Types of Anti-Aircraft Mounts.
The Ordnance Department furnishes no anti-aircraft mount, but improvised mounts can be easily made.
BROWNING MACHINE GUN—MODEL 1917.
The Browning Machine Gun, Model 1917, is water-cooled and is chambered for caliber .30 U. S. Standard Rifle Ammunition. The gun is classed as a heavy water-cooled gun, recoil operative and belt fed.
The water jacket holds about 7 pints of water and is perfectly smooth on its interior. The steam escape tube is in the top of the water jacket, and is made up of two tubes. They slide one upon the other, the outer one being a little shorter than the inner one. This allows the outer tube to slide toward either end and uncover the highest steam escape hole. The force of recoil is utilized to perform the various mechanical operations of feeding in the cartridges, loading, cocking, firing the gun and ejecting the empty shells through the bottom.
The several cams of the gun make each moving part of the gun have a positive motion.
The feed belt is made of woven fabric and has no metal parts to cause feed jams and to add extra weight to the piece. Also the metallic disintegrating links are used with the aeroplane gun. The fibre belt usually contains from 250 to 500 rounds. The metallic belts can be made to contain any number of rounds desired.
The gun has very few screws and springs. It is composed of about forty parts which may be taken down in the field. There are a few parts which can be assembled incorrectly and it cannot be determined that they are so assembled until the gun is ready to be put into action. At this point the gunner will find that the gun will not operate, therefore great care should and must be used in the study of a quick and positive assembling.
The weight of this gun is about 30 pounds without water. This weight makes it necessary to use the gun on a tripod or other suitable mount.
General Data.