In 1873, the American inventor Maxim Hiram Stevens invented a weapon, which subsequently significantly influenced the outcome of many battles of the late XIX and first half of the XX century. It was a machine gun, the principle of which was based on the use of recoil when shooting. It can be called the first automatic weapon in the history of mankind.
A decade before Maxim, Richard Gatling had already invented a machine gun, but for firing he had to turn the handle, therefore it could be called “automatic” very conditionally. So the first fully automatic shooting device was invented by Hiram Stevens Maxim.
Maxim didn’t specialize exclusively in creating weapons, his interests were in other areas, so 10 years passed between the sketches of the new device and the creation of the first working sample.
In 1883, the inventor demonstrated his offspring to the American military, but it did not impress them properly. The generals felt that the machine gun had too much fire, and this leads to a large consumption of ammunition.
Successful start machine gun Maxim
Hiram emigrated to the UK and offered his weapons there. The British military also did not show much enthusiasm for the machine gun, although it caused their interest. The release of the device began thanks to banker Nathaniel Rothschild, who agreed to finance this initiative.
The arms company created by Maxim began to produce and advertise machine guns. The scheme of work of this weapon, carefully developed by the inventor, was so perfect that the British, impressed by its reliability, adopted a machine gun, and it was successfully used during the Anglo-Boer War, provoking protests by pacifist organizations.
Maxim arrives in Russia
In Russia, the inventor brought his machine gun in 1887. The caliber of his weapon was 11,43 mm. Subsequently, the machine gun was remade to the caliber of the cartridge of the rifle Berdan, which was then in service with the Russian army (10.67 mm). Showed interest in the machine gun and sailors. Subsequently, the weapon was remade under the caliber of the Mosin rifle cartridge (7.62 mm).
From 1897 to 1904, about 300 machine guns were purchased, and the history of these weapons began in the Russian army. The weight of the machine gun was great - 244 kg. Installed on a heavy wheeled carriage, similar to a cannon, and equipped with a large armor plate, the Maxim machine gun was supposed to be used for the defense of fortresses. Therefore, he was assigned to the artillery department. Since 1904, Maxim began to be produced at the Tula Arms Plant.
The extraordinary efficiency of the new machine gun proved during the Russian-Japanese war of 1904-1905. In parts of it was removed from the gun carriage, whose dimensions were too large, and installed on a tripod.
Since 1910, the actual Russian part of the biography of this weapon begins. The gunners of the Tula plant of Shepherds, Sudakov and Tretyakov upgraded the design of the machine gun, and Sokolov supplied it with a convenient compact gun. As a result, the weapon felt better up to 70 kg with water poured into the casing to cool the barrel.
The upgraded machine gun had the following performance characteristics:
- cartridge caliber 7.62 mm;
- initial speed of a bullet of 800 m / s;
- sighting range of 3000 m;
- firing rate of 300 rounds per minute;
- weight 66 kg.
The weapon was successfully used during the First World War and the Civil War in Russia. The machine gun was installed on cavalry cart, which is widely displayed in films about this period of Russian history.
Subsequent upgrades Maxim machine gun
Modernization of the machine gun was made in 1930, but it was already insignificant. In particular, they increased the opening for pouring water into the casing, which made it possible to fill it with snow. For shooting at long distances added a heavy bullet sample of 1930. The caliber of weapons has not changed. For more accurate shooting machine guns began to provide an optical sight and protractor. Barrel casing acquired longitudinal ribs, which increased its strength.
We can say that the Maxim machine gun is the most common Soviet machine gun of the Great Patriotic War.
Application of Maxim in aviation and air defense
Machine gun Maxim began to install on aircraft, tanks, armored vehicles. However, in aviation, he did not receive much distribution due to his great weight.
Back in 1928, the machine gun was installed on a tripod and began to be used as an anti-aircraft gun, highly successful against the aircraft of that time. In 1931, the famous Soviet gunsmith NF Tokarev was created anti-aircraft installation of 4 machine guns. Was developed and a special sight. This installation was widely used throughout the Great Patriotic War.
Creating a light machine gun
The famous designer gunsmith N. Tokarev in 1924 created on the basis of the easel machine gun, significantly reducing the weight of the model. The Maxim machine gun weighed only 12.5 kg - but that was considered too much. However, it was put into service, and in just one year the Tula Arms Factory produced almost 2.5 thousand units of these weapons. However, his popularity was, alas, far from the glory of easel counterpart.
Completion of the production of machine gun Maxim, but the continuation of the story
In 1943, Maxim was replaced by a new weapon - SG-43. This was the name of the new gun with air-cooled barrel, developed by gunsmith P. Goryunov. His caliber was also equal to 7.62 mm, but he already had other performance characteristics. His characteristics were more adapted to combat in modern conditions, although he also had a fairly large weight - 27.7 kg on a tripod. Maxim’s release stopped, but not his biography, and it was used for quite a long time. The last use of this legendary weapon is considered to be 1969, when Soviet border guards used it during the conflict with China on Damansky Island.
There are facts that Maxim was used in 2014 during the defense of the DPR. Thus, the history of these weapons has been going on for over 100 years.
Today, in almost every historical museum, one can see either a real machine gun or a mock-up of the legendary Maxim.
Interesting fact. In the name of the inventor, emphasis was placed on the first syllable. But speaking of these weapons, the emphasis is usually put on the last syllable, as is more common in Russian.
