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The German mp43 rifle is recognized as the originator of the assault rifle, but there is an automatic rifle that fully meets the characteristics of the assault rifle that appeared 26 years earlier than the mp43, it was the first assault rifle in the history of firearms, but because the design concept was too advanced, the final fate was hidden in the museum -
The "first" assault rifle?
Some researchers believe that the Burton M1917 automatic rifle was an early assault rifle, and even the first assault rifle in the United States. Conrad F. Schreier, in the Cordy Firearms Museum magazine, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1990, argued that the Burton rifle, although designed in 1916, met almost all modern criteria for defining the concept of assault rifles, a full 26 years ahead of the appearance of the German mp43 rifle, which is recognized as the originator of assault rifles, and thus fully qualified as the first assault rifle.
An enlarged version of the 11mm Vickers-Colt air machine gun used by the Allies
According to the U.S. definition of assault rifles, such weapons should have 3 major characteristics, that is, the use of straight stocks, shoulder-to-shoulder shooting, the choice of firing method, and the use of intermediate power bullets. The first point is indisputable, and the second point can be counted as consistent if it were judged by Eric Nestor on the action of the two triggers. This crucial third point also fully supports the standard for assault rifles, as the Burton Automatic rifle uses a completely new cartridge.
Burton developed several different calibers of ammunition for his Winchester M1905 and M1907 semi-automatic rifles, from left to right, 0.35 inches wsl, 0.32 inches wsl, 0.351 inches wsl, 0.401 inches wsl, all blunt-headed semi-protruding straight-barreled bullets
The Burton Automatic Rifle fires a previously unused 0.345-inch wsl cartridge, which was an improvement over the .351-inch wsl cartridge used in the 1907 Winchester 1907 semi-automatic rifle, also designed by Burton, or the short for "Winchester Automatic Loading", which is a typical intermediate-power bullet. Burton removed the protrusion of the 0.351-inch wsl shell shell, expanded the caliber, and replaced it with a pointed warhead to accommodate the propellant, and the improved bullet was called 0.345-inch wsl, the shell was 34.9mm long, the shell material was brass, and the amount of propellant was 1.17g. The matching incendiary warhead is made of white copper quilt armor, with a diameter of 8.84mm, a mass of 11.2g, and an initial velocity of 563.6m/s, and the full-bullet shape is very similar to the modern Hornadi 0.450-inch "Jungle Cobra" bullet. Incendiary warheads fired from this .345-inch automatic rifle would be devastating to enemy balloons or airships. Compared to the prototype, the size and mass of the 0.345-inch wsl cartridge have been limited, but it is still a medium-power bullet, and it can be used smoothly on free bolt automatic weapons such as the Burton rifle.
The Burton automatic rifle weighed 4.54 kg and was 1156 mm long, which was lighter and shorter than the Browning automatic rifle, which was later finalized, and was lighter than the Lewis machine gun commonly used on aircraft at the time. Its rate of fire is 800 rounds per minute, although it adopts the free bolt automatic principle, but due to the moderate power of the bullet, coupled with the combination of straight stock and small grip to better offset the muzzle jump, the shooting accuracy should be higher than the Browning automatic rifle. Of course, compared with modern assault rifles, the Burton automatic rifle is on the long and heavy side, especially its barrel is 635mm long, and few assault rifles have such a long barrel, which is obviously not convenient enough to enter and exit in fortifications and vehicles.
The 0.345-inch wsl cartridge used in the Burton automatic rifle is fairly rare, with and there are two types of whether the bottom is marked or not. The picture on the left shows the modern replica of the bottom of the bullet
Too ahead of time or not?
The burton automatic rifle's design reveals that its concept and structure were in many ways superior to that of contemporaneous weapons, with many features that seemed very advanced and unusual at the time, some of which were widely accepted by automatic weapons designers decades later, such as replaceable barrels and small grip components that could be removed as a whole along with the launch mechanism, which can be said to be a pioneer in the application of the concept of weapon modularity. In addition, Burton adopted a number of special designs, including firing pin insurance, which were not commonly used in automatic weapons until the 1950s. Therefore, some researchers jokingly claim that this rifle seems to have been invented by time travelers.
A 11 mm French Glass rifle cartridge fired by the Vickers-Colt air machine gun
For his part, Frank Burton himself should have had some special consideration for the weapon, seemingly anticipating that future wars would require a different rifle. In particular, he used the rare term "machine rifle" in the gun's designation, neither the Browning m1918's "automatic rifle" nor the "machine gun" in which it was actually positioned.
If the Burton rifle had been adopted by the military, it might have been like the Vera Perosa M1915 submachine gun, not only creating an entirely new range of firearms, but also a series of spin-offs. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and for the next half century it was left behind a cabinet at winchester, becoming a "forgotten weapon" for the next half century. It is also a pity that After World War I, Burton, who was still serving in Winchester, did not design military weapons. However, there are still several successful works, such as burton and others co-designed the .22-inch caliber M52 target rifle, which lasted until the 1980s, in 1934 he also developed the .22-inch caliber M69 non-automatic rifle, and the design team led by him developed Winchester's first two-way flying saucer shotgun, the M21, which was owned by stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Gary Cooper.
Eduard Rickenbach, the American "ace" pilot of World War I, shot down 21 German aircraft and 5 observation balloons, and most of his record was achieved by flying the French-made Spad s.xiii biplane reconnaissance aircraft, which was equipped with two forward-firing 7.7mm Vickers machine guns
The biggest problem with the Burton automatic rifle was that it was not born at the right time, and by the time it was designed, there were other better solutions to deal with balloons and airships. In July 1917, the British began to use mk III incendiary bombs equipped with white phosphorus warheads invented by Buckingham on aircraft guns, and the phosphorus inside the warhead was ignited from the small hole in the armor when fired, which had a good burning effect on the target. At the same time, constantin nisco Koli hydraulic firearm synchronous firing device was also invented, so that the machine gun's warhead could be safely passed through the propeller, allowing the aircraft to mount the machine gun in the nose position, without the need for special air observers to operate the roundabout machine gun located at the rear of the fuselage. Compared with the British Vickers and German Maxim 08 air machine guns that use bullet belts to feed and fire high-power rifle cartridges, the Fire Sustainability and Warhead Kinetic Energy of the Burton Automatic Rifle are obviously too limited, so there is no chance of victory on the battlefield.
Burton himself had been working at Winchester, and was shown to discuss issues with Browning and other colleagues
Although the Burton automatic rifle was tested at the Springfield Arsenal, test records have been lost and no test results have been found. Perhaps it was too advanced, and the tactics used by the army at the time did not show its merits. In short, the military did not adopt this weapon in the end. The Burton rifle, found at Winchester, is the only surviving prototype gun known. Later, the survivor was sent to the Cody Firearms Museum in Wyoming, where it became an exhibit.
The Winchester 0.22-inch caliber M52 rifle, co-designed by Burton and Johnson after the war
Editor: Liu Lanfang
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