ABOUT MACHINE GUNS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 16 January 1915, Page 2

ABOUT MACHINE GUNS.

« Every day in the newspapers there crop up incidents dealing with the effect of machine gun fire and enormous numbers of these weapons are doing their deadly work to-day. In the British army the machine gun is the Maxin ; the i< rench 'use the Hoitchkiss or Puteaux; Austriaus employ the Scliwarloso; and Germans the .Maxim. In all cases machine guns are attached to the iniantry forces, usually to the proportion of two guns per battalion, or 1000 men. These guns fire rifle cartridges at immeuse speed by mechanical means, and usually the kick or reooil of tflie gun is used for reloading purposes. It is interesting to note that in tlie test of 42 British first-class shots engaged against a. machine gun, each firing at the same target for one minute the gun discharged 228 rounds and made sixtynine hits; the forty-two marksmen discharged 408 rounds and made o2 hits.