Originally developed prior to World War I, the Lewis was one of the lightest machine guns of the era, weighing in at about 28 pounds. At the time, these were considered to be the premier air cooled light machine gun and the first machine gun to be mounted and successfully used on an airplane in flight in 1912. The design was originally developed in 1910/11 by the Automatic Arms Company of Buffalo, New York, for commercial sales by Lieutenant Colonel Issac Newton Lewis using the gas-operated rotating bolt design of Samuel McLean. Later, Lt. Col. Lewis added some of his own improved designs changes, namely the jacketed cooling fin assembly on the barrel. Lewis established a firm in Belgium to license the design to arms manufacturers, finding interested parties at Birmingham Small Arms of Britain and Savage Arms of the United States, and both countries would take the Lewis into combat during World War I and World War II as infantry machine guns and in aircraft and vehicle mountings. This standard infantry Lewis features the distinctive aluminum cooling fins and barrel shroud with clamp-on bipod, fixed blade front sight, ladder rear sight graduated from "1-19" (100-1,900 meters), hardwood panels on the pistol grip and a fixed hardwood buttstock. The top is marked "Manufactured by/The Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd/ENGLAND/for" and "Armes Automatiques Lewis/BELGIUM". In front of the rear sight is marked "Lewis Auto Gun./Mod. 1914-Pat". Mixed numbers visible on components with some lined out and renumbered when it was arsenal rebuilt. "A383" stamped in the circular brass disc on the right of the buttstock. Includes an extra bolt body, firing pin, ruptured case extractor tool, gas regulator cup reamer tool and four extra drum magazines.

Fine, retains 95% refinished deep blue/black finish with some scattered light pitting visible underneath the finish. The wood is very good as refinished, with scattered moderate scratches, scuffs, and cracks. Mechanically excellent. NOTE: This weapon is a National Firearms Act (NFA), fully transferable Class 3, which is registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, (BATFE) that is classified as a "Curios or Relic" as defined in 27 CFR, 478.11. These weapons are still subject to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44 and 27 CFR part 479.