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BROWNINGWATER-COOLED MACHINE GUN

Not long after John Browning invented the world’s first gas operated fully automatic ma-chine gun, the Model 1895 Automatic Gun, he realized that there must be a better, sim-pler, more efficient operating system. He set about to create his version of a short-recoil operated machine gun that was significantly different from the then current Maxim design.

by ROBERT G SEGEL

The Model 1901

On June 19, 1900, Browning was granted U.S. Patent No. 678,937, which was his first patent on a recoil operated machine gun. This “first” gun was substantially different from his later, more familiar, versions. The gun ejected the empty brass cartridges out to the right side rather than through the bottom, had an external feed lever, a specialized cartridge belt that left most of the cartridge body exposed, and its trigger and firing mechanism were significantly different and featured a hammer driven firing system. Never-theless, this first model set the stage for further development and had many features that are recognizable in his later guns. This included a barrel at-tached to a separate barrel extension, an accelerator to speed up the move-ment of the bolt, a rising breech block, a claw extractor and a recoil spring guide with a coil recoil spring that could be turned thus locking the recoil spring inside the bolt body. The tripod cradle he created in his workshop for this gun was reminiscent

of the type and style as used on the Model 1895 Automatic Gun and used the Model 1895-style belt box with a sliding lid. Browning informed the U.S. Ord-nance Department of his new inven-tion, but they were not interested and it appears that they never even exam-ined it for testing.

The Model 1910

Over the next several years, Browning continued to work to refine his recoil operated machine gun. He redesigned much of the internal oper-ating system eliminating the hammer method of firing and replacing it with a firing pin with a sear notch on the end and added a trigger bar that engaged a sear that released the sear notch on the firing pin. He added a pistol grip with fiber buffer discs that absorbed excess energy and helped “bounce” the bolt back to battery and simplified the ejection system to eject the spent cartridges out through the bottom. There were other minor improvements as well such as using breech lock de-

On October 29, 1918, just two weeks until the end of the war, and just before the 80th Division was committed to combat, the men of Company A, 315th Machine Gun Battalion, 80th Division receive instruction on the Browning Model of 1917 from Lt. Val Browning in France. (U.S. National Archives)

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pressors to help disengage the breech lock from the locking recess in the bot-tom of the bolt. It was this gun, the Model 1910, that was the basis of the Model of 1917. Browning also rede-signed the cradle for the gun to sit in that became the M1917 tripod. All of the refinements that were incorporated in the Model 1910 were done on Browning’s own initiative. His business was thriving with hunting and sporting weapons and there was no governmental interest in his machine gun, yet he was determined to produce an efficient weapon that required very little adjustment, could produce a high volume of fire and operated by a sol-dier with minimal training, with simplic-ity of construction that enabled cost effective manufacturing. Since there

was no market for his new machine gun, he decided to just “sit on it” until an appropriate time that his new inven-tion was needed. However, Browning continued to work on his new inven-tion and on October 13, 1916 applied for another U.S. patent based upon his perfected recoil-operated machine gun; the Model of 1910 that ultimately became the Model of 1917. It is inter-esting to note that by the end of 1916, it had become apparent that the United States would be drawn into the war in Europe and so patent applications on war materiel were withheld as once a patent was granted it became pub-lic knowledge and thus available to everyone – including their enemies. The patent was eventually granted three months after the war ended on

M1917A1 accessories included water condensing can, early wood and later metal ammunition boxes, 1918 belt filling machine, water condensing hose, combi-nation tools, anti-aircraft sight, ruptured case extractor, headspace and timing gages, clinometer, spare barrel cover, etc.

peditionary Force that went to France in 1917 went to war with no machine guns and had to be initially equipped with the French M1914 Hotchkiss heavy machine gun and the disastrous M1915 Chauchat machine rifle. In 1917, after much delay, procras-tination and indecision, the U.S. finally put out a call to American inventors to submit designs for consideration. John Browning had been waiting for just such a call and personally traveled to Washington, D.C. to present his guns. That is guns, plural, because besides bringing his improved Model of 1910 water-cooled machine gun, he also brought along another project he had been working on: the Browning Auto-matic Rifle (BAR). In May, 1917 the official endur-ance trial test was held at the Govern-ment Proving Ground at Springfield Ar-mory. The Army requested that 20,000 rounds be fired. The 20,000 rounds were fired without a malfunction or bro-ken part. And, to the amazement of all, Browning fired an additional 20,000

rounds – 40,000 rounds in total – with just one failure of a component part. The board overseeing the test consist-ed of five Army officers and two civil-ians appointed by the Secretary of War and they recommended the immediate adoption of the weapon as the Model of 1917 noting the outstanding reliabil-ity and simplicity of design. They were particularly impressed that the officers who demonstrated the gun were able to take the gun apart and put it back together in minutes – blindfolded. This had never been done before and be-came the standard “blindfold test” at machine gun schools. Browning knew that there still needed to be some refinements done on the heavy machine gun. He returned to the Colt factory, who had exclusive manufacturing rights, to personally im-prove and function test the gun to make certain it was ready for a pubic dem-onstration at Congress Heights just outside Washington D.C. on February

27, 1918. Two Model 1917s were fired before a crowd of three hundred dig-nitaries and guests that included the military, politicians, foreign observers and the press. Both guns performed excellently and were well received. The press was particularly enamored with the highly successful demonstra-tion and many newspaper articles ap-peared around the country extolling the virtues of Browning’s new gun.

Model of 1917

It soon became evident that no one single manufacturer could pro-duce the vast quantities needed. Colt had an agreement with Browning to produce guns of his design exclusively but there was no way they could do it alone as the Colt manufacturing facili-ties were already at full capacity with other production. Colt made the rights available to the government and in July, 1917 delivered gages and draw-ings that other companies would use to produce the guns. Colt established a manufactur-ing facility in Meriden, Connecticut to produce 10,000 guns. In September of 1917, Remington Arms Company of Illion, New York was given a contract to manufacture 15,000 guns. And on January 10, 1918, New England West-inghouse was given a contract to pro-

Right side of a Browning Model of 1917 water-cooled machine gun on an M1917 tripod. Note the leather box attached to the rear leg containing spare parts and take-down tools.

February 4, 1919 as U.S. Patent No. 1,293,021: Automatic Machine Gun. The U.S. government showed practically no interest in machine guns. It had adopted the Maxim gun in 1904 and the Benet-Mercie machine rifle in 1909, but both weapons were few in numbers and tactics were sorely lack-ing. When war broke out in Europe in 1914, there was again a slight flurry of machine gun interest in the U.S. and the Vickers was adopted in 1915. But even with almost three years to pre-pare for the eventual U.S. involvement in World War I in 1917, there was no effective machine gun development program in spite of the fact that it was obvious that the war in Europe was a machine gun war. It was under such circumstance that the American Ex-

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Model of 1917 being demonstrated at Congress Heights on February 27, 1918 mounted on an M1917 tripod. (U.S. National Archives)duce 20,000 guns. Because of Colt already being in production of other weapons, most no-tably the Vickers Model of 1915, and the time required to start up the new facility in Meriden, Colt was the last of the three manufacturers to get up to speed in late June, 1918 with the pro-duction the Model of 1917 Browning, producing only 600 guns by the time of the Armistice in November, 1918. Remington also experienced delays due to completing a Russian contract and didn’t begin production until May, 1918. By the end of the war Rem-ington had produced 12,000 guns. It was, however, Westinghouse, that stepped in with an outstanding pro-duction schedule. Within 29 days of receiving the contract on January 10, 1918, Westinghouse had produced a hand-made prototype production gun and, 63 days later, the first produc-tion gun came off the manufacturing line. Just nine months later when the

Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, Westinghouse had manufac-tured 30,150 guns and was producing guns at the rate of 500 per day. As was so often the case in the past, and still is currently, the U.S. was ill prepared for war and the mighty industrial might of the U.S stepped up to meet the de-mand.

Into The Crucible – Finally

A machine gun training facility was established at Camp Hancock in Au-gusta, Georgia though the majority of the graduates never engaged in com-bat in France. The first Browning guns arrived in France on June 29, 1918 and shortly thereafter, training com-menced there even though there was a shortage of guns, spare parts and in-structors. The shortage of instructors was so acute that Val Browning, John Browning’s son, went to France to be an instructor on the new gun. As more

guns arrived and the training contin-ued, particularly with the 79th and 80th Divisions, the guns were ready to be fielded for combat in September of 1918. The first instance of combat us-age was in the Meuse-Argonne Forest on September 26, by a small detach-ment of the 79th Division, where in the wet and muddy conditions, the new Browning performed exceptionally well with one company firing 10,000 rounds per gun. In all, a total of 1,168 Browning guns actually made it to the front lines of World War I seeing action for only two months before the war ended. While that number may initially seem impressive, it was not, as only a very small portion of the Allied Expedition-ary Force was so equipped. It was too little, too late. But that didn’t matter because the fresh influx of American troops fighting against an army that, after fours years of decimating casual-ties, was the final hammer blow to a

On May 10, 1918, just four months after getting the contract, Westinghouse made their first delivery of 85 Browning Model of 1917 guns. By June of 1918, they had manufac-tured 2,500 guns. Colt was just beginning production in June. (Col George M. Chinn)

At some disputed barricade in the Meuse-Argonne front, US soldiers lay down fire with their Browning Model of 1917 machine gun.

substantially weakened enemy. Nev-ertheless, it should be noted that even in the German Army’s death throes in those final three months, they fought valiantly to the end and inflicted seri-ous casualties on the American fighting forces who were generally equipped with French machine guns and the U.S. Model of 1915 Vickers, not the new Brownings. And, there were prob-lems with the new gun.

Problems

Because the gun was accepted so quickly, a full trial of tests of all as-pects of the gun were either omitted or rushed so as to get the gun into production. Further testing was con-ducted while the gun was in production but production guns were entering the field with flaws. It was probably fortu-nate that the gun actually saw limited combat use. If it had been used longer under the harsh and demanding condi-tions that permeated WWI, the failure rate would have mounted very quickly. Though there were few problems en-countered regarding the functioning of the guns in the field, there were a high number of parts failures due to improp-er material preparation, poor workman-ship and inspection.

The list of parts failure was exten-sive, and included accelerators, ejec-tor pins, worn out barrels (that had a life of only about 8,000 rounds), extrac-

tors, barrel extensions, extractor cam plungers, firing pins, belt holding pawl springs, sears, etc. The list contin-ued naming another twenty key com-

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ponents. Many of the parts problems were due to improper heat treating and poor workmanship. The two most seri-ous defects were leaking water jackets both at the end cap and at the trunnion block due to improper manufacturing techniques at Westinghouse and, the biggest problem, was cracked bottom and side plates due to a flaw in the de-sign of the support of the breech lock cam, which produced a lot of stress on the bottom and side plates. Even as guns were being manufactured, shipped and fielded, testing continued back at Westinghouse, Remington and Colts to try and work out problems. This included a number of interchange-ability tests to assure parts from one manufacturer would fit in the gun of an-other manufacturer.

Post War WWI Development

It was fortunate that the war ended when it did in terms of working out the problems on the Model of 1917 Brown-ing water-cooled machine gun. Pro-duction continued after the war with most of the 72,500 guns ultimately produced being assembled in the post war era. It was during this time, from about 1919 to the mid 1930s that work continued to perfect the Brown-ing. Comprehensive testing continued, metallurgy improved, standardization of manufacturing processes was es-

Wearing their gas masks, US soldiers in the Meuse-Argonne fire their Browning Model of 1917 machine gun under protection of a smoke screen.

tablished and different design changes were conceived and tried. In 1922, the rear sight was changed from meters to yards. (Meters were used as all the firing tables and maps used in World War I were in meters.) In 1925, there were modifications to the buffer to ac-commodate the 15% increase in recoil energy due to the adoption of the more powerful 172-grain boattail M1 .30-06 cartridge, but the sight graduation wasn’t changed until 1932. The biggest modification was the retrofitting of Model of 1917s with a reinforcement stirrup under the breech lock cam to strengthen the sides and bottom plate. Different methods were used as were different sizes of brack-ets. Initially, a simple “U” bracket was either riveted or welded just under the breech lock cam. It wasn’t until 1936 that a program was initiated by Rock Island Arsenal to convert all exist-ing Model of 1917 Brownings with all the upgrades. Some of the changes included a large, new-manufactured reinforced bottom plate that extended up the sides of the receiver and riveted in place, a new belt feed lever and the new rear sight in yards for the M1 ball cartridge. A new tripod cradle was also introduced that simplified construction and incorporated a traverse and eleva-tion mechanism as one unit at the rear of the cradle. This improved version of the Model of 1917 was designated

as the M1917A1. (The “Model of” des-ignation for U.S. arms was dropped in 1939 and replaced with the letter “M”.)

WWII

During World War II, more chang-es occurred to the M1917A1 that in-cluded an improved bolt, the bronze end cap and trunnion block replaced by steel, the steam tube assembly was strengthened and the rear leaf sight graduated for the now standard M2 ball cartridge. While almost all Model of 1917s were ultimately converted to the A1 specifications, production resumed from 1936 to 1945 with 55,869 M1917A1s being produced by Rock Is-land Arsenal. The M1917A1 was the final achievement of the heavy water-cooled machine gun. The water-cooled Browning was already considered ob-solete by the end of World War II be-cause of its use of water and weight and was ultimately supplemented with the light weight air-cooled Browning M1919A4, which functioned exactly the same as the M1917A1, and used the same internal parts, except with-out the water jacket and used a light weight M2 tripod. Nevertheless, the M1917A1 was used extensively in both theaters of operation during World War II and continued service throughout Korea and the beginning stages of the Vietnam War. John Browning’s vision of a simple

and reliable machine gun operating system is a testament to his inventive genius. The exact same operating principle was applied to the larger .50 Browning M2 machine gun that is still in use to this day.

Accessories

Accessories for the M1917 con-sisted of a water condensing can, water condensing hose, flash hider, combination tool, M1917 clinometer, M1918 belt filling machine, headspace and timing gage and a ruptured case extractor. Ammo boxes were made of wood in two styles, both slotted to fit on the M1917 cradle. The two styles of wood boxes differ in that the early ones had a straight front while the later ones had a slanted bottom to the front. This was so they would also fit on the short lived M1918 tripod cradle. Accessories for the M1917A1 con-sisted of those accessories mentioned above, albeit with some updating and modifications, as well as several styles of metal ammunition cans, carrying handle, anti-aircraft front sight, anti-aircraft tripod extension, and canvas covers of various types.

M1917 Tripod

Historians familiar with the Brown-ing family of .30 caliber machine guns are acquainted with the versa-tile M1917A1 tripod as used with the M1917A1 Browning water-cooled ma-

Members of the US 315th Machine Gun Battalion, 80th Division, advance through the wood with their Browning Model of 1917 machine gun between La Chalade and Le Claon, Meuse, France October 29, 1918.

1. Make sure the gun is unloaded by checking to make sure there is no belt in the feedway. Open the top cover and cycle the bolt to the rear three times and visually check the chamber and T-slot on the bolt face that no cartridges are present. Return bolt to forward position and close top cover.

2. Drain water from the water jacket by unscrewing the water jacket drain plug.3. Pull the bolt handle back and hold in that position.4. Push in on the driving spring rod protruding from the rear of the back plate

and turn to the right so that the lugs on it will catch in undercut recesses in the bolt. Use a screwdriver or the base (rim) of a cartridge to turn the driving spring rod.

5. Push the bolt handle forward so as to remove the driving spring rod from the hole in the back plate.

6. Pull back on the top cover latch and open the top cover. Then, push the top cover latch forward and lift out the back plate.

7. Pull the bolt handle all the way back and draw the bolt handle out to the right.8. The rear of the bolt will be visible. Grasp it by the top and bottom with the

thumb and forefinger and pull it out of the rear end of the receiver. In order to get a better grip on the bolt, it can be pushed backwards from inside the receiver. Make certain that the driving spring rod is not pointed at the hand or any other part of the body or another person. It must be pointed in a safe direction. The driving spring rod is under tremendous spring tension, and if it should become loose (which can happen) it will be a very dangerous missile.

9. Push in on the trigger pin through the hole located on the right side of the receiver with the point of a bullet. Take hold of the trigger and draw the entire lock frame, barrel extension and barrel unit all the way out to the rear.

10. Holding the barrel tightly, take hold of the lock frame and hold securely while pushing forward on the accelerator with the thumb. This unlocks the lock frame and barrel extension, which allows them to be separated.

11. Unscrew the barrel from the barrel extension. 12. Each complete assembly is now separated from any other assembly.13. To reassemble the weapon, reverse the order.

FIELD-STRIPPING the MODEL 1917 by ASSEMBLIES

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Caliber: .30-06Weight of gun without water: 30 poundsWeight of gun with water: 36.75 poundsWater jacket capacity: 7 pintsLength of gun: 38.5 inchesLength of barrel: 24 inchesMethod of operation: Short recoilOperation: Full automatic onlyCyclic rate of fire: 500 rounds per minuteFeed: 250-round fabric beltWeight of loaded belt: 15.25 poundsFront sights: Protected bladeRear sights: Peep, adjustable leaf graduated to 2,800 metersWeight of tripod: 53 pounds

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chine gun. Rock steady with integral traverse and elevation mechanism, it saw service from its adoption in 1935 through the Korean War. It’s only real drawback to the soldier in the field was its weight. But just as the M1917A1 Browning machine gun was an im-provement of the M1917 Browning machine gun, so too was the M1917A1 tripod an improvement of the M1917 tripod. Approximately 20,000 M1917 tri-

pods were produced in 1917-1918 by two manufacturers: the Nelson Blower & Furnace Company of Boston, and the Crown Cork & Seal Company of Baltimore. The M1917 tripod was an improvement of a tripod originally de-signed and patented by John Browning for his early water-cooled guns that he built in 1901 and in 1910. The basic improvements were lightening the total weight by cutting spaces in the left and right tripod cradle side plates and refin-

ing the elevation mechanism. Unlike the later M1917A1 tri-pod that had a traverse and elevation mechanism incorporated as a single unit at the rear of the cradle, the M1917 only had an elevation adjustment at the rear operated by a large elevation hand wheel marked with graduations to correctly set the elevation of the gun. Traversing was by a different method whereas fine traversing was accom-plished by a “slow motion” worm gear located within the cradle socket above and ahead of the rear leg clamp. Ad-ditionally, the M1917 Browning gun attaches directly to the M1917 tripod cradle, whereas a separate pintle is attached to the gun (either M1917 or M1917A1) that fits into a socket in the head of the M1917A1 tripod. Because of the height of both tri-pods and due to the weight of pulling a loaded belt from ground level through the feedway, which seriously affect-ed the operation of the gun, both the M1917 and the M1917A1 tripods had a bracket on the left side cradle plate that facilitated the attachment of a slotted wood ammunition box. This presented the belt close to the mouth of the feed-way and provided ease of operation of the working parts of the gun as the feed pawl lever is directly attached to the re-coiling bolt. Ordnance Captain S.C. Stanley best described the M1917 tripod by writing, “The Browning Machine Gun Tripod, Model of 1917, consists of four

Three soldiers of Company A, 339th Machine Gun Battalion, 88th Division, take a position on the Rhone-Rhine Canal near Eglingen with their Browning Model of 1917 machine gun on October 29, 1918.

BOTTOM LEFT: Right side view of the M1917 cradle where it attaches to the tripod head. Seen is the large clamping handle to provide gross adjustments of elevation arc and gross elevation marks on the cradle. The gun attaches directly to the cradle on the M1917. Also note the location on the tripod head just forward and above the rear leg attachment clamp of the M1917 traversing worm dial for fine adjustment of the worm gear for traversing. One of the two traverse stops can also be seen by the marked brass traversing dial ring located horizontally on the tripod head. BOTTOM RIGHT: On the left side of the M1917 tripod head can be seen the worm gear traversing unlocking and gross adjustment knob just below the brass traversing dial ring. This disengages the worm gear completely to allow for large traversing movement. Also seen is the left side traversing stop on the brass traversing dial ring and the bracket to hold the ammunition box.

The elevation mechanism at the rear of the M1917 cradle (left) is the only function conducted at this location. Note the large eleva-tion hand wheel has graduation markings for fine adjustment and a lock screw. The M1917A1 (right) has both elevation and traverse mechanisms located at the rear. Mil marks for fine adjustments are located on each adjusting wheel and on the traversing bar.

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major parts; the legs, the socket, the pintle and the cradle. The legs are steel tubing having feet attached to one end and the serrated connections to the other. The socket is of manga-nese bronze and is the part to which the legs are assembled, in which the pintle revolves and in which the slow motion mechanism and stops are at-tached. The traversing clamp is also attached to the socket. The pintle is the center member of the tripod and carries the cradle clamp and travers-ing stop pin. The cradle is attached to the top of the pintle and is used to allow a quick elevation or depression of the gun. It carries at its rear end the elevating mechanism which allows a micrometer adjustment of the gun in elevation. It has a 360 degree free traverse graduated on an adjustable dial at 20 mil intervals for 6,400 mils; a clamping feature on the pintle simi-lar to that used on the British (Vickers) Mark IV Tripod; a slow traversing worm mechanism graduated in 2 mil inter-vals and traversing stops adjustable to a single mil both having a quick throw off to allow for free traverse; an elevat-ing mechanism of 125 mils capacity and graduated to 1 mil on an adjust-able dial; a cradle construction on the pintle which allows a quick elevation or depression of 30 degrees each way with graduation marks at 12-1/2 mil in-tervals. The weight is approximately the same as the British (Vickers) Mark IV Tripod, that is, 50 pounds.”

Captain Stanley continues in a conclusion that, “This tripod was not originally designed for the slow mo-tion mechanism, or for stops. Ac-cordingly the slow motion and stops are not especially efficient, although they are very quick and positive in ac-tion. The tripods have been issued to troops and such reports as have been received show them to be highly satis-factory. No adverse criticism has been received except in regard to the stops and slow motion mechanism.” M1917 Browning machine guns were upgraded and modified to A1

specifications in a rebuild program in the 1920s and ‘30s and an original M1917 Browning machine gun that has not been modified and upgrad-ed is exceptionally rare. So too, the M1917 tripods were also modified and upgraded to the A1 tripod specifica-tions. This often consisted of remov-ing the traversing worm gear adjust-ment wheel mechanism attached to the worm gear and replaced with a tear-shaped cover over the resulting hole. An original, as manufactured, M1917 tripod is an extremely rare col-lectable accessory.

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