As America’s first “light machine gun,” the Model 1909 Benet-Mercie traded sustained fire for portability, fulfilling an important role, but it’s unreliability led troops to nickname it ...

A pair of engineers working for Hotchkiss ... medium machine gun, M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, and other European weapons like the French Chauchat. Still, the Benét-Mercié M1909’s ...