M1 Wheeled Mount 3

A new machine-gun mount known as the infantry caliber .30 Machine Gun Mount is under going a service test at The Infantry School Ft. Benning, Ga. This mount consists of a metal T-base fitted with detachable, rubber-tired, wire wheels. On the cross members of the T-base is a rack in which five boxes of ammunition can be strapped, while on the front end of the longitudinal member is a rack that will hold one box of ammunition and one water box. Thus the load carried on the mount consists of the machine gun, tripod, six boxes of ammunition, and one box of water. Adjustable clamps that allow the tripod to be quickly removed, hold it securley attached to the T-base. The gun is mounted in the firing position. The entire mount is drawn as a trailer to the model M-2 cart or the present ammunition cart. It can also be drawn by hand by means of a drawbar.

The underlying idea in the development of this mount was to overcome three basic defects of the present equipment. These are: (a) Excessive weight of equipment. (b) Lack of satisfactory appliance for anti-aircraft fire, which is of the utmost importance in modern machine-gunnery. (c) lack of stability of mount when the gun is used on indirect laying mission without a T-base, and the difficulty of carrying a T-base under conditions of mobile warfare.

There was a need for anti-aircraft appliance that would permit rapidly permit converting the gun from a ground firing position without reducing the efficiency of the gun and tripod when firing on ground targets.

Tests of this mount made by the 29th Infantry prove that the mobility of the mount when hand-drawn is satisfactory; two men can pull the loaded mount over level terrain without excessive fatigue. The weight of the mount with the full load is distributed over the axle, and the men who handle the drawbar bear very little weight. With the entire squad on the emergency rope the mount can be moved up very steep slopes without excessive fatigue to anyone.

Also, the new mount carries one box of ammunition more than the present gun cart. However it carries one box of water less. The present plan for squad transportation calls for the gun cart now used to be replaced with the all-Infantry or Model M-2 cart, and the new mount to be attached as a trailer. All of the squad equipment, except the gun, tripod, and ammunition formerly carried on the gun cart, is packed in this new cart Eight additional boxes of ammunition and one box of water are also carried in this cart. This is a very important feature of the new equipment, as the eight boxes of ammunition carried on the M-2 cart are over and above the amount now prescribed for a machine gun squad. The present allowances is sixteen boxes, or 4,000 rounds, while the new equipment gives us twenty-four boxes, or 6,000 rounds.