Background
Hatcher, Julian Sommerville was born on June 26, 1888 in Winchester, Virginia, United States. Son of Lindley Lovett and Ada (Sommerville) Hatcher.
Hatcher, Julian Sommerville was born on June 26, 1888 in Winchester, Virginia, United States. Son of Lindley Lovett and Ada (Sommerville) Hatcher.
United States Army Command and General Staff College. United States Army War College.
He is credited with several technical books and articles relating to military firearms, ballistics, and autoloading weapons. His premier works are Hatcher"s Notebook and Book of the Garand, along with Pistols and Revolvers and Their Uses 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.
He was also a pioneer in the forensic identification of firearms and their ammunition.
Hatcher retired from the United States Army as a Major General. Afterward, he served as Technical Editor of the National Rifle Association"s American Rifleman magazine.
Chief of the Small Arms Division in the Ordnance Department and the Assistant Commandant of the Ordnance School before and at the beginning of World World War II, 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 Rifle. In 1916, the Hotchkiss M1909 Benet-Mercie machine gun was in general use with the United States. 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. lieutenant 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 Benet-Mercie 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.
Served 14 months as naval officer, then transferred to Army, 1910. Member Army Ordnance Association, Rocks and Minerals Association. Club: Army and Navy Country (Washington).
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Member of the United States Olympic Committee.
Married Eleanor Dashiell, October 19, 1910. Children: Julian Somerville, Eleanor (Mistress Charles Edward Robertson), Robert Dashiell.