Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "M1909 Benet Mercie - America's First LMG" video.

  1. Some of the guns used by the Storm Troopers in the first Star Wars were replica MG34 so why not have these as well. Having said that they look more steampunk then Star Wars. Or that hunter Van Pelt in the original Jumanji.
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  2. Wonder what happened to the ones bought by the UK.
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  3. I am surprised America did not buy the Lewis Gun which was being manufactured in the US by the Savage Arms Company for Britain. The only reason I can think of is the fact that General William Crozier, the chief of the Ordnance Department, was not a great admirer of colonel Isaac Newton Lewis. They had clashed to such an extent Lewis resigned his commision and went to work in Belgium. So America missed out on an excellent LMG because of Crozier.
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  4. Alex Moore And thereby hangs a tale. Britain had the EM-2 but America deemed the round to weak for use in rifles and machine guns and NATO should instead adopt the 7.62 calibre round. The aim was here to simplify logistics by all having the same ammunition. So Britain bought the FNL while the US bought the M14. Then America suddenly decided small calibre ammunition were not so weak and adopted the M16 in 5.56 but kept the 7.62 for the M60. Not sure what the aim was here but keeping the logistics simple was not part of it. Interestingly the first country to buy the M16 was Britain, 10,000 of them, and it was used by special forces groups like the SAS and the SBS. Anyway America has now decided that the 5.56 round lacks the range for what they need and it looks like the merry-go-round has started again.
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  5. Alex Moore I think they are looking for something with a longer range as fighting in places like Afghanistan were at much longer ranges then they originally planned for. But yes I also do not think the 7.62 will make a return. Having said that the British Army did introduce a 7.62 sniper rifle several years ago which was to be used as a support weapon, I believe it was for use at platoon level. The other think is the US Army has gone for shorter barrel lengths for its assault rifle which means at it loses accuracy at the ranges found in Afghanistan. So they are looking to change that as well.
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  6. Okay Guys. An apology. I stated that replica MG34 were used in Star War. It was in fact the Lewis Gun. Sorry about that. A little story which I hope will bring a smile to your faces. On the Kent coast is the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch miniature railway. The locomotives are scale miniatures of locomotives which had been in service by the railways in Britain, but they were large enough for people to sit on the coaches. If you've ever seen film footage of Disney with his railway you will know what I mean. As Kent is just across the English Channel from France during WW2 it was decided to build an armoured train, just like the full size trains. This included mounting Lewis Guns on the various wagons. Anyway one day a German Messerschmitt 109 decided to do a strafing run on the train. And the Lewis gunner shot it down. Now, like me, you would love to have seen the look on the pilots face when told he was attack a miniature train and it had shot him down. Bear in mind that one German pilot shot down over Britain insisted he was shot down by a Spitfire, this despite the fact there was not one Spitfire within 100 miles of where he was shot down. His ego would not accept that anything less then a Spitfire could have shot him down. Now back to the pilot who was attacking and was shot down by a Lewis gunner on a miniature train. How did he square that circle.
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