Colt Light Aircraft Machine Gun
1941
MG40 - 2
(Air-cooled)
Rear seat Dauntless gunner
General
Description: Colt Light Aircraft Machine Gun
The
Colt Light Aircraft Machine Gun MG40-2 is an designed for airplane
use and is capable of great rapidity of fire.
The gun is of a special light
construction and can be fed with cartridges from the left-hand or
the right-hand side as may be desired, the change from one hand to
the other being effected by a simple re-positioning of some of the
component parts taking very little time to carry out.
The gun is supplied in two types;
the Flexible (for observer) type is provided with a back plate
having hand grips and a hand trigger, whereas the Fixed or Wing type
is provided with a black plate without the hand grips. There is a
steel jacket which envelopes the barrel and to which, in case of the
Flexible gun, sights are attached. At the front end of the barrel
jacket is a muzzle attachment, a hole in the rear of which provides
a bearing for the barrel.
The recoil buffer in both the Flexible gun and
the Fixed or Wing gun is of the horizontal type.
The Flexible type gun is provided with a
retracting slide which makes connection with the bolt by means of a
stud in the side of the bolt.
The Fixed or Wing type gun is provided with an
operating slide which makes connection with the bolt by means of a
stud in the bolt. Provision is made for attaching a cable as to
permit remote control. Incorporated in the operating slide is a
feature whereby the slide when hand operating can be drawn back to
its full extent and the bolt retained there by returning the slide
handle to the right or left.
The cover is provided with a fitting at its front
end which enables it to remain open in an one of three positions.
This is useful when in a fight if it should be desired to get access
to the gun's mechanism in order to remove a faulty cartridge. The
arrangement provided prevents the cover from being blown down upon
the operator's hand and in order to close the cover, it is only
necessary to exert a quick pull upon it.
Provision is made on the side plates of guns to
receive a type of trigger motor to suit the mechanical synchronizing
gear, thus enabling the Fixed type of gun to be fired through the
plane of propeller rotation. The function of the synchronizing gear
is to time properly the fire of the gun in relation to the position
of the rotating propeller blades. The trigger motor may be mounted
on right-hand side or left-hand side of gun as may be desired and to
suit this adaptable feature the sear in bolt mechanism of the gun
can be assembled right-hand or left-hand.
Principle of
Operation of the Colt Machine Gun
The force of recoil is utilized to reload and
fire the gun automatically as long as ammunition is supplied and the
trigger is pressed.
Each time a cartridge is fired the recoil carries
the barrel backwards a short distance. This motion unlocks the bolt
from the barrel extension and throws the bolt to the rear against
the action of a spring. As the bolt goes back, it extracts the empty
cartridge from the chamber and at the same time draws a live
cartridge from the links.
The driving spring then returns the bolt and
barrel to the forward position, loads the cartridge into the barrel
eject the empty cartridge case, locks the bolt to the barrel
extension and, if pressure is maintained upon the trigger, the
cartridge is fired.
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