Vickers

[Subdeacon Joe]

Laststandzombieisland

 

One of the scariest sounds for any of the Kaiser’s foot soldiers in the Great War had to be that of the Vickers gun, ready to rattle away in .303 all day. 

The below amazing eight-minute video is the sight and sound of 16 Vickers machine guns rocking and rolling at a recent event saluting the centenary of the disbandment of the British Army’s Machine Gun Corps. Held at the Century range at Bisley, Surrey, it was pulled off by the Vickers Machinegun Collection and Research Association. Set up as a machine gun company, the guns represented gunners from 1912 through 1968, including one team of female factory testers. 

 

 

“The Kaiser’s necklace, compliments of Camp Lee, Va.” showing Doughboys training with a Vickers and holding up one of its 250-round cloth belts. Both the 80th “Blue Ridge” Division, drawn from volunteers from Virginia and western Pennsylvania, as well as the 37th “Buckeye” Division of the Ohio National Guard trained at Camp Lee. (Photo: The Library of Virginia)

 

 

 

[Chantry]

August 1916 in support of a British attack, 10 Vickers .303 machine guns fired continuously for 12 hours, stopping only to change the barrels and re-fill the water jackets.  In addition to the men of the 100th Machine Gun Company, two additional infantry companies were employed carrying water and ammunition to keep the Vickers running.  They fired just under 1 million rounds with no jams or broken parts.

 

"In 1963 in Yorkshire, a class of British Army armorers put one Vickers gun through probably the most strenuous test ever given to an individual gun. The base had a stockpile of approximately 5 million rounds of Mk VII ammunition which was no longer approved for military use. They took a newly rebuilt Vickers gun, and proceeded to fire the entire stock of ammo through it over the course of seven days. They worked in pairs, switching off at 30 minute intervals, with a third man shoveling away spent brass. The gun was fired in 250-round solid bursts, and the worn out barrels were changed every hour and a half. At the end of the five million rounds, the gun was taken back into the shop for inspection. It was found to be within service spec in every dimension."   

 

Link: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a18971/forgotten-weapons-the-vickers-gun-is-one-of-the-best-firearms-ever-made/

 

Modern isn't always better, I can think of no machine gun, that uses a single barrel, currently in service that could match the Vickers for reliability.

 

 

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

My uncle was 16, in 1916, in the trenches and behind one of those.

My cousin Bruce and I heard some hair-raising stories about he and that gun.

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

Didn't see many water supplies / containers in use, but a lot of steam seemed to be coming from somewhere.

 

That many machine guns firing AT you all at once would raise the old pucker factor well over the three digit mark.

[watab kid]

that had to be great fun , burned more 303 in that film than i think i owned in my lifetime , and i had/shot a lot , 

[Chantry]

The British Army and British Indian Army had dedicated machine gun battalions until the end of WWII.  Companies and platoons of machine guns would be  temporarily assigned to support other front line units as needed and returned to their battalion when no longer needed.

 

https://vickersmg.blog/in-use/british-service/the-british-army/divisional-machine-gun-battalions/

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

7 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

Didn't see many water supplies / containers in use, but a lot of steam seemed to be coming from somewhere.

 

That many machine guns firing AT you all at once would raise the old pucker factor well over the three digit mark.

 

Cooled by closed water jacket system:

From Wiki:

" During sustained fire, the barrel would heat up which heated the water in the jacket until hot enough for the water to evaporate or boil thereby cooling the barrel releasing the heat through steam. It took the Mk I 600 rounds of continuous fire to boil the water in the jacket, evaporating at a rate of 1.5 pints (0.852 L) per 1,000 rounds.^[26] The steam would reach the top of the jacket and enter a steam tube which led to a port that was situated under the jacket near the muzzle. A hose was connected to this, which released the steam into a metal water can allowing it to be vented away from the rest of the gun hiding the steam cloud and the gun's position. This also allowed any condensate to be reclaimed from the steam. Before the can got too full, it would be emptied back into the jacket to replenish the water level which would have fallen as the water evaporated and boiled away. If the water jacket needed to be emptied, a plug under the jacket could be unscrewed to drain the entire jacket."  

 

LL

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

Well, see?  No matter how hard I try not to learn any more, someone comes along and educates me.     Just proves a human brain can't get totally filled up and explode.

Here I always thought the water was in the can to replenish what was used.