Hotchkiss Model 1909 (Mle 1909 / Benet-Mercie)

History

The design of the M1909 stems from a new French requirement to equip ground forces with "light" automatic weapons. At the time, field machine guns were primarily heavy equipment, requiring the deployment of multiple crews and wheeled heavy mounts to manage their location and function. The resulting product became the "Hotchkiss M1909 Machine Gun" and was identical to the previous Hotchkiss product, except for the newly implemented locking mechanism.

The base M1909 designation was also known as "Mle 09", but was also nicknamed "Bennett-Macy" for its new locking system designed by Lawrence Bennett and Henry Macy. The Hotchkiss Corporation was founded in France in 1867 by American Benjamin B. Hotchkiss and is known for its contributions to the fields of military weapons and civilian vehicles.

The design of the weapon is conventional, with an air-cooled barrel. A rather interesting attempt at ergonomics, the shoulder rest is built directly into the pistol grip. The handle is located behind a well-protected trigger group, which is connected to a metal receiver that contains the necessary internal functions of the weapon. The gas cylinder is mounted under the barrel assembly, which uses the familiar Hotchkiss-style fins.

The gun was originally fed from a 30-round bar magazine and was loaded with French 8mm Lebel cartridges. The rate of fire is about 400 rounds per minute. The system has a total weight of 27 pounds and a barrel length of 49 inches and a barrel length of 25 inches.

Despite design attempts, the M1909 proved too "heavy" to successfully perform its intended light machine gun role, so the weapon was primarily used as a vehicle or airborne weapon, or as a defense system.

In addition to serving in the French army, the M1909 found a home in the stockpiles of overseas armies, including Austria-Hungary, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. In the United Kingdom, the M1909 Known as "Gun, Machine, Hotchkiss Mark I", produced by Enfield (for the UK .303 cartridge) and in the US as "Machine Rifle, Benet-Mercie, Calibre 30 M1909". (Of course for .30 -06 Springfield cartridge). For the former, the gun was used with the established Vickers and Lewis brands, while for the latter, the gun replaced what was common during the Civil War era and beyond.

Production of the M1909 for the US Army was undertaken by Colt and Springfield Armory.

The M1909 was already available in limited quantities during the First World War (1914-1918) and continued to be used throughout the conflict, until finally serving limited service during World War II (1939-1945). At this point, the weapon is certainly an outdated, if still lethal, machine gun design. Far from being the perfect weapon, the M1909 has been in the inventory of several armies around the world for decades since its introduction. Blockages are common, as are damaged parts. For some of the participating armies mentioned, the M1909 was the "first taste" of automatic machine gun fire.

Modifications to this system ended up using ribbon cartridges in the design, rather than the limited bar magazines that were originally used.

Specification

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