Lewis gun

Lewis gun
Lewis gun
Type	Light machine gun
Place of origin	United States (design); United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1914–1953
Used by	See Users
Wars	First World War; Easter Rising; Pancho Villa Expedition; Banana Wars; Finnish Civil War; Irish War of Independence; Irish Civil War; Russian Civil War; Estonian War of Independence; Latvian War of Independence; Polish–Soviet War; Emu War; Chaco War; Spanish Civil War; Second Sino-Japanese War; Second World War; Korean War; Malayan Emergency; 1948 Arab–Israeli War; Vietnam War; Algerian War; Dominican Civil War; Nigerian Civil War; The Troubles;
Production history
Designer	Samuel McClean; Isaac Newton Lewis; Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd.;
Designed	1911
Manufacturer	Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd.; Savage Arms Co.;
Unit cost	£62 in 1918
Produced	1913–1942
No. built	152,050 in World War II ; 50,000 chambered in .30-06
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Mass	28 lb (13 kg)
Length	50.5 in (1,283 mm)
Barrel length	26.5 in (673 mm)
Width	4.5 in (114 mm)
Cartridge	.303 British; .30-06 Springfield; 7.92×57mm Mauser; 7.62×54mmR;
Action	Gas-operated long stroke gas piston, rotating open bolt
Rate of fire	500–600 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity	2,440 ft/s (744 m/s)
Effective firing range	880 yd (805 m)
Maximum firing range	3,500 yd (3,200 m)
Feed system	47- or 97-round pan magazine
Sights	Blade and tangent leaf

The Lewis gun (or Lewis automatic machine gun or Lewis automatic rifle) is a First World War–era light machine gun. Designed privately in the United States though not adopted there, the design was finalised and mass-produced in the United Kingdom, and widely used by troops of the British Empire during the war. It had a distinctive barrel cooling shroud (containing a finned, aluminium breech-to-muzzle heat sink to cool the gun barrel) and top-mounted pan magazine. The Lewis served to the end of the Korean War, and was widely used as an aircraft machine gun during both World Wars, almost always with the cooling shroud removed, as air flow during flight offered sufficient cooling.

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