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 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, 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 weapo ...

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, ...

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 ...

. 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 rights lobbying organization while cont ...

's ''

American Rifleman ''American Rifleman'' is a United States-based monthly shooting and firearms interest publication, owned by the National Rifle Association (NRA). It is the 33rd-most-widely-distributed consumer magazine and the NRA's primary magazine. The magazi ...

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

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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 and the Assistant Commandant of the Ordnance School 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he worked closely with

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 ...

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 W ...

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 manufacturer ...

was in general use with the U.S. Army and was seeing action during the

Punitive Expedition A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a political entity or any group of people outside the borders of the punishing state or union. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong beh ...

against the bandit

Pancho Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa (, Orozco rebelled in March 1912, both for Madero's continuing failure to enact land reform and because he felt insufficiently rewarded for his role in bringing the new president to power. At the request of Madero's c ...

. Reports of its use in

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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 Arsenal The Rock Island Arsenal comprises , located on Arsenal Island, originally known as Rock Island, on the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. It lies within the state of Illinois. Rock Island ...

s. 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 in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Washington metropolitan area. Taking its name from The Falls Church, an 18th-century Ch ...

on December 4, 1963.

Books

*Julian S. Hatcher, Glenn P. Wilhelm and Harry J. Malony, ''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