Tag: ARMAX Journal

The Mysterious Burton Machine Rifle

In a change of pace to our usual videos Matt is joined by Danny Michael, curator of the Cody Firearms Museum, to discuss a mysterious rifle which has fascinated us for years. The Burton Machine Rifle, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting rifles in the Cody Firearms Museum’s incredible collection. Developed in 1916-17 at Winchester, likely by engineer Frank Burton, the rifle incorporates a plethora of advanced features which have led it to often be christened the first American assault rifle.

Burton Machine Rifle (Cody Firearms Museum)

In 2018, Danny and I examined the rifle and attempted to disassemble it. While we learnt a great deal from our examination we were unable to disassemble the rifle fully. The prototype is exquisitely made with fine machining and deep blueing – far from an in-the-white prototype we often see. Sadly, we were unable to remove what we believe to be the spring assembly housing, to remove the rifle’s bolt.

The Burton Machine Rifle disassembled, c.2018 (Danny Michael)

It is not just the weapon’s design which is mysterious. With little to no primary source paper trail it is difficult to trace the rifle’s history beyond the date of its manufacture, its technical features and some tantalising potential references to the rifle.

We discus the rifle, our own history with it and the importance of historiography and how we can trace what we know about the rifle back through secondary sources written about it. The Cody Firearms Museum is currently raising funds to reprint early editions of the ARMAX journal – which contains the very first article published about the Burton Machine Rifle. In our conversation Danny eloquently explains the importance of this project and how you can support it.

Comparison: left – original edition of ARMAX rifle – planned layout of the reprint (Helios Publishing/ARMAX)

Here’s some information on the planned reprint from ARMAX:

“Armax was launched by former CFM Curator Herbert G. Houze in 1987, and comprised nine issues spread across six volumes, published from 1987 to 1996.  These first six volumes contained a lot of important original research, but, unfortunately, these original issues are hard to find today, and often expensive. We only know of a few complete sets that are available to researchers. To remedy this state of affairs, the Cody Firearms Museum and Helios House Press plan to ‘remaster’ and reprint the original six volumes of Armax. The layout, illustrations, and design have been updated to make the legacy material more accessible to modern researchers and enthusiasts. These will be beautiful, functional publications printed on high-quality paper in full color.”

Find out more and pre-order the reprinted editions here.

First Look: The Newly Relaunched ARMAX Journal of Contemporary Arms

This month sees the relaunch of the ARMAX: The Journal of Contemporary Arms, the academic journal of the Cody Firearms Museum. The first edition of the new ARMAX covers everything from Dutch Uzis to the EM2 in Malaya, from East German AK-74s to a CIA assassination pistol.

I’m especially excited about the new journal as it contains one of my first published journal articles, it’s titled ‘The Winchester Repeating Arms Company’s Exports to Foreign Powers During the First World War’. The article leverages the research I undertook while a research fellow at the Cody Firearms Museum a couple of years ago. It examines the work of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company during the First World War. Specifically this article explore the breadth and variety of the work done for the Entente powers. I cover everything from the Russian contract Model 1895 lever-action rifles to the air-service self-loading rifles and of course the British Pattern 1914 rifle.

My advanced copy arrived just a day or two ago and I’m so pleased to see my research in print alongside some fantastically interesting work from friends and colleagues. Below are some photos of the journal and above is a first look video.

If you’re interested in up-to-the-minute small arms research then I highly recommend checking out the relaunched ARMAX journal, I’m very excited to see the next edition. Find out more about the journal and read the abstract for my article here.

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