The First Browning 1919: The Automatic Tank Machine Gun 

Funny how back in those days tank machine guns had sites only good to a 100 yards when pistols would sometimes be sighted out to a 1000 yards.

Forgotten Weapons: informative detailed historical documentation while being entertaining and relaxing. The amount of quality videos he can release is nothing short if astonishing.

Does this mean that somewhere a tank is left machinegun-less?

The idea of the "tube" is mainly so that you can have quick, gross centering of the sight. lining up the front sight in the center of a circle is fairly easy, but in the heat of battle, but having fast acquisition of a sight picture by making sure the rear sight was without shadow (like on a magnified scope) was easier to some decision makers.

Shame it's not bundled with a tank.

Just saying, one of the best channels on RU-vid

1:45 I had never heard of a Colt 1895 potato digger. I had to stop and look it up, and watched a video of it, and honestly, I giggled way too hard watching it.

Well, I mean, it makes sense the ordinance department wouldn’t extensively test it. You don’t ask the Gun God for a new Commandment, then question Him once it’s delivered.

Really glad the guys in Rising Storm added the option swap your M1919's Barrel on the fly... with no gloves or tools.

When you see something made by John Browning you don't ask if it's good or bad, you ask just how awesome is it?

I never saw anything like that. This is a long time ago, but the 48 series tanks had a similar gun. Actually it looked more like the updated models. The thing that stuck in my head all these years was the guns marked 1919 had the recoil spring and rod in the bolt. You could actually take the bolt out with the spring compressed in it. Needless to say, a dangerous thing to do. Good video. Have not thought about that stuff in years.

Tube sights were supposed to make it easier to pick up the front sight from the dark inside of a moving and shaking tank.

You didn't say ameliorate. So much for my morning drinking game.

Lets get this out onto a tray...nice!

I would love to know the story behind the British adoption of the Czech designed BESA machinegun in 7.92mm (now called 8mm Mauser), when we already had Brownings in .303 in service with the RAF. Why did the tankers reject the Browning so hard they adopted a different cartridge instead?

tube-sight.. looks like they took door-hinge and slapped that on the gun?

Love your content, Ian. I would have liked to see more about the internals of this one: the operation of the trigger, sear, etc.

A thought on the tube sight: with the lack of a cheek weld, could the tube help align the aiming eye properly to find the front sight? You can look through an aperture at a much wider angle than a tube...

Once again Ian, you came up with a very cool gun to show us. Keep up the awesome work, love these cool videos.

Another great video. Thanks Ian.. i am going to support this channel

seems like the long tube aperture would help with alignment, with the eye being able to center a circle in a circle fairly precisely and all.

"awesome it works it adopted" what my now mom and dad said when they got me.

Mi nombre es gustavo soy de argentina y mi edad es de 54 años, siempre fui un entusiasta sobre historia y mecanismos de las armas y tenia que buscar en libros o revistas informacion escueta. Yo quiero agradecerte profundamente tu trabajo de instruir y brindar tan excelente material! Didactico y y de una calidad de imagen excepcional! Aprovecho para agradecer en este video no solo x este si no por todo el invalorable material del canal! THANKS!

I own a 1919A4 along with an MG42 and MG3. I always liked the robust design of the 1919A4. You can actually have an out of battery explosion in one of these (like do to bad headspace) and it really doesn't put the gun out of commission. The gun it is designed so strong, usually if that occurs sometimes it just bends the top cover upwards slightly and a few taps with a mallet will get it running again. It is built like a tank, though somewhat heavy for a WWII MG. Barrel changes can be done 'somewhat easy', but they were not designed for barrel changes in combat. The idea with them as opposed to the MG42 was that the barrel is much heavier (thicker) than say an MG42 and acts as sort of a heat sink, add that with the lower rate of fire and the air cooled 1919A4 really had no need for swapping barrels in combat in most situations. The penalty for this was of course weight. Also the 1919A4 was more accurate than the MG42 so there was no need for it to be a 'bullet hose'. Which mean too that its crew didn't need to carry anywhere near as much ammo as with the MG42. I'm not saying the 1919A4 was better than the MG42, but it was a slightly different concept which in the end worked well. I like them both for what they are.

points to morphy for installing the outlet right way up

A historical note to add. Colt's did produce the 1919 Tank Gun in addition to N.E. Westinghouse. An example obtained from the Colt's factory is at the Institute for Military Technology, with hand stamped markings at the front of the RSP. Also, I have photos from Rock Island Arsenal of a 1919A2 with the Colt's 1919 Tank Machine Gun markings and A2 overstamp. Don't think they made many, as with the 1917s.

The tube was fitted to the British gun because you can't hold a teaspoon in an optical sight.

very cool as always

Thanks for sharing correct history on the 1919. 😊

Thank you , Ian .

Still a sweet bit of hardware 100 years later. Timeless!

Video on 1919a4 please! This was a pretty cool gun. Thanks Ian

This gun looks so simple. But fuck it, that's the charm of this gun i think.

I will never get tired of Ian saying "pataytah digger."

John M. Browning is one of my biggest idols.

Cheers again for another great video on a pretty slick gun, Ian. I don't want to bother you but do you think you could do a video on your NZ issue Martini carbine? Thanks again. Respect from New Zealand.

Does the lack of an inspectors mark mean that this particular gun was not delivered to the military?

I remember hearing somewhere that putting a tube to your eye even if it's just your hands ,ahla pretending to be a pirate, does help your eye see more accurately inside of the tube, kinda weird sounding and can't remember where I heard it, but may help explain the tube sight.

If at some time you could do a video about the telescopic sights for pre-WW2 Browning machine guns that would be cool. I have an old Ft. Knox manual for the Browning .50 and it mentions the telescopic sight for the .50 with a drawing of it, but really not much more.

My granddad has one of these sitting in a crate in his attick. I love this country

A tank machine gun doesn't need a water jacket because it's not expected to do prolonged suppressive fire. Its purpose is to kill, not to keep enemy heads down.

Did something happen to the M1 Thompson video?

Please do the history and evolution if the M2 BMG/HMG ... PRETTY PLEASE!

Ian, i would love to see a video about that Marlin 1917 MG, a truly forgotton weapon, no?

the long tube on the tubesight was meant to work like having a smaller peep sight but retained the ability to easily obtain a sight picture

Like always a good vid thank you gun jesus

Cool! Thanks Ian :)

Hell yea gunz at 4 am!

There's actually a 1919E1 Cavalry Pack MG for sale on gunbroker right now. It's a bit of a mutt with some E4 parts, but the overall presentation is still pretty interesting.

I love how short it's over all length is.

Note that the M1919A2 survived into WW2 and the 1st Cavalry Division took a mixture of A2's and A4's to the Pacific

I recently saw a home made fully automatic belt fed 12 gauge. He used an m16 lower and an upper that looked exactly like that. Just a steel rectangle block

Well, I guess I found my legit concealed carry

I love guns. My father was in the 101st airborne. Bad bad bad bad boy! When he was alive you wouldn't poke him in the chest with your finger. I miss him so much.

I'd be interested in the differences between this earlier model of tank machine gun as compared to the ones used in tanks of WW2.

Closer to a million!

That upside down receptacle is driving me crazy!

I read the title as "Automatic anti-tank MG". Well, one can still dream

i imagen the pipe sight is to make it isier to find the front sight. Great video.

Ian, would it be possible for you to do a video on the Winchester 1907? It has a pretty interesting history and it saw some service in military conflicts around the world, used for bank and security transports, and guards for prisons.

4:36 I thought to this day a cook-off is when two people are convinced, they are the better cook as the other, respectively, they cook for a neutral jury and... -you get the idea. As I've heard that sometimes bullets are involved in the described procedure too, but in completely different context, I've learned again something extremely useful from this splendidly informative channel. Thank you so much, Gun Jeezuz!

1:32 well... yes you can put a water cooled Browning machine gun inside a tank. The Australians did it, and thus developed the only pure Australian built tank, complete with a front dong to house the 1919.

Who are these same 8 assholes who give a thumbs down to every video?!?!? RU-vid bots possibly?

18.5" barrel, cool. A scout version of a Browning machine gun.

Do you have anything on Parker Hale aperture sights? My uncle was talking about them once. Some kind of modification for SMLE No 4's or something, but I don't know much about them. A possible video idea for the future, if you come back to England at some point?

More Browning stuffs !

Love your videos. Could you please do the MG 45?

Spent all this time learning about this gun, just to find out he never shoots it in the video.

The primary mount for the M1919 was the Mark VIII Heavy Tank (aka Liberty). The US would provide the automotive items, the British the 6 pounder gun and ammunition and the hull and the French would assemble the beast. It would then be issued to all three armies for the Spring 1919 offensive. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_VIII_tank Presumably the gun would also be used by the M1917 Light Tank - the US version of the Renault FT en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1917_light_tank

Hey, Ian. Any chance on covering the Groza? I've been interested on that rifle for years now and there's very few videos about it. Also, it's kinda forgotten already except in videogames...

They put so many of these, in so many tanks. The AOD (Army Ordinance Dept) was so proud of them, they never put 1 in a tank, when they could put 3. Sometimes forward facing, right next to the driver, so they could have a gunner there. To load, and pull the trigger, while the driver aimed with a tiller, and the machinegun like a meter or 2 to the right of his observation prism. For that extra bit of accuracy.

You've got to love John M. Browning.

It's the cutest little Gun, Machine I've ever seen.

Can we have a look at it's big brother aswell?

Google search: Ford m1918 3 ton tank this gun was to replace the Marlin as its main armament. Cool stuff. America's first indigenous tank adopted for service.

I used to have a 1919 converted to a2 then a4. Sold it a few years ago.

I love how logic back then was to put sights on an infantry firearm that go out to 2000 meters, but put a small barrel on the mounted MG because they didn’t expect longer engagements.

I think that could be hand portable...

Could you try and do a video on the browning anm2 .30 machine gun

I thought it was going to be some massive machine cannon that you put on a tank instead of its main gun

So cool.

Could you cover the later models use in tanks? How did it differ in ww2 versus ww1.

Sweet. You doing a Thompson episode tonight?

I don't understand how the bmg extracts a spent case from the chamber after firing, is there an extractor hook underneath the bolt somewhere?

M1919 to date is still one of my favourite MGs

Good morning!

It speeds up cooling on vehicles while driving forward and the bolt is open

Is the the Browning 1919 still in active service? I seem to recall looking into which military small arm had the longest service life and this was it. I think it was between this, the Browning M2, and the SMLE. I suppose it would also depend on whether or not you classify the various iterations to be the same gun.

i hope we get gavel prices on all of these wonderful examples, please?

I think by this point the ordinance department got the hint that Browning was a living legend That's probably why It was rushed through to adoption If Browning made it it's Probably the best thing since sliced bread

What's happened to your "partnership" with Rock Island or James Julia auction houses or is morphy another that you have added?

Hey Ian what do you know about mosin nagants made by westing house here in the states and sent over to the czar back in ww1 my father has 1 I figured maybe you would know the history behind that deal

I remember this gun from the GI Joe cartoon/toys, this wasn't the MG Roadblock carried?

Here's a cool TRUE story. Back in 2005 I was at an Australian gun show when I saw in the next row of tables over from where I was an American serviceman (US navy was in town that week) pick up half of a torch cut BMG receiver. He yelled out to his friend, then put it down and went to get his friend. I immediately crawled (very fast) under the table between me and the table where this was, saw the other half of the BMG receiver, grabbed both halves, and asked the seller how much - the price? Fifty (50) AU dollars (about 30USD). At first I thought it was just an 1919A4 receiver, but there was something about it that was not the same to the usual 1919A4, so a quick photo on my phone to a BMG expert I knew and he confirmed I had hit the jackpot. That receiver was for a Colt made BMG model MG 38BT, a very rare BMG, with only about one thousand made, mostly for a contract in WW2 for the "Dutch East Indies" (now Timor) www.cornellpubs.com/old-guns/item_desc.php?item_id=4468 It made sense that it was now in Australia as Australianmilitary had just returned from peace keeping duties in East Timor a year or two earlier, and while the patina on this receiver was consistent with having been lying in a jungle since WW2, the torch cut was much more recent. Fortunately who ever cut it was kind enough not to cut through the original markings, and I had it welded back together, installed a 1919A4 rear grip, top cover, barrel and barrel jacket and mounted it on an original WW2 BMG tripod. Not a bad find, right up there with my other cool WW2 finds such as the $150 1928A1 TSMG, the $200 Colt BMG ANM2 30cal and the $50 British BMG 303cal Mk ll. Yes there is WW2 "junk" always surfacing in Australia, have a look at this video, filthy Americans leaving all their rubbish behind in Australiain WW2, for us to clean up 50 years later m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-s-nYNVDeaVw.html

Sweet

The Death Wish 3 gun!!! I'd be more excited but I was killed in Death Wish 3.

Are we all gonna sit here and pretend like that wall socket isn't installed upside down?

this looks more like the pictures of the 1918 browning.

It's nice to see things get through without a bunch of red tape and politics involved.

I would be nice if it featured the chieftain.