MG 08

The MG 08 (Maschinengewehr 08) was the standard heavy machine gun of the Imperial German Army in the First World War, adapted from Hiram Maxim's 1884 Maxim gun design and produced in several variants by Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken and the Spandau and Erfurt arsenals. Chambered mainly in 7.92x57mm Mauser, it fired at roughly 500 rounds per minute in its Schloss 08 lock and 600 in the later Schloss 16, and telescopic sights were widely fitted during the war to extend its use in long-range direct and indirect fire. It remained in German service into the Second World War, by which time it had been relegated largely to second-line fortress units, and variants stayed in use with Switzerland into the 1980s and China into the 1960s.