, and it'd run itself dry.
Full auto Winchester Model 94, anyone?
The 'gun' part of a machine gun is pretty basic. The real difficult bits are the ones that keep it fed with a steady supply of ammo.
Cheers
Trev
O'Kelly's Boys
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To think that the early CEF infantry battalions went to the front in WWI with Ross rifles and a pair of Colts thinking that was all that was necessary in addition to cold steel. Pretty cool to see it in operation.
If what I read was correct, some of his first work in automatic weapons was using a lever action rifle with a paddle in front of the muzzle to be acted upon by the muzzle blast. A couple levers, a spring, and a screw to act on the trigger as the lever closed, and it'd run itself dry.
Full auto Winchester Model 94, anyone?
The 'gun' part of a machine gun is pretty basic. The real difficult bits are the ones that keep it fed with a steady supply of ammo.
Cheers
Trev
His first experimentals were essentially lever actions altered to auto by using the muzzle paddle connected to the operating linkage.
His first real machinegun prototype, which is still in existence, is a belt fed .45-70 which he made for a Navy Department demonstration. It retained the muzzle flapper. I have a copy of the patent; believe this was dated 1892. This was the direct ancestor of the 1895 Potato Digger. Keep in mind that Maxim was selling guns in the late 1880s. The .45-70 prototype was a working, proof of concept model, not a finished gun. Unlike his later, very successful designs, it used a toggle locking system. During the demonstration for the Navy, Browning fired a continuous 60 second burst in an indoor range, using black powder cartridges!
Do google searches for US Patents 471783 and 544657. These are for the .45-70 and the Potato Digger.
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