Julian Sommerville Hatcher (June 26, 1888 – December 4, 1963), was a U.S. Army major general, noted firearms expert and author of the early twentieth century. He is credited with several technical books and articles relating to military firearms,

ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially ranged weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets or the like; the science or art of designing and a ...

, and autoloading weapons. His premier works are ''Hatcher's Notebook'' and ''Book of the Garand'', along with ''Pistols and Revolvers and Their Use''s and ''Textbook of Pistols and Revolvers''. In the latter work he introduced the

Hatcher Scale Hatcher is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Allen Hatcher (born 1944), U.S. mathematician *Anna Granville Hatcher (1905–1978), U.S. linguist *Edwin Starr (born Charles Edwin Hatcher, 1942–2003), U.S. soul singer * Chris Hatc ...

, probably the first attempt to determine the

stopping power Stopping power is the ability of a weapon – typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm – to cause a target (human or animal) to be incapacitated or immobilized. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a weapon's ...

of a handgun round by a formula. He was also a pioneer in the forensic identification of firearms and their ammunition. Hatcher retired from the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

as a

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

. Afterward, he served as Technical Editor of the

National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...

's '' American Rifleman'' magazine. Hatcher was born in Hayfield, Virginia and graduated with honors from

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

in 1909 e voluntarily transferred from the Navy to the Army's coast artillery He married Eleanor Dashiell and together, they had three children. Chief of the Small Arms Division in the

United States Army Ordnance Department The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply Army comb ...

and the Assistant Commandant of the

Ordnance School Ordnance may refer to: Military and defense *Materiel in military logistics, including weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and maintenance tools and equipment. **The military branch responsible for supplying and developing these items, e.g., the Unite ...

before and at the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he worked closely with Springfield Armory as an engineering trouble-shooter in resolving early production issues associated with the early iterations of the

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 U.S Army during World War ...

Rifle. In 1916, the

Hotchkiss M1909 Benét-Mercié machine gun Hotchkiss may refer to: Places Canada * Hotchkiss, Alberta * Hotchkiss, Calgary United States * Hotchkiss, Colorado * Hotchkiss, Virginia * Hotchkiss, West Virginia Business and industry * Hotchkiss (car), a French automobile manufactu ...

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 Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

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 Lieutenant Hatcher 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. Hatcher was later instrumental in developing a solution to the vexing problem of brittle metal in early M1903 receivers built by Springfield and Rock Island Arsenals. His solution to the "grenading" of receivers when shell cases failed catastrophically was to drill a gas vent hole in the left side of the receiver adjacent to the breech. This hole would allow 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. Hatcher died at his home in

Falls Church, Virginia Falls Church is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Wash ...

on December 4, 1963.

Books

*Julian S. Hatcher, Glenn P. Wilhelm and

Harry J. Malony Major general (United States), Major General Harry James Malony (August 24, 1889 – March 23, 1971) was a decorated United States Army officer who, after seeing distinguished service overseas on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front dur ...

, ''Machine Guns'', Menasha, Wisc., George Banta Pub. Co., 1917 iling 1833*Julian S. Hatcher, ''Pistols and Revolvers and Their Use'', Marshallton, Del., Small-Arms Technical Pub. Co., 1927 iling 2017*Julian S. Hatcher, ''Textbook of Pistols and Revolvers'', Onslow County, N.C., Small-Arms Technical Pub. Co., 1935 iling 2170*Julian S. Hatcher, ''Textbook of Firearms Investigation'', Plantersville, S.C., Small-Arms Technical Pub. Co., 1935 iling 2171*Julian S. Hatcher, ''Hatcher's Notebook'', Harrisburg, Pa., Military Service Pub. Co., 1947 iling 2596*Julian S. Hatcher, ''The Book of the Garand'', Washington, Infantry Journal Press, 1947 iling 2645*Julian S. Hatcher, Al Barr, H.P. White and Charles L. Neumann, ''Handloading'', Washington, National Rifle Association of America, 1950. iling 2722 References are to Ray Riling, ''Guns and Shooting, a Bibliography,'' New York: Greenberg, 1951.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatcher, Julian 1888 births 1963 deaths Military personnel from Virginia Ballistics experts American military writers United States Army generals United States Naval Academy alumni United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni United States Army War College alumni United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army personnel of World War II Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Distinguished Marksman