Maxim Mounted Machine Gun, 1912

The Maxim gun was designed in 1883 by Hiram Maxim, a British gunsmith of American origin. The catalogue lists this example as a mounted Maxim machine gun of the 1910 model; it was made in 1912 in Berlin and has a 7.92 mm calibre barrel. The licence to produce Maxim guns in Berlin was obtained by the firm of Ludwig Loewe, later known as DWM.

The gun works by recoil: when it fires, the barrel and its frame move backwards and operate the lock and the belt feed. The barrel sits inside a round casing in protective colour with a black muzzle attachment; water was poured into the casing for cooling, and it has 2 openings, one for filling and one for draining.

At the rear the receiver is closed by a black back plate with two hollow traversing handles; between them is the trigger, and above it a safety in the form of a plate. On the left side of the receiver a spiral return spring sits under an elongated cover, and the sight is mounted on the receiver lid. The receiver, back plate, barrel and trigger mechanism are blued.