garys39 Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 Found this box at the caboot sale this morning, label to the front says "LEWIS GUN AMMn", any ideas, it measures 8 3/4"x 8 3/4" x 6" deep, is this big enough to hold 2x Lewis Gun drums, it obviously bolted to a vehicle or something ? (Early tank or Armoured car). It has the appearance of 1914/18 or early 1920s manufacture about it ? Regards Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 Nice find! How much? Any dates on it? Lewis gun did soldier on till about 1943. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveo578 Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 Difficult to give a snap answer -most machine gun corps WW1 tanks-armoured cars tended to have Hotchkiss or Vickers machine guns. Only MKIVs used the Lewis until replaced by Hotchkiss -for some reason the Lewis was tried in place of the Hotchkiss and then reverted to the Hotchkiss. I can't see any advantage or disadvantage of either type- perhaps just a production bottle neck. Some A/Cs in the middle east in the inter war period, especially those operated by RAF used ring mounted Lewis- but there are no signs of externally mounted ready use boxes, but that doesn't rule it out. It could be a ready use locker for a naval- or armed merchant vessel which used Lewis until the end of WW2 -although many were US calibre 30-06in. or a stretch it could be a RAF equipment for air field defence. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rlangham Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 The problem with the Lewis was it's bulkiness compared to the Hotchkiss, and the vulnerability of it's cooling jacket and fins to damage. There was also something to do with the cooling system, designed to suck cool air in and over the barrel through the jacket, in fact blowing more hot gas into the machine gunner's face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 i cant answer your question, but great box though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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