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Weapons System

Maxim Gun

Machine Guns And Automatic Weapons

The Maxim gun, patented in 1884 by the American-born inventor Hiram Maxim, was the first fully automatic machine gun, using the recoil energy of each fired round to eject the spent cartridge, load the next and fire again, sustaining continuous fire for as long as ammunition and the operator's trigger pressure allowed. Water-cooled to prevent the barrel from overheating during sustained fire, the Maxim gun could fire several hundred rounds per minute, a rate of fire without precedent that gave the armies that adopted it, including Britain and Germany, a decisive advantage in colonial conflicts of the late nineteenth century, most starkly demonstrated at the 1898 Battle of Omdurman in Sudan. The weapon's devastating effectiveness against massed infantry attacks, later confirmed catastrophically for all sides on the Western Front of World War I, fundamentally altered infantry tactics and helped end the era of dense frontal assaults that had characterized warfare for centuries. Maxim's design directly influenced nearly every subsequent machine gun, including Germany's MG 08 and Russia's PM M1910, both direct licensed or adapted derivatives of Maxim's original recoil-operated pattern.

Facts
Classification
Caliber
7.62x54mmR 1
Caliber
7.92x57mm Mauser 1
Caliber
7x57mm Mauser 1
Caliber
.303 British 1
Caliber
.30-06 Springfield 1
Caliber
8x50mmR Lebel 1
Caliber
11x59mmR Gras 1
Caliber
6.5x52mm Carcano 1
Caliber
7.65x53mm Argentine 1
Caliber
7.5×55mm Swiss 2
Caliber
8×50mmR Mannlicher 2
Caliber
7.7x56mmR 1
Service Status
In Service 1
Service Status
Retired 2
Weapon Class
Recoil-operated machine gun 1
Introduced Year
1884 1
Introduced Year
1889 2
Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category)
Machine Gun 1
FAQs

Why was the Maxim gun water cooled?

Water cooling let it fire far longer than air-cooled guns, at the cost of extra weight and complexity.

The Maxim gun was water cooled so that it could sustain its rate of fire far longer than air-cooled guns. The cost was extra weight and complexity, which made the weapon heavier and less flexible in use.
Connections

Associated With

Gatling Gun, Weapons Systems

Hiram Maxim's fully automatic recoil-operated design superseded the hand-cranked Gatling gun as the dominant machine-gun type from the 1880s onward.

Vickers Machine Gun, Weapons Systems

The Vickers machine gun was a direct, lighter British refinement of Hiram Maxim's original recoil-operated design, adopted in 1912.

Source Wikipedia: Maxim gun

Operated By

British Army, Armed Forces and Units
Source Wikipedia: Maxim gun
Imperial Russian Army, Armed Forces and Units
Source Wikipedia: Maxim gun

Used In

First Matabele War, Wars
Source Wikipedia: Maxim gun
Russian Civil War, Wars
Source Wikipedia: Maxim gun
Russo-Japanese War, Wars
Source Wikipedia: Maxim gun
Russo-Ukrainian War, Wars
Source Wikipedia: Maxim gun
World War I, Wars
Source Wikipedia: Maxim gun
In the Other Atlases

Invented By

Hiram Stevens Maxim

Also in Technology and Engineering Atlas: the inventor of this subject.

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Maxim gun
Wikipedia
  • Lead section
    It was the first fully automatic machine gun.
  • Infobox: service
    1886-present
  • Infobox: cartridge
    6.5x52mm Carcano 6.5×58mm Vergueiro 7×57mm Mauser 7.62×54mmR 7.65×53mm Argentine .30-03, 7.62x65mm .30-06 Springfield, 7.62×63mm Springfield .303 British, 7.7×56mmR British 7.92×57mm Mauser 8×50mmR Lebel 10.35×47mmR .577/450 Martini-Henry, 11.43×60mmR Martini-Henry 11×59mmR Gras
  • Used In: First Matabele War, Wikipedia article text
    The Maxim gun was first used extensively in an African conflict during the First Matabele War in Rhodesia.
  • Used In: Russian Civil War, Wikipedia article text
    It also saw use during the Russian Civil War, which followed the Revolution in 1917.
  • Used In: Russo-Japanese War, Wikipedia article text
    During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the Russian Army employed the Maxim in combat and placed a rush order for another 450 units from overseas suppliers, which were mostly delivered to front-line troops before the end of the war.
  • Used In: Russo-Ukrainian War, Wikipedia article text
    Some are still in service to the present day and used in contemporary conflicts, such as the Russo-Ukrainian War.
  • Used In: World War I, Wikipedia article text
    The Maxim M1905 was still in use with the Russian military in World War I, but mainly equipped with non-frontline troop.
  • Operated By: British Army, Wikipedia article text
    The weapon was adopted by the British Army under the guidance of Sir Garnet Wolseley, who had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in 1888.
  • Operated By: Imperial Russian Army, Wikipedia article text
    The Imperial Russian Army purchased 58 Maxim machine guns (chambered in 7.62×54mmR) from DWM in 1899 and contracted with Vickers in 1902 to manufacture the design in Russia.
  • In Group: Heavy Machine Guns, Infobox: type
    Heavy machine gun
View the Source
2. Wikidata: Maxim Gun
Wikidata Q282352, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
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