Huot Machine Gun - (converted in 1918 from a Ross M1910 rifle). This one was taken by Colonel Blair to France for testing. Serial number 2. One of about 5 manufactured. Canadian War Museum has SN 4 and SN 5. Dr. Burgh of St Catherines, Ontario has SN 1 Our SN 2 is the best surviving. From Weapons Curator, Mike Thornley, 6 December 2016: "Huot-Ross Automatic Rifle Serial No. 2 The Huot-Ross was a conversion of the Canadian straight-pull bolt-action Ross rifle. It features a long stroke gas operated system. The rifle is air cooled with a barrel shroud similar in appearance and identical in function to the Lewis Gun's. It was fed by a 25 round drum magazine, and had a cover over the action to protect right handed shooters from the reciprocating bolt mechanism. This particular rifle went overseas to England and France in 1918 for trials and demonstrations with the Seaforth's Col. Blair. Col. Blair would later win fame as the only person to win the King's Prize (currently Queen's Prize) and the Grand Aggregate at Bisley after the war. The rifle saw over 30,000 rounds through it during these demonstrations with reports showing very few stoppages and recommendations for only minor changes for mass production. It was said to have performed better than the Lewis Gun that it was vying to replace in many aspects, including weight and cost of production. The rifle was accepted by the Canadian Army in October of 1918 and an order of 5000 was placed. However, the termination of hostilities a month later saw this order cancelled and the rifle never entered mass production." Canada had a serious shortage of light machine guns in WW I and a Quebec engineer, Joseph Huot devised a way to modify existing Ross straight-pull rifles into drum-fed light machine guns. He added a gas piston to operate the bolt (similar to the later Enfield conversions like the Howell, but simpler because of the straight-pull nature of the Ross), changed the box magazine to a 25-round drum, added a cooling shroud like the Lewis, and a guard at the back to protect the shooter from the cycling bolt. The Huot automatic rifle was tested against other available light machine guns like the Lewis and Farquhar-Hill and proved surprisingly successful. It was very reliable, even in poor conditions, and was popular with soldiers who used it. Best of all from the government’s view, it was far cheaper to manufacture than the Lewis. An order for several thousand was requested, but the war ended before it could be filled, and the idea was dropped. Attached is a Province newspaper clipping "An Old Bore" from the website of Colin Stevens dated 15 March 1973. It shows a Seaforths demonstrating the Huot Gun to a woman. The caption from his website states: "Pilot (not prototype) model of Canada’s FIRST assault rifle, the Huot Automatic Rifle Serial number 2 (Serial #5 is the highest known). 5,000 Huots were ordered by General Currie, but the fighting ended a month later".