The purpose of the Company is to make more people aware of the Vickers and its use. If anybody wishes to visit the collection (in Swindon, UK) or have a display at their meeting or event, please contact me. A Not-For-Profit Private Company Limited By Guarantee.
They were constructed by Rob who has a RU-vid channel covering lots of military technical designs, particularly torpedoes. He based it on measurements of our own machine I believe.
...and the Russians had the Federov Avtomat. But it was the submachine gun that really caught on immediately post-WW1, until eventually (mostly) phased out by the advent of intermediate calibre select fire infantry carbines.
@@454FatJack I agree under modern definitions the Federov can be counted as a battle rifle not an SMG, in contrast to later Avtomats, which were intended to remove the need for SMGs. From WW1 there was also the Pedersen device, not quite an SMG but a result of similar thinking.
Just received my copy. Well written, good quality photographs, clear reproduction of original documents and high production standards. An excellent publication and certainly worth buying.
Thanks Mike. Glad you think so. We’ll have more titles in the same series coming over the next few years that will hopefully be as interesting for you.
ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VyZs-7lVPNU.html have you ever checked about this one? this MG3 is at a very low rate-of-fire configuration almost as slow as an M60
Hi Richard, I just read your 2018 report on the 1 million rounds at High Wood 1916. Congratulations on this detailed, brilliant analysis! 👍👍👍 The question I was asking myself was: could a heavy MG34 have done the job of a Vickers? 16,600 rounds per MG34 in 12 hours? = 1400 rounds in 1 hour. That's 6 belt boxes. Each heavy MG34 had 6 barrels. So 10 minutes for a belt box and barrel change. So the answer is a resounding yes. A heavy MG34 could have easily replaced a Vickers and not even water would have been needed. Thank you for your brilliant analysis. Greetings from Germany!
You would have loved meeting my late dad who was a mine of information.Called up at the start of the war as he was in the Middlesex Reg TA.Being too young to go to France he was transferred to 6th Batt,Cheshire Reg in Stockport.Fought in N Africa and Italy until captured.Great tales of POW life that he lived to tell.Made Sgt without ever putting a man on a charge.A real legend to me.
Best dust off that crayon! ;o) Seriously though, thanks for your help on this one and looking forward to seeing you soon. It'll certainly be something you can talk about on your next livestream.
Pleased to hear it! Do head over to the sales page and leave a review if you can. It'll hopefully encourage others to buy it and encourage us to do more of the same type of book: vickersmg.blog/product/the-vickers-mg-in-nw-europe-1944-45/
My great grandfather was a Sergeant Major in the Machine Gun Corps. He trained WWI machine gunners at Grantham. He was a Vickers machine gunner but got shot four times by a MG42 at Passchendaele. He survived the war.
The MG42 was a Second World War gun so you possibly mean the MG08 which was its First World War counterpart. Have you used our MGC database to look up your great grandfather to see if he features in it? vickersmg.blog/about/research/mgcdatabase/
Hi, great video, my dads oldest brother served in the machine gun corpse, he was awarded the Military Medal in an action at Delvile wood, I assume in Belgium, I am informed that the records were distroyed during the 2nd world war
Glad you like the video. Delville Wood is in France, on the Somme. Although many records were destroyed, there is a lot of information still available and we have a database of over 135,000 records available to search. You can find out more here: vickersmg.blog/about/research/mgcdatabase/
Hi, I found on facebook marketplace 2 boxes on the other day and they were covered in paint so I couldn’t see what it was. As I wanted to restore them I put a paint stripper to clean them up and underneath I found the written names and it was this green one for ‘machine belts mark iii Maxim Vickers’ but unfortunately the green paint came off as I stripped. The smaller one for tools and spare parts I used a water base paint stripper and was able to keep the letters on. They look very nice and sturdy, I’ll keep them to store some tools. Good to see how it was originally. Thanks.
I wonder how the MG34/42 ammo boxes would work for the .303 since it’s shorter than 8mm so will fit. The case is much thicker tho so I’d be curious to know how many .303 could fit in the German boxes. Not for reenactment but for shooting/carry usage do to the offset handles.
0:22 My late father was at Anzio he was in the diehards middlesex Regiment 2nd /7th c Company he was a colour sergeant with crown when hostilities ended ,wounded nr bologna by german sniper ,he would have been very familiar with the vickers in which he was in charge of three guns I think ,it was interesting about the chain cloth to stop rattle ,he had many stories of his time in italy, he was one of the lucky ones who survived alot didn't on both sides.
My own grandfather served in Anzio as well. Myself and my mum spent time exploring the area a few years ago. A fascinating place with many stories to tell! - Rich
My Great Uncle was with the 43rd Wessex Division. Delighted to see this. He was a Sgt Major, Mortars, 5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. From Normandy into Holland and Germany till the end.
He have worked alongside the 4.2-inch mortars of the Middlesex for some of the larger operations so he might well have known some of these men. Thanks for sharing.
The indirect fire system using multiple parralled guns is exactly the same principle as that used today by artillery and mortars. My question is did it extend to fire control by a distant observer who could see the fall of shot and call for add/drop and left/right corrections? If so was there an equivalent of a plotter board, or similar equipment, to apply the observer's direction?
Great question. Yes, the system is largely the same EXCEPT there is not a forward observer in most cases as the fall of 303 cannot be seen easily and not at the distances used. You have to trust the maths!
There are lots of nuances and differences in the legal position on machine guns. It's likely that there are provisions deep in the legislation for this sort of thing in Australia but requires the strong justification as we do here.
It's interesting just how much the technology of sewing machines coincides with guns. Bone needles and sinew thread along side bone arrowheads and bows started it of. Then through time technology advanced them both almost simultaneously. Now electronics and A.I. are advancing both.
Australian Major Henry “Jo” Gullett, 2nd AIF went ashore at Gold Beach with the Green Howards carrying his Aussie issued Mark III Lee Enfield which he had with him throughout the war in several theatres. He was one of 13 AIF officers attached to the British Army for the landings. 💪🏻👌 🇦🇺🦘🇦🇺🦘🇦🇺🦘🇦🇺🦘🇦🇺🦘🇦🇺🦘🇦🇺🦘🇦🇺🦘🇦🇺
Interesting, was this a truly 'issued' rifle or a private purchase sort of thing. I am surprised that he wasn't issues a No.4 like everyone else to keep everything simple!
The Mk 1 Vickers had been in service since 1912 and was still just the Mk 1 in 1944, while all the other small arms we can identify that were there on 6 June landing on Normandy were much more recent introductions or variants. For example, the M1911 was actually the A1 by that point, introduced in 1924.
It looks it's probably the Springfield or SMLE in their unaltered forms if they were still in service in numbers for the first day troops but yet to confirm for certain.
I'm trying to put together a 1:6 scale homage to the LRDG & SAS but getting the models for the vehicles and weapons at that scale is like rocking horse shit. So I'm now thinking of 3D printing, but that requires blueprints/diagrams to pull the sizes off. Of course no mechanism details just enough to make a good facsimile. Any help out there would be greatly appreciated. TIA.
Some of the drawings by John Lambert would be sufficient for you. There are several 3D print models already available as well. We've used a few of them to test accuracy etc.
