POTD: [AWESOME PHOTO] Ancient vs. Modern Machine Guns
Now this is a photo I never expected to see! My good friend Trev Weston sent in this photo taken at a British (military?) range in Kent, UK. You can see Maxim machine guns, Vickers Mk I machine guns and, in the foreground, a British Army L7A2 GPMG (FN MAG).
In 1897 the British firm Vickers, Sons & Company, purchased Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company and was renamed Vickers, Sons & Maxim. The company improved on the Maxim designs they acquired and developed the Vickers Mk.I machine gun. Vickers was bought and sold over the years and no longer exists in name. In 2004 the last company to bear the Vickers name was purchased and folded into defense giant BAE Systems.
The Vickers machine gun remains in service with the Indian, Pakistani, and Nepalese armed forces. I don’t know of any users of the original Maxim gun. The FN MAG is, of course, one of the world’s most popular General Purpose Machine Guns.
I founded TFB in 2007 and over 10 years worked tirelessly, with the help of my team, to build it up into the largest gun blog online. I retired as Editor in Chief in 2017. During my decade at TFB I was fortunate to work with the most amazing talented writers and genuinely good people!
More by Steve Johnson
![[NRAAM 2024] The Fusion Firearms 20X11 – Yes It Takes Glock Mags](https://cdn-fastly.thefirearmblog.com/media/2024/06/04/0643123/nraam-2024-the-fusion-firearms-20x11-yes-it-takes-glock-mags.jpg?size=350x220)
![[NRAAM 2024] BOE Suppressors Mod-1 Nested Monocore Modular Suppressor](https://cdn-fastly.thefirearmblog.com/media/2024/06/04/064421/nraam-2024-boe-suppressors-mod-1-nested-monocore-modular-suppressor.jpg?size=350x220)
Comments
Join the conversation
I've just been doing some reading about the Maxim precursors - such as the Gatling (and Hotchkiss) multi-barrel machine guns. I had no idea that the Gatling was still on the US Army inventory as late as 1912 and that some Gatling/Hotchkiss types served as AA guns during WW1!
If you start feeding belts of ammo through the L7A2 and the Vickers, the Vickers will still be firing long after the L7A2 has melted itself down.
Water cooling does wonders.
The twice as heavy Vickers is its undesirable feature.