Argentine Brass Maxim: A Machine Gun of the Steampunk Age
Heavy MGs
•
19m
The Maxim Gun was the first successful true machine gun, and it became extremely popular worldwide. Maxim sent his first two working models to Enfield for testing in 1887, and by 1889 he had what he termed the "World Standard" model. No two contracts were quite identical, as the gun was constantly being tweaked and improved, but the 200 guns sold to Argentina in 1895 (50), 1898 (130) and 1902 (20) are a great time capsule into the configuration of the early Maxim guns in military service.
The Argentine Maxims had gorgeous brass jackets, along with ball grips, triggers, feed blocks, and fusee spring covers. The have the early 1889 pattern lock, complete with a walnut roller to assist belt feeding into the action. These guns were in Argentine military service until 1929 (which included a retrofit at DWM in 1909 to use the new Spitzer 7.65mm Mauser cartridge). They then passed into police use until 1956, and 91 were sold to Sam Cummings of InterArms in 1960. Of those, 8 were exported out of the US, 28 went to government agencies and museums, and the remaining 55 were sold onto the US collector market. They are the single largest group of early Maxims in the country today, and make fantastic collectors' pieces.
Up Next in Heavy MGs
-
Breda 37: Italy's Forgotten Heavy Mac...
The Breda Model 37 was Italy's standard heavy machine gun (which meant a rifle-caliber gun fired only from a tripod) during World War Two. It was chambered for the 8x59mm cartridge, as Italy used a two-cartridge system at the time, with 6.5mm for rifles and the heavier 8mm for machine guns to ex...
-
The M45 Quadmount
In this slightly rough and ready video Matt looks at the history of the formidable American M45 Quadmount. Boasting 4 .50 calibre Browning Heavy Machine Guns the M45 was designed for anti-aircraft duties but often found itself engaging ground targets. Production Note: This video is a little rough...
-
Vickers Gun Disassembly
The Vickers Gun is an iconic weapon, developed from the Maxim and adopted by the British in 1912. It served for over 50 years in conflicts all around the world. In this video, Richard Fisher of the Vickers Machine Gun Collection and Research Association shows us how to disassemble a Vickers. Big ...
