Encyclopedia - Colt-Browning Gun
The 1895/1914 Colt-Browning 0.30-inch
machine gun
was initially adopted by the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) at the start of
World War I pending delivery of other weapons - including the
Browning M1917.
In the event the Colt-Browning gun saw relatively little service with the AEF, but was instead deployed in modified form for aircraft use as the Marlin Gun.
The Colt-Browning, which weighed a little over 16kg, had a theoretical cyclic belt-fed firing rate of 500 rounds per minute. It is regarded as the first successful gas operated machine gun, designed by John Moses Browning and offered to the Colt company towards the close of 1890.
Originally designed to use 0.30-inch Krag Jorgenson cartridges the gun was modified in 1914 and chambered for 0.30/60 cartridges. Italy purchased a number of Colt-Browning 1895/1914 guns in 6.5mm calibre for use by its army as a supplement to the home-grown Fiat-Revelli gun.
A 'Tracer' was a phosphorescent machine-gun bullet which glowed in flight, indicating course as an aid to artillery.
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