Maxim Gun
The first fully automatic machine gun in history, patented by Hiram Stevens Maxim in 1884: recoil-operated, water-cooled and belt-fed, the ancestor of every modern machine gun (MG 08, Vickers, PM M1910).
Maxim Gun
Community
Data trust
- Reliability
- Unverified
- Sources
- Sources pending review
Identity
- Designation
- Maxim Gun
- Alias
- Maxim Mk I / .45 Maxim
- Manufacturer
- Maxim Gun Company (Londra)
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Year
- 1884
- Category
- Heavy machine gun
- Status
- Historic
Ballistics
- Caliber
- .45 Gardner-Gatling / .303 British (a seconda della versione)
- Muzzle velocity
- 744 m/s
- Rate of fire
- ~600 rpm
- Effective range
- 2000 m
- Maximum range
- 4500 m
Dimensions
- Barrel length
- 721 mm
- Overall length
- 1180 mm
- Empty weight
- 27.2 kg
- Loaded weight
- 60 kg
Mechanics
- Operating system
- Corto rinculo della canna (sistema Maxim)
- Bolt / action
- Chiusura a ginocchiera (toggle lock)
Feed
- System
- Nastro in tela da 250 colpi
- Standard capacity
- 250 rounds
Fire modes
Historical profile
Hiram Maxim, an American engineer who emigrated to Britain, patented in 1883–1884 the first mechanism able to harness barrel recoil to extract, feed and fire continuously as long as the trigger was held.
Adopted in national variants by almost every great power: British Maxim Mk I (.303), German MG 08 (7.92×57 mm Mauser), Russian PM M1910 on the wheeled Sokolov mount, Vickers Mk I (1912) as a lightened evolution.
It was the iconic weapon of late-19th-century colonial warfare (Omdurman 1898) and of the WWI trench stalemate, where a handful of Maxims could stop entire battalions advancing frontally.
Variants
Main users
United Kingdom · Impero Tedesco · Impero Russo · China · Italia · Romania
Key components
- ●Stock — Shoulder rest.
- ●Receiver — Weapon body with internal mechanisms.
- ●Grip — Primary grip.
- ●Magazine — Cartridge feed.
- ●Barrel — Guides the projectile.
Community
Recent reviews
Similar systems
Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon
1873
Type 92 HMG
1932
Browning M2HB
1933
M134 Minigun
1963
Yak-B 12.7
1975