Magazine, drum type. .303" for Huot Automatic Rifle, 25-rounds, prototype Serial Number 2 . Machine gun, Huot, (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. This SN 2 is the best surviving. 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.