The McCrudden light machine rifle is a light machine gun of Australian origin.[1]
History[]
The McCrudden light machine rifle was invented by ex-Australian serviceman John McCrudden following his discharge from the First Australian Imperial Force in 1917.
McCrudden's first hand-built prototype was believed to have been manufactured at an engineering workshop in Randwick, Sydney. McCrudden and his guns traveled from Sydney to Jervis Bay for an audience with Commodore J S Dumaresq and Lt Cmdr Burgh. He was received favorably and recommendations were made that he should take the gun to England for assessment by the British War Office, Dumaresq forwarding a favorable report in light of the Navy’s pending trials to select a weapon to replace the Lewis Gun. Following Dumaresq’s advice McCrudden took his designs to England where he had additional weapons made by Kingsway Manufacturing Company Ltd in London.
Overview[]
According to a press report in the Daily Telegraph of August 6, 1921 McCrudden alleged that his gun was foolproof, with only seven moving parts and had the advantage of having a variable rate of fire adjustable to ‘fire one or 800 rounds per minute as easily as one can operate a throttle’. In addition the gun could also be easily converted to water cooling for sustained fire.
Both the Mk I and the later Mk II suffered chronic misfeeds due to the internal design of the gun and the location of the magazine at the side of the gun.