The Lewis Machine Gun, with its large cylindrical jacket surrounding the barrel and distinctive top-mounted pan magazine, is one of the most recognizable military arms of all time.

Despite being best know for its use in British service, the Lewis light machine gun was also adapted for use by the U.S. as well. Savage, a U.S. arms manufacturer, sought to covert the design from ...

Cartridges were loaded into large pan magazines, the large metallic disks that sat just in front of the gun’s rear sight. The magazines came in two sizes, a thin 47-round or bulkier 97-round size.

With its top-mounted pan magazine the Pulemyot Degtyaryova Pekhotny (Degtyaryov’s infantry machine gun)—better known as the DP-28—looked archaic but it proved to be a very efficient design ...