It was
gas operated, using a sliding muzzle cup system blown forward by the combustion gases while the bullet emerged from the barrel. This ".256 Bang" rifle was a top candidate from 1925 to 1928 for US contracts ultimately won by the
M1 Garand. Bang demonstrated his models in US field trials in 1919 and 1927. The Bang rifle was ultimately unsuccessful in US testing because of its mechanical complexity and susceptibility to fouling of the sliding muzzle cup. The Bang blow-forward gas system, originally developed in 1903, inspired several other weapons: it was used in the unsuccessful French
Puteaux APX machine gun of 1904, its direct successor the controversial
St. Étienne Mle 1907 machine-gun, and in the
Gewehr 41, all of which suffered the same shortcomings. == Patents ==