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Project Lightening- the Lewis kicks ass!


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I you haven't seen it, check out the series of videos put on by a collaboration between Forgotten Weapons and C&Rsenal called Project LIghtening. They compare several prominent WW I light machine guns and when the dust has settled, the Lewis Gun comes out at the best of the bunch (no surprise there, LOL.)

 

Good video and a lot of shooting with some guns you may not see too often.

 

Here's episode 1:

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  • 5 months later...
Binge watched almost all the episodes and my battery died.......Finally finished them up, very informative. Enjoyed the series. Go Lewis gun! Edited by Baltimoreed11754
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DINk,

Very interesting, thanks for posting.

Interesting the BAR didn't do better, but tickled that the Lewis came out on top.

My Lewis is very popular with shooters and spectators alike. One of the ladies stopped firing for a moment to inquire if it was possible to miss with Lewis.

Jim C

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I'm sure the later version of the BAR with the bipod would have done better, but they wanted to keep it in correct WW I configuration, which made it difficult to actually hit anything with it. Putting it up against a Lewis on a bipod was just silly.

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DINK,

Going by memory, when the Lewis gun arrived at the front it was naked. No bipod, sling, nor carrying handle.

I too lazy to look it up but I think the Lewis fought most of WW1 without the bipod. When Doug S signs on he will know by memory.

But imagine the result if they used the Lewis with out the bipod in the test.

The BAR came with a bipod in WW2 and most soldiers threw them away. Go figure.

I will say this, the BAR is a beast of a firearm and it required a hell of a tough soldier to be a BAR man.

If they could have had Steve McQueen or Kirby shoot the BAR it would have come in first.

Jim C

PS,-- I wonder if any of them knew it was not necessary to remove the BAR bolt to replace the firing pin and extractor.

Edited by jim c 351
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Actually the manly men carried and maintained Chauchats!

I don't recall any photos of a Lewis being used without a bipod or some sort of mount? The US Savage has a ring machined in specifically for mounting and AFAIK started life with a bipod. That said, resting a Lewis on a steady rest like a rock is much safer than setting a BAR down on the gas tube the same way. All of them have their shortfalls depending on the circumstances. If I were runnin' and gunnin' the Madsen might be the best pick with it's bipod, even though it's not that sturdy. The Lewis carry handle was adopted later for sure. I've got some slings, but I don't think they are dated. The US Lewis had no provision for a sling, but it's possible since mine's a Navy contract it wasn't done that way since it would never make it's way into a marching situation? Or you just shouldered it?

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I just got done watching "They shall not grow old" and they had several shots of Lewis Guns. They had bipods as far as I could tell, but when they were being carried, they were just slung over the shoulder and toted like any other cumbersome load.

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