Small Arms of WWI Primer 085: Winchester 1910
Another episode up!
Comments (15)
My thought on choosing to take the 1910 for balloon defense is that Henri didn't get to choose. He had to use what he had.
By coincidence I've just found a 1908 Sears, Roebuck catalogue that advertises the 1907 as "powerful enough for the largest game" (?!) Price was $18.90. In comparison a Winchester 1894 in 30.30 was $15.53. I can see why they didn't sell many! (mind you a sporterised Vetterli plus 20 free cartridges was only $7.00. No wonder they were called the "poor mans bear gun".
In 1908, smokeless was still new enough that there were likely many who were so used to the BP cleaning ritual that they'd rather have the Vetterli [which was easily as powerful as any of the 1907's chamberings.] All 22lr was still BP [or semi-smokeless at best] at that time, so plenty of kids saving up for their first "real" gun who'd be able to scrape together the $7 for the surplus V & use it to keep collecting pelts against getting the VV [or W for you heathen radical scribes] in thutty-thutty... ;-)
FIRST ITEM: If they were only loading nine rounds, it was possibly due to difficulty of getting a fully loaded mag to lock in with the bolt forward. The ammo stack has to compress slightly against to bottom of the bolt before your reach the mag catch. 28 in a 30 round AR mag is popular for this reason, and tactical swap outs with a fully loaded Glock mag are difficult for this reason. Any fiddling you can eliminate while trying to operate a biplate would be a good thing. SECOND ITEM: The San Diego Air & Space Museum has a aviation Maxim pattern (Vickers?) in 11mm Gras that was made for the anti-balloon/anti-Zeppelin role. THIRD ITEM: 1907 in .45 ACP with 1911 mags? Yep. I'd buy it. :)
Suspect you'd have to bump the power & pressure a bit [.45 Remington-Thompson maybe?] to get that long recoil action to function correctly... BTW, the reason for the MG in 11mm Gras is that was about the smallest round that had a decent sized incendiary payload, and the French already had a bunch of old guns in that chambering [& probably some old ammo laying around too] to use with them. Since balloons & zepplins all used hydrogen for lift [helium still being largely a rare American commodity during WW1 & for many years thereafter], incendiary rounds were the best method of attack..
Hello very happy to see this video series, I have a winchester 1910 first year production with British proof marks on it and a shotgun style rail attached to the barrel. wilI email some pics
Post'em to a pic-server and echo the link here? I'm sure there's lots of C&Rsenists who'd love to check'em out! :t [
About anti-balloon air tactics--these balloons were probably protected by anti aircraft guns on the ground, maybe attacking from above and not in view of the observer was the more effective way to go? By the way, was any of that French 351 ammo left over afterwards?
Loved the episode and the expanded, what ifs. You didn't mention the dates for the actual pilot stories. I assume they were from early in the war, 1915? Can you provide approximate dates? Just curious.
The articles were not dated but the magazines were. They are listed in the description
Excellent as expected and educational as well!
This was a super fun episode. I think Othias is on to something with the circular balloon recoil dodge.
I have a model 1910. Loved the comment about the BIG .401 bore. I think that every time I look at it
It's crazy what ended up in the Great War because "It's available RIGHT NOW!"
Fix... Bayonets! This post will include clever comments later. I'm supposed to be working!