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 also pioneered the forensic identification of firearms and ammunition.

Biography

Hatcher was born in Hayfield, Virginia, and graduated with honors from the United States Naval Academy in 1909. He transferred out of the Navy, due to chronic sea sickness, and was assigned to the Army Coast Artillery Corps. Hatcher married Eleanor Dashiell, daughter of naval ordnance expert Robert B. Dashiell, in October 1910. The couple had three children.

In 1916, the Hotchkiss M1909 Benét–Mercié machine gun was in general use with the U.S. Army and was seeing action during the Punitive Expedition against the bandit Pancho Villa. Reports of its use in Mexico indicated the gun was not functioning properly. Investigation revealed that the chief problems were the 30-round metallic feed strips used in the gun, and inexperienced gunners. It was Hatcher, then a lieutenant, who was sent to the border to solve the problems. He found that none of the soldiers had been taught the proper use of the weapon. He set up the Army's first machine gun school and was soon turning out trained crews. Soon, the Benét–Mercié proved to be an effective weapon.

An example of a Hatcher hole, used to prevent grenading of receivers (Japanese Type 99 rifle shown).

In 1919, at age 31 and holding the acting rank of lieutenant colonel, Hatcher was named commanding officer of Springfield Armory in Massachusetts. He was instrumental in developing a solution to the vexing problem of brittle metal in early receivers of M1903 Springfield rifles, built by Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal. His fail-safe solution to the "grenading" of receivers (damage caused when shell casings failed catastrophically) was to drill a gas vent hole in the left side of the receiver, adjacent to the breech. The hole allowed gases escaping from a ruptured case to be exhausted safely and away from the face of the shooter. Dubbed the "Hatcher Hole", the modification was typically added to receivers at overhaul.

As Chief of the Small Arms Division in the United States Army Ordnance Department and the Assistant Commandant of the Ordnance School before and at the beginning of World War II, Hatcher worked closely with Springfield Armory as an engineering trouble-shooter in resolving early production issues associated with the early iterations of the M1 Garand rifle.

Hatcher's premier works are Hatcher's Notebook and Book of the Garand, both published shortly after World War II. Prior to the war, he wrote Pistols and Revolvers and Their Use and Textbook of Pistols and Revolvers. In the latter work, he introduced the Hatcher Scale, probably the first attempt to determine the stopping power of a handgun round by a formula.

After retiring from the military in 1946, Hatcher served as technical editor of American Rifleman magazine. He died at his home in Falls Church, Virginia, on December 4, 1963.

Books Hatcher author or co-authored the following books:

[Riling 1833] [Riling 2017] [Riling 2170] [Riling 2171] [Riling 2596] [Riling 2645] [Riling 2722]