Machine gun "Maxim" Bashny.Net

History of

In 1873, American inventor Hiram Maxim (1840-1916) created the world's first system with automatic weapons - machine gun. Maxim decided to use the recoil energy weapons, which until then had not been used. But testing and practical application of these weapons have been discontinued for 10 years, as Maxim was not only a gunsmith and weapons in addition to the interest in other things. His range of interests includes various machinery, electricity and so on. D. (For example in 1881 in the electrical exhibition in Paris, he received a Legion of Honor for his inventions in the field of electricity). His gun was just one of many of his inventions. At the beginning of the 1880s. Maxim finally picked up his gun, but the appearance of his weapons are already very different from a sample of 1873 Over the past ten years have gone on thinking, calculations and improvements in the design drawings.

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And only after that Hiram Maxim gave a proposal to the US government on the adoption of his machine gun on board. But no one is interested in the invention, and then the Maxim emigrated to Britain, where its development has immediately aroused the interest. "Armory Company Maxim" started to produce and advertise guns showing their work in many countries. The Russian sample demonstration machine gun .45 caliber was brought in 1887, he passed the test at the site. March 8, 1888 he was shot from the Emperor Alexander III. Hiram Maxim was able to achieve excellent survivability and reliability of their weapons, and at the end of 1899, his machine gun that is produced by British cartridge caliber .303 has made 15 thousand. Shots without any serious difficulties.



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One of the first machine gun "Maxim»



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7, 5 mm machine gun "Maxim" sample in 1894.



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One of the first versions of a machine gun "Maxim", without water cooling housing.



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Hiram Maxim with his invention



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After a successful demonstration of a machine gun in Switzerland, Italy and Austria Hiram Maxim arrives in Russia. Representatives of the Russian military department and military engineers have been very surprised when they presented arms, firing a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute and ultimately ordered Maxim 12 caliber machine guns at a rifle Berdan 10, 67 mm. Machine guns were brought to St. Petersburg in mid-1899. New weapon was also interested in the Russian navy, he ordered two samples gun for testing, and then during the years 1897-1904 has purchased 291 more new gun. Supply machine gun "Maxim" the Russian army the beginning of the company "Vickers Sons and Maxim" in the beginning of 1899. By the time the Berdan rifle has been removed from service, and machine guns "Maxim" were converted by the caliber 7, 62 × 54 mm Russian Mosin rifle. In the Russian army a new weapon - a machine gun, was taken to the submission to the artillery. It was established on the heavy carriage with large wheels and large armored shields. Weight structure turned out about 250 kg. The plan was to use this unit for the defense of fortresses, with pre-equipped and protected positions machine gun fire was planned to withstand a massive attack enemy infantry.



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The machine gun was extremely reliable and effective weapon. Production of "Maxim" was launched in early 1904 in the Tula Arms Plant. Tula guns were cheaper, easier to manufacture and more reliable overseas; their closures were completely interchangeable, which for a long time could not achieve in the British and German factories. The best results showed wheeled machine Sokolov, Sokolov also designed special cartridge box buggy to transport ammunition, sealed cylinders for ammo boxes. Along with the development of more user-friendly machine was reduced the weight of the gun, and converted some of the details in connection with adopting the cartridge with a pointed bullet sample 1908, which caused the need for change in a machine gun "Maxim" sights, remake the receiver to fit under the new ammunition, as well as to expand the sleeve hole muzzle, in order to avoid excessive shaking when shooting a machine gun. Machine gun "Maxim" the machine weighing more than 60 kg, it is also attached to the machine-gun tape machines for packing tape cartridges, the supply of water to cool the barrel.



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