The General Liu rifle is a semi-automatic rifle named after its inventor and the first Superintendent of the

Hanyang Arsenal Hanyang Arsenal () was one of the largest and oldest modern arsenals in Chinese history. History Originally known as the ''Hubei Arsenal'', it was founded in 1891 by Qing official Zhang Zhidong, who diverted funds from the Nanyang Fleet in Gua ...

, General Liu Qing En (1869–1929), as the rifle never received any other designation. It was one of the first Chinese semi-automatic rifles. The rifle used a muzzle "gas-trap" system similar to the Bang rifle (other rifles including this system were the

Gewehr 41 The Gewehr 41 , commonly known as the G41(W) or G41(M), denoting the manufacturer ( Walther/ Mauser), are two distinct and different battle rifles manufactured and used by Germany during World War II. The Walther variant of the G41 was far mor ...

and early production models of

M1 Garand The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply called Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, also called US Rifle, Cal. .30, M1 is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the United States Army, U.S. ...

). The rifle's method of operation could be switched from gas to straight-pull bolt action by rotating counterclockwise the cylinder located on the muzzle, to revert to

gas-operated reloading Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate locked breech, autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high-pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to dispose of the spent ...

the cylinder had to be rotated back (clockwise). The stock had a compartment for cleaning tools.

History

At the beginning of 1914 General Liu contacted Pratt & Whitney Tool Company, Hartford in order to purchase machinery for Hanyang Arsenal. A contract for US$1,082,500 was signed with the company on April 11, with an expected delivery in 24 months. Later that year, on September, Liu along with his family and seven subordinates arrived at

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, the purpose of the visit was to familiarize with the machinery. Liu stayed at Hartford at least until June 1915. On September 8, 1916, two versions of the rifle were tested at Nan Yuan Proving Ground in Beijing. The first version was made at Hanyang with a hand-made driving spring, the second was manufactured at Pratt & Whitney and had a machined spring. The test revealed that the hand-made springs proved to be too weak to properly cycle the rounds, as opposed to the ones produced in USA. In 1918 two rifles were tested at

Springfield Armory The Springfield Armory, more formally known as the United States Armory and Arsenal at Springfield located in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, was the primary center for the manufacture of United States military firearms from 1777 until ...

Julian Hatcher Julian Sommerville Hatcher (June 26, 1888 – December 4, 1963) was a major general in the United States Army. As a firearms expert, he wrote technical books and articles relating to military firearms, ballistics, and autoloading weapons. He ...

. In the summer of 1919 during an Army Department meeting Liu suffered a stroke which caused paralysis of one side of his body, supposedly due to the fact that the vessel with the machinery onboard sank on its way to China. Later that year the machinery was recovered and arrived at Shanghai. It was kept in a warehouse until 1921, when it was diverted to

Gongxian Arsenal Gongxian Arsenal ({{zh, t=鞏縣兵工廠, s=巩县兵工厂, p=Gǒngxiàn Bīnggōngchǎng) was an arsenal located in Gong County, Henan (now Gongyi). During the Second Sino-Japanese War the arsenal was a major producer of small arms for Chinese ...

. After being sent to Gongxian, in an ironic twist, the machinery and tooling equipment was later redirected back to Hanyang but this did not happen until 1935. When the machinery arrived at Hanyang, it was set up and initially used to manufacture

Hanyang 88 The Type 88, sometimes known as "Hanyang 88" or Hanyang Type 88 () and Hanyang Zao (Which means ''Made in Hanyang''), is a Chinese-made bolt-action rifle, based on the German Gewehr 88. It was adopted by the Qing Dynasty towards the end of the 1 ...

rifles but was later changed to produce Type 24

Chiang Kai-shek rifle The Type Chiang Kai-shek rifle ( zh, t=中正式, p= , l=), also known as the Generalissimo rifle, and Type 24 (二四式), named after the Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, was a Chinese-made version of the German Mauser Standardmodell, Sta ...

References

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External links

Springfield Armory Museum RecordGeneral Liu rifleRare Chinese Liu semi-auto military rifle. A National Firearms Museum Treasure Gun.Bin Shih and the General Liu Riflephotograph of General LiuHanyang report on the General Liu RifleHanyang report on the General Liu Rifle (in Chinese)
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20100912040423/http://www.gunboards.com/sites/mrj2003/China/LiuRifle1/LiuRifle1.htm From the October 2003 issue, pages 261 - 264br>Semiauto Rifles of WWI and BeforeRare Chinese Liu Semi-Automatic Military Rifle
Firearms of the Republic of China 7.92×57mm Mauser semi-automatic rifles Straight-pull rifles World War II infantry weapons of China