Developed by Issac Newton Lewis, a U.S. Army officer, the Lewis Gun was one of the lightest machine gun offerings of its era, coming in at 28 pounds with the distinctive barrel cooling assembly included. Unable to sell the gun to his superiors, Lewis resigned and took off for Belgium, where he made a tidy profit licensing the design to Birmingham Small Arms and Savage Arms. Among other distinctions, a Lewis Gun would be the first machine gun taken on a powered aircraft, and it saw very active use in World War One. This particular example was manufactured by Savage on order for Britain. Blade front and folding peep rear sights, with the Savage nomenclature and a set of small "broad arrow" and "crown" proofs on top of the receiver, a folding steel bipod clamped to the steel barrel jacket, and aluminum cooling fins surrounding the barrel. Both the pistol grip and buttstock are smooth hardwood. A green painted hardwood transit case is included, with white stenciled nomenclature "CHEST VICKERS OR LEWIS 303 IN MG MK 11B QTY I" on one side, a cleaning rod, as well as a brown painted metal case stenciled "BOX, CARRIERS MAGAZINE LEWIS .303 MACHINE GUN" in white on one side and "10th GURKHA RIFLES" on the lid, containing eight spare magazines.