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64-474: The Maxim gun is a recoil-operated machine gun invented in 1884 by Hiram Stevens Maxim . It was the first fully automatic machine gun in the world. The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most associated with imperial conquest" by historian Martin Gilbert , and was heavily used by colonial powers during the " Scramble for Africa ". Afterwards, Maxim guns also saw extensive usage by different armies during

128-588: A design licensed from Benelli, such as the Franchi Affinity. Then the Browning Arms Company introduced the inertia-operated A5 (trademarked as Kinematic Drive) as successor to the long-recoil operated Auto-5 . Both the Benelli and Browning systems are based on a rotating locking bolt, similar to that used in many gas-operated firearms. Before firing, the bolt body is separated from the locked bolt head by

192-514: A new idea at the time, rather than true recoil operation. The next to mention recoil operation in the British patent literature is by Alexander Blakely in 1862, who clearly describes using the recoil of a fired cannon to open the breech. In 1864 after the Second Schleswig War , Denmark started a program intended to develop a gun that used the recoil of a fired shot to reload the firearm, though

256-658: A reputation for being a strong subscriber to military innovation and reform, which he demonstrated in Africa. There he used machine guns, explored other unconventional ideas, and founded an Egyptian camel corps. The gun's design was also purchased and used by several other European countries. In January 1899, just before the outbreak of the Philippine-American War , the Philippines had forty-two Maxim guns. An English observer who had seen one of them, described it as being "of

320-697: A single-screw steamship christened SMS Hermann von Wissmann was built by the Hamburg Janssen and Schilinsky shipyard. It was built in sections in Germany shipped to East Africa, transported overland and launched in Lake Nyasa in September 1893. It was captured at Liuli by the British in the first naval action of World War I . A similar but smaller version christened the SMS Hedwig von Wissmann after Hermann's wife

384-436: A spring that absorbs the recoil energy as it is compressed by the movement and then expands providing energy for the rest of the operating cycle. Since there is a minimum momentum required to operate a recoil-operated firearm's action, the cartridge must generate sufficient recoil to provide that momentum. Therefore, recoil-operated firearms work best with a cartridge that yields a momentum approximately equal to that for which

448-469: A stiff spring. As the shotgun recoils after firing, inertia of the bolt body is large enough for it to remain stationary while the recoiling gun and locked bolt head move rearward. This movement compresses the spring between the bolt head and bolt body, storing the energy required to cycle the action. Since the spring can only be compressed a certain amount, this limits the amount of force the spring can absorb, and provides an inherent level of self-regulation to

512-593: A team of men, usually 4 to 6 in number. Apart from the gunner, other crew were needed to speed reload, spot targets, and carry and ready ammunition and water. Several men were needed to move or mount the heavy weapon. In 1884, Maxim began to develop his machine gun in Hatton Garden , London. In November of that year, he founded the Maxim Gun Company with financing from Albert Vickers  [ la ] , son of steel entrepreneur Edward Vickers . A blue plaque on

576-447: A working model wouldn't be produced until 1888. Later in the 1870s, a Swedish captain called D. H. Friberg patented a design which introduced both flapper-locking and the fully automatic recoil operated machine gun. Furthermore, in 1875 a means of cocking a rifle through recoil was patented through the patent agent Frank Wirth by a German called Otto Emmerich. Finally came Maxim's 1883 automatic recoil operated machine gun which introduced

640-409: Is a moving part of the action in recoil-operated firearms. In non-recoil-operated firearms, it is generally the entire firearm that recoils. However, in recoil-operated firearms, only a portion of the firearm recoils while inertia holds another portion motionless relative to a mass such as the ground, a ship's gun mount, or a human holding the firearm. The moving and the motionless masses are coupled by

704-482: Is fitted to boost the recoil. Recoil-operated designs are broadly categorized by how the parts move under recoil. Long recoil operation is found primarily in shotguns , particularly ones based on John Browning 's Auto-5 action. In 1885 a locked breech, long recoil action was patented by the Britons Schlund and Arthur. In a long recoil action, the barrel and bolt remain locked together during recoil, compressing

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768-448: Is the inertia operated system, the first practical use of it being the Sjögren shotgun , developed by Carl Axel Theodor Sjögren in the early 1900s, a Swedish engineer who was awarded a number of patents for his inertia operated design between 1900 and 1908 and sold about 5,000 automatic shotguns using the system in 1908–1909. In a reversal of the other designs, some inertia systems use nearly

832-590: The Abushiri Revolt . Wissmann was issued one of the first Maxim guns which had reached Germany and used it successfully in his capture of Pangani . The Singapore Volunteer Corps received a Maxim gun in 1889, but it was never used. This was a civilian volunteer defence unit on the British colony. The Maxim gun was first used extensively in an African conflict during the First Matabele War in Rhodesia . During

896-515: The Battle of the Shangani on 25 October 1893, 700 soldiers fought off 5,000 Matabele warriors with just five Maxim guns. It played an important role in the " Scramble for Africa " in the late 19th century. The extreme lethality was employed to devastating effect against obsolete charging tactics, when African opponents could be lured into pitched battles in open terrain. As it was put by Hilaire Belloc , in

960-575: The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition in 1886–1890, under the leadership of Henry Morton Stanley . More a publicity stunt than a serious military contribution, in view of the main financier of the expedition, William Mackinnon , "merely exhibiting" the gun was likely to "prove a great peace-preserver". The weapon was used on several occasions, especially during the expedition's retreat from central Africa, not because of its devastating effects, but as an effective means to scare off attackers. One of

1024-869: 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. By World War I , many armies had moved on to improved machine guns. The British Vickers machine gun was an improved and redesigned Maxim, introduced into the British Army in 1912 and remaining in service until 1968. Production took place at Erith in Kent, and some models were fitted to early biplanes also fabricated there. The German Army's Maschinengewehr 08 and

1088-454: The Russo-Japanese War , the First and Second World Wars , as well as in contemporary conflicts. The Maxim gun was greatly influential in the development of machine guns, and it has multiple variants and derivatives. The Maxim gun featured one of the earliest recoil -operated firing systems in history. Energy from recoil acting on the breech block is used to eject each spent cartridge and insert

1152-715: The Walther P38 and Beretta 92 , rollers in the MG42 , or a rotating barrel used in the Beretta 8000 and others. An unusual variant is the toggle bolt design of the Borchardt C-93 and its descendant, the Luger pistol . While the short recoil design is most common in pistols, the very first short-recoil–operated firearm was also the first machine gun , the Maxim gun . It used a toggle bolt similar to

1216-409: The blowback method of operation. Short recoil operation differs from long recoil operation in that the barrel and bolt recoil together only a short distance before they unlock and separate. The barrel stops quickly, and the bolt continues rearward, compressing the recoil spring and performing the automated extraction and feeding process. During the last portion of its forward travel, the bolt locks into

1280-587: The 1888 Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his explorations. Afterwards Wissmann was in the employ of King Leopold II of Belgium , who was in the process of creating his personal African empire, known as the Congo Free State . In March 1883 Wissmann gave the name " Zappo Zap " to a Songye leader known as Nsapu Nsapu who ruled over the town of Mpengie, part of the Ben'Eki kingdom in

1344-424: The 19th century, when a number of inventors started to patent designs featuring recoil operation; this was due to the fact that the integrated disposable cartridge (both bullet and propellant in one easily interchangeable unit) made these designs viable. The earliest mention of recoil operation in the British patent literature is a patent by Joseph Whitworth filed in 1855 which proposed to use recoil to partially open

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1408-820: The Browning system were the Remington Model 8 semi-automatic rifle (1906), the Remington Model 11 & "The Sportsman" model (a model 11 with only a two-shell magazine) shotguns, the Frommer Stop line of pistols (1907), and the Chauchat automatic rifle (1915). The short recoil action dominates the world of centerfire semi-automatic pistols , being found in nearly all weapons chambered for high-pressure pistol cartridges of 9×19mm Parabellum and larger, while low-pressure pistol cartridges of .380 ACP and smaller generally use

1472-457: The Congo to suppress resistance. Massacres were carried out with the new Maxim gun , which fired at around 500 rounds per minute. Wissmann also plundered towns and burned fields. Anyone who refused to submit themselves to his forces was killed. Prisoners were used for slave labor and sexual slavery. Wissmann was promoted to major in 1890 and given a hero's welcome on his return to Germany. In 1891 he

1536-518: The German East African naval detachment charged him with arrogance, tactlessness, being undiplomatic, and lack of organizing or administrative skills. The term " Wissmanntruppe " was used for the military and police units under Wissmann's command. They formed the core of the later Schutztruppe which came into life after the German government took over East Africa from the failed company. In 1890

1600-591: The Maxim machine gun since 1887. Model 1889 and Model 1900 Maxims were used for testing, which lasted for years but not continuously. The gun was finally adopted in 1904 as the Maxim Machine Gun, Caliber .30, Model of 1904 as the first rifle-caliber heavy machine gun for standard service in the U.S. Army. The design was characteristic for its visually distinctive cage-like muzzle recoil booster designed by Trevor Dawson and J. Ramsay of Vickers. The first 50 guns and tripods were made by Vickers, Sons & Maxim in

1664-509: The Maxim was far more reliable than its contemporaries. A more immediate problem was that, initially, its position was easily given away by the clouds of smoke that the gun produced (although the same was true of artillery pieces and units of troops that the machine gun was intended to replace or supplement, so this wasn't viewed as a particular drawback by the early users). The advent of smokeless powder (developed by, among others, Hiram's brother Hudson Maxim ), helped to change this. The weapon

1728-707: The Maxim, firing a one-pound shell, was built by Maxim-Nordenfeldt. This was known in the Second Boer War (in South Africa) as the Pom-Pom from its sound. The Boers' "one-pounder" Maxim-Nordenfeldt was a large-caliber, belt-fed, water-cooled "auto cannon" that fired explosive rounds (smokeless ammunition) at 450 rounds per minute. The Maxim gun was also used in the Anglo-Aro War (in present-day Nigeria ) of 1901–1902. National and military authorities were reluctant to adopt

1792-573: The Philippines, Hawaii, Mexico, and Central and South America, but never saw much combat use. During World War I, it remained in the U.S. for training. The Maxim, in the form of the PM M1910 chambered in 7.62×54mmR , has been used by both sides of the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022. Many Maxim guns were retrofitted to suit the nature of modern warfare, including its installation on technicals and

1856-626: The Russian Pulemyot Maxim were both more or less direct copies of the Maxim. It also saw use during the Russian Civil War , which followed the Revolution in 1917. A picture of the period depicts a Maxim gun mounted on a tachanka , a horse-drawn carriage, along with the gunner, firing backwards at a pursuing White Army regiment. Anarchists attribute this mobile setup to Nestor Makhno . The United States Army had shown interest in

1920-439: The U.K. chambered for .30-03 . Colt's Manufacturing Company was selected to produce it domestically, but challenges with schematics and specifications delayed its introduction. By the time Colt began production in 1908 (which was also the last year orders were placed for the guns), a total of 90 M1904s were made by Vickers. Colt made their machine guns for the new .30-06 caliber, and the ones made by Vickers were re-chambered for

1984-452: The action, allowing a wide range of shotshells to be used, from standard to magnum loads, as long as they provide the minimum recoil level to compress the spring. Note that the shotgun must be free to recoil for this to work—the compressibility of the shooter's body is sufficient to allow this movement, but firing the shotgun from a secure position in a rest or with the stock against the ground will not allow it to recoil sufficiently to operate

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2048-564: The attempts of the German East Africa Company to start a dominion collapsed in face of African resistance, it asked Bismarck for help, which was at first refused. In 1888, Wissmann was promoted to captain and appointed 1st official Reichskommissar (8 February 1888 to 21 February 1891) for the German East Africa region where he was tasked with suppression of the Abushiri Revolt led by Abushiri ibn Salim al-Harthi . Wissmann

2112-487: The barrel and cylinder are affixed to an upper frame which recoils atop a sub-frame. As the upper receiver recoils, the cylinder is advanced and hammer cocked, functions that are usually done manually. Notable examples are the Webley–Fosbery and Mateba . Other autoloading systems are: Hermann Wissmann Hermann Wilhelm Leopold Ludwig Wissmann , after 1890 Hermann von Wissmann (4 September 1853 – 15 June 1905),

2176-561: The barrel and pushes the barrel back into battery. The method of locking and unlocking the barrel differentiates the wide array of short recoil designs. Most common are the John Browning tilting barrel designs based on either the swinging link and locking lugs as used in the M1911 pistol or the linkless cam design used in the Hi Power and CZ 75 . Other designs are the locking block design found in

2240-409: The barrel backwards, in addition to the recoil energy. This boost provides higher rates of fire and/or more reliable operation. This type of mechanism is also found in some suppressors used on short recoil firearms, under the name gas assist or Nielsen device , where it is used to compensate for the extra mass the suppressor adds to the recoiling parts both by providing a boost and decoupling some of

2304-476: The bolt head, extracts and ejects the cartridge, cocks the hammer, and compresses the return spring. Once the bolt reaches the end of its travel, the return spring provides the force to chamber the next round from the magazine, and lock the bolt closed. Some short-recoil–operated firearms, such as the German MG 42 and MG 3 , use a mechanism at the muzzle to extract some energy from the escaping powder gases to push

2368-470: The breech of a rifle, the breech then being manually pulled the rest of the way back by hand. Around this time, an American by the name of Regulus Pilon is sometimes stated to have patented in Britain a gun that used a limited form of recoil operation. He had three British patents related to firearms around the 1850s to the 1860s; however, all of them refer to a means of dampening recoil in firearms, which wasn't

2432-606: The company was absorbed into the mother Vickers company, leading first to the Vickers-Maxim gun and then, after Vickers' redesign, the Vickers machine gun . Maxim's first British patents relating to the development of the Maxim gun were granted in June and July 1883. The first prototype was demonstrated to invited guests in October 1884. A prototype of the Maxim gun was given by Hiram Maxim to

2496-537: The eastern Kasai region . This was a settlement with more than a thousand people, many of them slave warriors, to the east of the Sankuru River between Kabinda and Lusambo . Zappo Zap's people became allies and auxiliaries of the Congo Free State authorities. In 1899 they were sent out by the colonial administration to collect taxes. They massacred many villagers, causing an international outcry. When in 1888

2560-482: The entire firearm as the recoiling component, with only the bolt remaining stationary during firing. Because of this, the inertia system is only applied to heavily recoiling firearms, particularly shotguns. A similar system using inertia operation was then developed by Paolo Benelli in the early 1980s and patented in 1986. With the exception of Sjögren's shotguns and rifles in the early 1900s, all inertia-operated firearms made until 2012 were either made by Benelli or used

2624-514: The explorer Dr. Paul Pogge changed his life. Granted a leave of absence from the army, in 1880, Wissmann accompanied explorer Paul Pogge on a journey through the Congo Basin . In the eastern Congo, Pogge and Wissmann parted company. Pogge stayed to build an agricultural research station for a Congolese chief, while Wissmann trekked to the Indian Ocean via present-day Tanzania . He was awarded

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2688-540: The factory where Maxim invented and produced the gun is located in Hatton Garden at the junction with Clerkenwell Road in London. Albert Vickers became the company's chairman, and it later joined hands with a Swedish competitor, Nordenfelt , to become Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company . The Post Office Directory of trades in London of 1895 lists its office at 32 Victoria Street SW (London) on page 1579. Finally,

2752-647: The first uses of the Maxim gun by British Forces was in the 1887 Yoni Expedition . The same prototype used by Stanley was brought back to central Africa by Frederick Lugard , where it played an instrumental role in the establishment of the Uganda Protectorate . The first unit in the world to receive the Maxim was the expeditionary force led by Hermann Wissmann which was sent in 1888 by the German Imperial government to its colonies in East Africa to suppress

2816-428: The loading of firearms is sometimes claimed to be in 1663 when an Englishman called Palmer proposed to employ either it or gases tapped along a barrel to do so. However no one has been able to verify this claim in recent times, although there is another automatic gun that dates from the same year, but its type and method of operation are unknown. Recoil-operation, if it was invented in 1663, would then lie dormant until

2880-404: The mechanism was optimized. For example, the M1911 design with factory springs is optimized for a 230-grain (15 g) bullet at factory velocity. Changes in caliber or drastic changes in bullet weight and/or velocity require modifications to spring weight or slide mass to compensate. Similarly the use of blank ammunition will typically cause the mechanism not to work correctly, unless a device

2944-443: The mechanism. Likewise, care must be exercised when modifying weapons of this type (e.g. addition of extended magazines or ammunition storage on the stock), as any sizable increase in weapon mass can reduce the work done from recoil below that required to cycle the action. As the recoil spring returns to its uncompressed state, it pushes the bolt body backward with sufficient force to cycle the action. The bolt body unlocks and retracts

3008-426: The modern age of automatic machine guns. The same forces that cause the ejecta of a firearm (the projectile(s), propellant gas, wad, sabot , etc.) to move down the barrel also cause all or a portion of the firearm to move in the opposite direction. The result is required by the conservation of momentum such that the ejecta momentum and recoiling momentum are equal. These momenta are calculated by: The barrel

3072-581: The most improved type." In 1895, the Imperial Japanese Army purchased a number of Maxims and tested them during the 1895 invasion of Taiwan but later decided to standardize on the Hotchkiss machine gun . The Imperial Russian Army likewise purchased 58 Maxim machine guns in 1899 and contracted with Vickers in 1902 to manufacture the design in Russia, although manufacturing did not start until 1910. During

3136-553: The mounting of red dot sights . At least one documented Maxim gun used by the Ukrainian Ground Forces in the Battle of Bakhmut still had its original iron wheels with no visible modifications. A Ukrainian soldier told BBC News in March 2023: "It only works when there is a massive attack going on   ... then it really works. So we use it every week". Recoil operation The earliest mention of recoil used to assist

3200-601: The new round. A total of 287 M1904 Maxims were manufactured. The U.S. procured other machine guns after M1904 production ended, including the M1909 Benét–Mercié , the Colt–Vickers M1915 , and the Browning M1917 . M1904 Maxims were issued to infantry companies and cavalry. Each company had four guns with associated tripods, ammunition, and 20 mules to transport the heavy guns. The M1904 was deployed in operations in

3264-572: The next one. Maxim's earliest designs used a 360-degree rotating cam to reverse the movement of the block, but this was later simplified to a toggle lock. This made it vastly more efficient and less labor-intensive than previous manually-operated rapid-firing guns, such as the manually-cranked Mitrailleuse of 1851, the Gatling gun of 1861, the Gardner gun of 1874, or the Nordenfelt gun of 1873. The Maxim gun

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3328-643: The one Borchardt later adapted to pistols. Vladimirov also used the short recoil principle in the Soviet KPV-14.5 heavy machine gun which has been in service with the Russian military and Middle Eastern armed forces since 1949. Melvin Johnson also used the short recoil principle in his M1941 Johnson machine gun and M1941 rifle, other rifles using short recoil are LWRCI SMG 45 and LoneStar Future Weapons RM-277R . An alternative design concept for recoil-operated firearms

3392-438: The recoil springs. Following this rearward movement, the bolt locks to the rear and the barrel is forced forward by its spring. The bolt is held in position until the barrel returns completely forward during which time the spent cartridge has been extracted and ejected, and a new shell has been positioned from the magazine. The bolt is released and forced closed by its recoil spring, chambering a fresh round. The long recoil system

3456-528: The rest of the Coastal Strip. They fortified the interior garrison of Mpwapwa and reopened the main caravan route through the area, using Lts. Langheld, Sigle, Charles Stokes & Sergeant Bauer. Soon afterwards, Abushiri was arrested and executed in Pangani on 16 December 1889. In January 1890, Wissmann issued a general pardon to the remaining rebels. Wissmann's forces used extremely brutal methods borrowed from

3520-405: The suppressor's mass from the firearm's recoiling parts. Muzzle boosters are also used on some recoil-operated firearms' blank-firing attachments to normalize the recoil force of a blank round (with no projectile) with the greater force of a live round, in order to allow the mechanism to cycle properly. Several revolvers use recoil to cock the hammer and advance the cylinder. In these designs,

3584-481: The weapon, and Maxim's company initially had some trouble convincing European governments of the weapon's efficiency. Soldiers generally held a great mistrust of machine guns due to their tendency to jam . In the 1906 version of his book Small Wars , Charles Callwell says of machine guns: "The older forms are not suitable as a rule... they jammed at Ulundi , they jammed at Dogali , they jammed at Abu Klea and Tofrek , in some cases with unfortunate results." However,

3648-523: The words of the figure "Blood" in his poem "The Modern Traveller": Whatever happens, we have got The Maxim gun, and they have not. However, the destructive power of the Maxim gun in colonial warfare has often been embellished by popular myth. Modern historical accounts suggest that, while it was effective in pitched battles, as in the Matabele wars or the Battle of Omdurman , its significance owed much to its psychological impact. A larger-calibre version of

3712-401: Was water cooled , allowing it to sustain its rate of fire far longer than air-cooled guns. The extra weight and complexity this added, however, made it heavier and less flexible in use. Trials demonstrated that the Maxim could fire 600 rounds per minute. Compared to modern machine guns, the Maxim was heavy, bulky, and awkward. A lone soldier could fire the weapon, but it was usually operated by

3776-615: Was a German explorer and administrator in Africa . Born in Frankfurt an der Oder , Wissmann was enlisted in the Prussian Army in 1870 and was commissioned a Lieutenant four years later. Wissmann served Mecklenburg in Füsilierregiment No. 90 posted at Rostock . During this time he had to serve a four-month prison sentence for wounding an opponent in a duel . An 1879 chance meeting with

3840-417: 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. In October that year, he placed an order of 120 rifle-calibre Maxims using the same .577/450 ammunition as the Martini–Henry rifles. Wolseley had previously led military expeditions in Africa (the Ashanti war and the Gordon Relief Expedition in 1884–85) and had

3904-416: Was highly esteemed by his officers and non-commissioned officers, he came under heavy criticism from some German diplomatic and military observers. He was harshly attacked for burning villages and laying waste to agricultural fields, executing great numbers of natives and tolerating no opposition. For the German General-Consul at Zanzibar Michelies he was a military dictator. Rear Admiral Karl August Deinhard of

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3968-437: Was invented in the late 19th century and dominated the automatic shotgun market for more than half that century before it was supplanted by new gas-operated designs. While Browning halted production of the Auto-5 design in 1999, Franchi still makes a long-recoil–operated shotgun line, the AL-48 , which shares both the original Browning action design, and the "humpbacked" appearance of the original Auto-5. Other weapons based on

4032-415: Was named commissioner for the western region of German East Africa and became Reichskommissar in 1895. In the same year his son, Hermann , was born. Ill health forced him to resign from the army return to Germany in 1896, where he authored several books and lectured throughout Germany. Wissmann died in a hunting accident on 15 June 1905, after accidentally shooting himself with his own rifle. Though he

4096-464: Was only given one order: "Victory". On his way to East Africa Wissmann hired a mercenary force of mostly Sudanese soldiers from decommissioned units of the Anglo-Egyptian army to whom later a number of Zulus from South Africa were added, all under the command of German officers. The German forces, along with British naval assistance, fortified Bagamoyo , Dar es Salaam and retook Tanga and Pangani . Wissmann's forces with superior firepower also retook

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