Lewis light machinegun
Official wording
Lewis, light machinegun (American or British manufacture), cal.’s .303 or .30.
What this entry requires
- ATF REQUIRESMade by one of the makers ATF names: “(American or British manufacture)”
- INFOATF states no date; production was about 1913–1942.
- INFOStill an NFA firearm; only registered examples transfer, with ATF approval (26 U.S.C. 5812, 5861).
Editorial facts · Our research
- Country
United KingdomBasis: the ATF wording - Manufacturer
- BSA; Savage ArmsBasis: the ATF wording
- Type
- MachinegunBasis: the ATF wording
- Action
- Select-fire / autoBasis: the ATF wording
- Caliber
- .303 British, .30Basis: the ATF wording
- Made
- 1913–1942production; ATF states no dateBasis: outside reference ¹
- Service
- Military
Source
- Official wording
- ATF P 5300.11, April 2025 edition · Section IV · PDF p. 86 ↗ · ATF original ↗
- Entries
- 1 line
- Verbatim check
- Checked against the PDF text before every release
- Editorial facts
- Confidence: High · Last revised 18 October 2026 (Evidence pass) · How we rate confidence
- References
- 1. Wikipedia, “Lewis gun” ↗, years: Wikipedia: infobox production date 1913–1942
- Fact tags
- ATF the ATF wording states it.
- REF ¹ an outside reference supports it; the number points to the list of references.
- ESTIMATE an approximate or indirect reading, for example the production range of the base model.
- NO CITATION we haven’t attached a reference for this fact; it’s our editorial reading, not ATF’s.
- Source checked
- 20 October 2026: ATF’s page still lists the April 2025 edition
- Corrections
- None
Historical context
Image: Wikimedia Commons, “Lewis Gun (derivated).jpg” by Balcer, CC BY 2.5. Retrieved October 2026.
Summary: Wikipedia, “Lewis gun”. Text CC BY-SA 4.0.
FROM WIKIPEDIA
The Lewis gun is a First World War–era light machine gun. Designed privately in the United States though not heavily adopted there, the design was finalised and mass-produced in the United Kingdom, and widely used by troops of the British Empire during the war. It had a distinctive barrel cooling shroud, and top-mounted pan magazine. The Lewis served until the end of the Korean War, and was widely used as an aircraft machine gun during both World Wars, almost always with the cooling shroud removed, as air flow during flight provided sufficient cooling.