One of several interesting automatic individual weapon designs from World War I, the Winchester Machine Rifle was a concept for a dual-purpose anti-observation-balloon/ground weapon that featured several concepts that, for better or worse, were definitely ahead of their time. Matthew Moss of the Historical Firearms Blog posted an excellent overview of the Winchester Machine Rifle, both there and on WarIsBoring:

Burton’s machine rifle used a blowback action and fired from an open bolt. The gun weighed 10 lbs. (4.5 kg) and its overall length was 45.5 inches (116 cm), making it slightly shorter and significantly lighter than the later Browning Automatic Rifle. It was select fire with a cyclic rate on automatic of 800 rpm. It fed from two vertical 40-round (and possibly 25-round) magazines which fitted into the receiver at a 60° angle. This allows for an uninterrupted sight picture along the barrel. Once the first (right-hand) magazine had been expended the other was apparently slid into position. Exactly how this was accomplished is unclear from the photographs.

The weapon had a number of interesting features: it was ambidextrous with its charging handle located beneath the receiver and it ejected spent cases downwards – much like a Browning SA-22. The weapon’s barrel was finned to aid cooling and the fore stock had a finger groove as well as a ring mount to attach it to the fuselage of an airplane.Burton’s Machine Rifle also had an in-line stock, a tubular receiver, its trigger group integrated with the pistol grip, raised sights (with the rear sights folding), and an interchangeable barrel to allow the weapon’s role to be switched from air to ground specialties. A ‘ground’ barrel was also provided which had an additional bayonet lug (see image #2). When considering these features and the weapon’s ammunition some have described Burton’s machine rifle as one of the first true assault rifles.

As Matt notes, the Winchester Machine Rifle could be considered one of the world’s first assault rifles. However, it also could be considered a predecessor to the submachine gun, as it was an open-bolt blowback weapon very similar in design to many later submachine guns like the Australian Owen. The .345 Winchester Machine Rifle round, though, was a true intermediate round, firing a 150, 173, or 189 grain spitzer projectile at muzzle velocities probably between 1,800 and 2,100 ft/s.

Although its primary design purpose was anti-balloon operations, the rifle also accepted barrels sporting bayonet lugs, indicating that the creators also considered its use by ground troops as well as aviators.

In his article, Matt admitted he didn’tknow the location of the Winchester Machine Rifle prototype, but in fact the sole known rifle made is located at the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum in Cody, Wyoming. If any of our readers are ever in that area, be sure to stop by and take a look!

More information on the Winchester Machine Rifle can be found in this Small Arms Review article by Jim Ballou.