Another wish this was mine photo.

[Mike Venturino]

A fellow sent me this photo recently of his British Vickers .303.

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr169/MLV1/DarinCarePhotos053.jpg

Looks like fun!

MLV

[roverboy]

Yeah, Mike that looks like major fun. It would cost a lot to feed it though.

[btroj]

But does he shoot cast in it?

[adrians]

does he own a lead mine; ?[smilie=l: that baby lookes like it could eat alot.
wish i had one .:evil:[smilie=1::twisted:

[MtGun44]

Nice looking. Looks kinda like a Browning, but I have no idea if it is related or a totally
different design.

Bill

[Uncle Grinch]

Don't know much about MG's. I assume it's water cooled.

I know it's old, but it looks menacing even today!

[JeffinNZ]

There are a few knocking around in NZ here Mike. Next time you are over this way you let me know!

[BruceB]

Since we're on the MG subject, I'd like to direct everyone's attention to the BEST light machine gun ever made (in my fevered estimation). I had to leave one just like this in Canada when we emigrated to the USA, and do I ever miss it.

Go to google and search for "veronica foster bren", to see a wonderful photo taken in a wartime Canadian factory. Click on the photo for full-screen. This is precisely the same LMG as the one I had (sigh)

[gnoahhh]

"The Queen of the Battlefield" is what the WWI Tommies called it.

Bill, it's based on the Maxim gun. Browning's design was way different.

If you ever get a chance to fire one, be very careful of the placement of your right hand on the spade grips. The cocking handle will smack your knuckle. An old long since passed away MG collector in my hometown would occasionally bring a specimen along to the monthly gun club meetings and "the old guys" would take turns firing them. One day my 16 year old eyes bugged out of my head when he invited me to take a turn, and it was the day he had the Vickers gun out. I hoped no one could see how "excited" I was when I stood up after running through about 50 rounds!

[klcarroll]

You know............., Welll............, Uhmmm.......... There's just no denying it!

Fine, old, collectable Warhorses like that appeal to almost everyone! (….In one way or another!)

Personally, I have always been more of a “Shooter” than a “Collector”: ….Even though it means days at the reloading bench preparing to feed the monster! It’s hard to explain to a non-gunner, but going out to the range and “chopping mud” with an FA is FUN in the same way that driving a hot car pointlessly fast around a closed track is fun!

…..AND WHO DOES IT HURT???? The guy who has filed all the correct paperwork with the Feds and paid his transfer tax to legally own such a weapon is unlikely to be a problem! ….As a group, the LEGAL owners of NFA Weapons have the best legal record of ANY category of gun owners!

But even when confronted with this data, “The Critics” will inevitably fall back on the old cliché; “Well, ….What happens when that machinegun is stolen in a burglary???”

……Imagine for a moment your typical Gangbanger trying deal with a belt fed Vickers!!! ……..He wouldn’t know whether to blow into it or plug it in! …..And what would he do with it? ….Carry it around under his knee-length leather trench coat?????

I have been waiting for more than a decade for SOMEONE to explain to me how closing the FA Registry made this country either safer or better; …..Or for that matter, what crimes were prevented: ……NO ONE has even come close! (I’m afraid the real answer is that this is just another example of our government applying arbitrary authority just to prove they CAN!)


Kent

[danski26]

Very nice!! I've fired hundreds of thousands of rounds in selectfire weapons but that one......has class!

[Three44s]

For me ..... it's the GE mini gun all the way.

And if I had one ...... I'd be trying to hang it on our Super Cub!!!

Yeah ...... no coyotes left a standin' ....... !

What I don't know is just how a Cub does flying backwards???

Seriously, I think my choice would be a MG 42 if I had my own printing press .......

Mike,

That's a nice looking Vickers alright!

Good to see you postin' again!!

Three 44s

[Jack Stanley]

I admit that when I go to the machine gun shootsI always like to stop and watch the old vickers run for a while . It always seems so crowded on that end of the line for some reason . On the other hand the year there were FIVE :shock:yes five mini-guns on the line was interesting too .

While I am not likely going to be able to ever feed one of the big boys , I'm sure glad somebody can . I got to fire an American 180 this past fall and it rated right up there on the cool scale .

Jack

[Von Dingo]

Nice pic, thanks for posting Mike.



For me ..... it's the GE mini gun all the way.

And if I had one ...... I'd be trying to hang it on our Super Cub!!!

Yeah ...... no coyotes left a standin' ....... !

What I don't know is just how a Cub does flying backwards???

Three 44s

I think a side mount, a' la Puff the Magic Dragon, would be the ticket. Then you just have to work out your trim.

[MtGun44]

OK, Maxim design. Still ignorant. Seems like I read that the Maxim was a
toggle locking design - which in the Win 73 was weak, but I suppose with beefy enough
links and pins could be made as strong as you needed.

OK - found a line drawing of the parts. A toggle locked, recoil operated design. Looks
really robust, but the Rooskie ones I see in the museums all have huge iron wheeled
gun carriages like small artillery. Probably really heavy BEFORE you add the carriage.

The mount and tripod in the pic looks like it would weigh about 75 - 80 lbs if the legs
are hollow -without the gun! :shock:

Of course, the AMMO ALONE is going to take a truck to haul around!

Bill

[Hardcast416taylor]

Several things I recall about the Vickers heavy gun are that the gun crew was 4 or 5 to keep the gun supplied in both ammo and water. The other thing is that the max. effective range was in excess of 1500 yds.Robert

[MakeMineA10mm]

Looks really robust, but the Rooskie ones I see in the museums all have huge iron wheeled gun carriages like small artillery. Probably really heavy BEFORE you add the carriage.


My MG buddy had a German Maxim on the wheeled carriage with shield. It was a blast to shoot! Unfortunately, I didn't own a Picklehaube back then, or I'd have really felt like "All's quiet on the Western Front." :D

The Maxim is the classic slow-staccato machinegun sound you hear in the old war movies. Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta-Taaaaaah.

[BD]

You're all making me miss the Hiram Maxim shoot that used to be held in the Dover-Foxcraft, ME gravel pit every year. I lived in Greenville so this was a "local" shoot. I really enjoyed taking out of town guests to see it. Most of them couldn't believe it was happening, or legal :) Lot's of Maxims, lot's of fun. Anyone was welcome to step up to the line and have a try with about anything you'd want. Thompsons cost around .25/round, 50 BMG cost 1.00/round. One year there was a quad 50 in a gimble mount on the line where you could burn $400 in 10 seconds if you were so inclined.

Then one of the anti-gun groups raised a stink, got some press, and that year 5,000 people showed up. The old guys in the Hiram Maxim Society couldn't really deal with the press, or the crowds, so they quit holding the shoot. It's a shame.

Read up on H. Maxim if you get a chance. He designed the gun as a young lad of 15 in Sangerville, Maine but couldn't convince anyone that it would work until he hand carved an entire gun out of wood, down to the last working part, as a "demo". IMS it was the very first cartridge operated automatic weapon.

BD

[thompsonm1a1]

i had a choice between a mg 34 or a 42 so i picked up a 34 as the gun is much tighter and a lot more accurate. hitting a pop can at 100 yards is no problem. it is a lot of fun shooting AP rounds at 3/4 inch plate as they drill right through.

[9.3X62AL]

I'm another one who thinks the closing of the FA registry was bull excreta. Face facts, folks--there is a generous measure of FUN-SUCKING KILLJOY in the mindset of all anti-gunners.

Even in 9mm or 223, any FA system would be cost-prohibitive to me. Those are the calibers I've fired the most of in overdrive mode, with a scattering of of 7.62 x 39, 7.62 x 51, and 45 ACP thrown in for good measure. In all cases, .gov paid for the ammo. Thankfully.

So, even if my rifles and carbines had the Cool Gearshifts in place, they would get very little use in that mode. $400 in 10 seconds? Marie would string me up!

[dualsport]

Nice picture. Pictures good.