Machine gun "Maxim": device, history of creation and technical characteristics

In the history of weapons there are examples that have become iconic. The American Colt equalized the rights of the strong and the physically weak. The Shpagin submachine gun (PPSh) is the weapon of a soldier of Victory. The Kalashnikov assault rifle has participated in all military conflicts on the planet since the mid-20th century. The TT pistol is the weapon of killers and bandits of the dashing nineties.

From this series, a participant in two world wars and the civil war in Russia is the Maxim machine gun, which changed the tactics of war, a “killing machine” and a “hellish mower”.

Mousetrap and machine gun

Hiram Stephens Maxim was born in 1840 in the USA. A typical 19th-century inventor, he registered nearly 300 patents in a variety of fields. These included an asthma inhaler, an electric lighting system, and a steam-powered airplane. The spring mousetrap of the Maxim system has survived to this day almost unchanged. Maxim also invented the notorious bicycle - he developed the design of a wheel with spokes.

But his main creation is the famous Maxim system machine gun, the object of curses of pacifists and humanists. The inventor himself called it a “killing machine,” and the soldiers of the First World War came up with the nickname “hell mower.”

Background

Gunsmiths have long been looking for the possibility of creating a weapon capable of firing more than one shot after pressing the trigger. The first working example of such a weapon was the Gatling machine gun. The multi-barreled monster fired 200 rounds per minute, fantastic for those times. Due to the large number of bullets fired, Gatling's invention began to be called a grapeshot. But it cannot be called an automatic weapon in the full sense. The barrels were moved and cartridges were reloaded by rotating a handle, reminiscent of a drive for a manual meat grinder.

The need to rotate the handle greatly affected the accuracy of shooting; the bulkiness of a multi-barreled weapon on a heavy carriage impaired mobility and stealth. The fixed magazine, which had to be filled periodically, reduced the actual rate of fire during combat use.

Modern aircraft and ship fire systems use up to 12 barrels, but at that time the single-barrel Maxim machine gun, the design of which was based on a new principle, became a breakthrough in the automation of firearms.

Maxim Machine Gun - How Hiram Maxim's Deadly Invention Changed History

Hiram Maxim was a prolific American inventor. During his life, he received dozens of patents for inventions, including new designs for mousetraps, curling irons, steam pumps, bronchitis inhalers, and even amusement park rides. Much of his work was related to aviation, radio engineering and electricity. In 1881, Maxim immigrated to England, where a year later he decided to create his most famous creation.

Photo from militaryhistorynow.com

“I was passing through Vienna, where I met an American whom I knew from the States,” Maxim later said in an interview. “He said: “Throw out your chemistry and electricity!” If you want to make a lot of money, invent something that will make it easier for these Europeans to cut each other's throats."

These words sank into the soul of the inventor, and after three years of hard work in his London workshop, he presented the Maxim machine gun to the world. The British government immediately appreciated the new product and began to actively use the new weapon in colonial wars. For example, during a battle with the African Matabele tribe, British troops armed with Maxim machine guns destroyed more than one and a half thousand tribal warriors in just a few minutes. Its leaders were so depressed by this defeat that they immediately committed suicide en masse by throwing themselves on their own spears. Maxim was so effective at maintaining order in the sprawling British Empire that in 1900, Queen Victoria granted the inventor a knighthood.

Writer Hilary Belloc, in her 1898 book The Modern Traveler, summed up the machine gun's colonial exploits best when she remarked: "Whatever happens, we have the Maxim and they have not."

The next place where these weapons significantly influenced the overall course of events was the Western Front of the First World War. In fact, it was thanks to him that this global conflict received the grim nickname “the war of the machine guns.” Of course, a huge number of rapid-fire weapons were used between 1914 and 1918, but none of them affected the enemy’s psyche as much as the numerous variants of the Maxim machine gun.

It was subsequently used again on the battlefields of World War II, as well as in the Korean Conflict. At least 29 countries used it between 1886 and 1959. However, despite this, it is still associated, perhaps most of all, with the British imperial conquests.

Deadly Machine Gun

Although many 19th-century inventors experimented with automatic weapons, only Hiram Maxim created something remarkable in this field. Chambered in the .303 British cartridge, which had the same stopping power as the modern .308 Win, the Maxim literally destroyed everything in its path at a distance of 450 meters. The cartridges were fed using a canvas belt with a capacity of 250 rounds at a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute. The Maxim was not only more accurate when shooting at long-range targets, but was also renowned for being much more reliable than its counterparts.

By reducing the buildup of gases in the barrel, the Maxim was able to fire more rounds for long periods of time without overheating the barrel. While most weapons of the time were air-cooled, the Maxim's barrel was water-cooled to maintain rate of fire.

However, the weight of the Maxim machine gun was a bulky 27 kg, and the overall length was 108 cm. A team of four to six people was usually required to load, level, carry and care for the Maxim. At least one person had to be in reserve with water and ammunition.

Customers and options

U.S. Army officials heard tales of Maxim's amazing power as early as 1887. Eventually they experimented with the 1889 and 1900 models as possible infantry weapons. Testing continued for some time before the Maxim was accepted into service in 1904, chambered in .30 caliber Model 1904.

Russia became another major customer of the machine gun. During the war with Japan in 1904–1905. Tsarist generals hastily ordered 450 Maxim machine guns from foreign manufacturers.

In the early 1900s, an improved model of the Vickers machine gun entered service with the British Army. The Vickers had an effective firing range of up to 2000 m and a rate of fire of 500 rounds per minute. This machine gun remained in service until the late 1960s.

Germany adopted its own Maxim variant in 1908. The Maschinengewehr 08, or Maxim MG08, became the heavy machine gun of choice for the Kaiser's army. It continued to be used by the army of the Third Reich.

The MG08 machine gun was improved over previous models in that, once cocked, it continued to fire rounds until the shooter released the trigger or until all the rounds in the 250-round cloth belt were expended.

The target firing range of the MG08 was also about two kilometers. Needless to say, to combat such weapons, Germany's enemies resorted to using their own Maxim variants, including the PM M1910, which was a Russian version of the machine gun used on the Eastern Front in 1914, as well as in the Civil War of 1919-1922. The Russian M1910 was mounted on a wheeled chassis with a gun shield and was chambered for the 7.62x54mm cartridge. This caliber was and remains ideal for long-term shooting. The rate of fire of the weapon was 700 rounds per minute.

Maxim's legacy

Popular Mechanics magazine called the Maxim machine gun "one of the finest firearms ever made," citing the weapon's incredible structural integrity.

In its review, the magazine referred to tests carried out in 1963 in Yorkshire by a group of British army gunsmiths. The tests used Vickers, which was no longer considered suitable for military use. Taking at least 5 million rounds of ammunition, the group shot the entire supply one by one over the course of a week.

After seven days of almost continuous firing, the Vickers was dismantled for inspection. The results were stunning. The weapon was found serviceable in all respects. Today, Maxim Firearms produces AR-15 assault rifles, as well as spare parts and accessories under the Maxim brand.

Operating principle of the Maxim machine gun

For a long time, Maxim worked on devices that used the force of steam or gas pressure. It was the recoil energy of the barrel under the action of the powder gases generated during the shot that the inventor decided to use for his machine gun.

When fired, the bullet was pushed forward, the barrel and bolt with the spent cartridge case, acting like a piston, moved back. Having traveled 26 mm, the barrel was returned by a spring to its original position, and the bolt, having become disconnected, traveled another 95 mm. The used sleeve fell into the outlet tube, the bolt, having reached the rearmost position, was pulled forward by a spring. While moving, the bolt picked up the next cartridge and drove it into the chamber. The powder charge in the cartridge case was detonated and the process was repeated.

The time between shots was one tenth of a second, and 600 bullets were fired per minute.

Maxim machine gun. A little about Max Holloway's "impact" numbers

All MMA fans have long known Max Holloway as one of the most active strikers in the octagon. Some blame the former champion for his lack of power in his punches, while others admire the Hawaiian’s speed of fire and cardio. But, absolutely, one cannot calmly look at the number of punches that he throws and lands in every fight. And it’s even harder to watch Ortega and Kattar in the fourth rounds of their fights with Max.

Please don't take this post as an analysis in any way, it's just a collection of fun (and not so fun) facts about Max Holloway's hitting numbers.

For clarity, I will attach an entertaining picture. It shows a graph of punches thrown (Y-axis) and punches thrown (X-axis) by every UFC fighter in every fight since UFC 28. It's easy to guess who owns the two extreme points on the X-axis.

Let's go over the records.

Even before yesterday’s fight, Max held the record for the number of significant blows delivered per fight and per round. These records were 290 and 134 hits, respectively. Both records were set in the fight against Ortega. But Holloway's updated version has taken that record into the stratosphere. Just think about it: 746 thrown strikes! Of these, 445 are significant. And in the fourth round, Max landed 141 punches.

Remember the fight between Lawler and Covington? In that fight, Colby threw 515 punches, this figure was very impressive, surprising and incredible. I can just imagine how Max, rewatching this fight, turns and says the phrase: “Hold my beer.” At the same time, Colby hit only 179 of those 515, and Holloway only hit 141 in the fourth round.

A little more about the rounds. Let's take a look at what one fighter's four most action-packed rounds in UFC history look like. Activity refers to the number of accented beats.

1. Max Holoway (Round 4 vs Kattar) - 141

2. Max Holoway (Round 4 vs Ortega) - 134

3. Neil Magny (Round 2 vs Lombard) - 114

4. Max Holoway (Round 3 vs Aldo 2) – 108

No one else broke the 100-putt mark in a round. Max has 3 rounds of these!

Do you remember that blockbuster that Francis Ngannou and Derrick Lewis staged in the cage? So, the two of them delivered 31 accented blows over three rounds. Max and Kelvin set a record here too; they delivered a total of 578 accented blows between them. But this is for 5-round fights; just for fun, let’s compare their results after three rounds. The result was 289 strikes, which is almost 10 fights between Ngannou and Lewis. Imagine, a full card of 10 fights between Francis and Derrick. Although, no, it’s better not to imagine...

To secure. In this category, the top three fights with the highest total number of significant strikes by both fighters now look like this:

3. Max Holloway (181) vs. Dustin Poirier (178) = 359

2. Max Holloway (290) vs. Brian Ortega (110) = 400

1. Max Holloway (445) vs. Kelvin Cattar (133) = 578

All three of the most active fights in UFC history with Max's participation. MARVELOUS!

Another record from last night's main event, "Blessed" landed 117 significant body shots on Kattar. No one in history has even thrown so many punches, let alone an accentuated hit to the body.

Holloway has 382 strikes left to land and will become the first fighter in UFC history to reach the 3,000 strike mark. Needless to say, here too Max is a confident record holder, the closest pursuer, or rather the pursuer, is Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who has 1711 accented hits. Well, you understand, no one has yet overcome the threshold of 2000, and our hero will quite possibly exchange the third thousand in the next battle.

Now about the fourth round. As I wrote earlier, Max set both yesterday’s record and the previous record for the largest number of significant blows per round in the fourth rounds of his fights. I wondered how he spent the fourth rounds in other fights and this is what I discovered. In total, Hoholloway had 6 fights that reached this mark, and in 4 out of 6 cases it was the fourth round that was the most active on the part of the Hawaiian. It would have been 5 out of 6, but in one of the fights he landed 1 more punch in the fifth round. In other words, if you made it to the fourth round in your fight with Max, get ready for some major "swear word."

How about this fact: since the fight between Max and Aldo, Holoway has been the generator of 1.05% of all significant blows from the promotion. Imagine how many fighters have come through the UFC in 3.5 years, and the former featherweight champion has 1% of the promotion's total strikes. If even now there are about 400-500 fighters on the promotion’s roster, then Max works for at least 4-5 fighters, and taking into account those fired, there will be all 10.

At yesterday's tournament, a total of 1409 significant blows were delivered by all fighters. Max owns 31.6% of this amount, that is, he alone dealt a third of the blows of the entire tournament, which included 20 fighters.

I hope this statistic was entertaining. Thank you for your attention!

How the Maxim machine gun became Russian

Maxim's main activity as a gunsmith took place in England, where he moved in 1881. In the United States, the Maxim machine gun did not arouse interest among the military. In the absence of significant military conflicts as places where the machine gun could be used, its rate of fire was considered unnecessary, and the weapon itself was considered too complex and expensive.

It took 2 years for Maxim to refine his machine gun. The drawings were ready in 1883, and the inventor became active in the production and sale of new weapons. Turning out to be a talented marketer, Maxim managed to interest all the leading countries of Europe, many countries in Asia and South America. What is the rate of fire indicated by him in the form of the “number of the Antichrist” - 666! The fame of the “devilish weapon” spread throughout all the armies of the world. The Russian Tsar also became interested in the new product. In 1888, he personally tested the weapon, and several samples were purchased.

In 1910, a modernized Maxim machine gun began to be produced at the arms factory in Tula. The drawings and license were purchased from Sir Maxim's company. The machine with wheels was designed by the Russian military engineer Sokolov, the machine gun took on the canonical appearance, familiar to everyone from paintings, photographs and films dedicated to the history of Russia and the USSR.

Max Machine Gun Bulahtin

In 2009, Max Machine Gun Bulahtin began training in MMA. His debut at the competition took place in 2010 against Magi Ismailov.

He admits that he took steroids, which allowed him to gain muscle mass over 100 kg. Now Max does not take steroids and his stable weight is about 85 kg.

He was drafted into the army in 2000. First he was assigned to military unit 07008 in the city of Vladimir. Served in tank training. He believes that the army gave him a lot. Keeps in touch with his colleagues. I wanted to join the army myself. They were not accepted into the army for a certain period of time due to low body weight. Max had to lift weights a lot to compete.

Mother worked in the market. Max took the weights for the scales from her and taped them to her legs in front of the medical commission. Weighing showed 50 kilograms. The birthday and farewell to the army took place on the same day. And at the re-weigh-in, already during the service, it was surprising how he was called up at all with such a body weight. And they even wanted to give him a commission, but Maxim refused. Thanks to his diet and regimen, Max gained up to 80-85 kilograms. While demobilized, he began to rock and eat stewed meat.

Personal life of Maxim Machine Gun Bulahtin

Max says this is a tough question. Max never married, but he has a lot of children: 5 sons and 2 daughters. But he doesn’t see and keep in touch with everyone. He says that he is like a pirate - he has children in every port. There are 3 children in Moscow. The eldest son was born in 2006 and now lives with Max. Since 2015, he has not lived with anyone. He sees his sons and maintains relationships. Children communicate with each other.

Maxim Machine gun Bulahtin travel

Was in Egypt, Prague. He says that staying at a hotel does not appeal to him. But I really enjoyed the trip to Gelendzhik by the savages.

During my studies I didn’t like to read, but now there are very diverse literary topics. I read the Old Testament, the Jewish State. Literature is very interesting for Max. But not detectives, detectives are slag, says Max. But there are very good adventures and science fiction. I read a stalker in prison.

Max says he's a nerd. He has been playing computers since he was 8 years old. There were also family problems on this basis. I lost several normal women because of this. Word of Tanks, Max still plays to this day.

Since joining Hardcore, Max is not going to feel sorry for himself. He conducts two training sessions a day, and this in turn motivates his children. There is no better motivation for children than a child’s own example.

He wants to get media exposure, run his own channel and become a martial arts coach. Believes that he has something to share with people.

Max Machine gun Bulahtin about football

Max Machine Gun believes that football is dead. And he started dying quite a long time ago. The decline began when people began to communicate less. Maxim Machine Gun started playing around football in 2007 and left in 2013; he was a starter in the first line. I remember the fight in which Bronson participated. Max says that it was the most fierce fight for him, then he was very seriously injured. By the way, Max Machine Gun fought for Yaroslavka.

After prison, Max fell into depression from which Volkov pulled him out.

Before hardcore, Max had a fight at Punch clube. I chose hardcore for a number of reasons. One of them is that Max trains with Edik Vartanyan. Max likes the way Hardcore makes content. Max doesn’t want to talk about his plans in Hardcore, he just likes this movement. Max has a desire to fight with Vasya Killer.

Improvements and upgrades

The first models of the machine gun had parts made of expensive non-ferrous metals and required a lot of labor and highly qualified gunsmiths. Therefore, one Maxim machine gun, the design of which was very difficult to produce, cost as much as a small locomotive. Subsequently, brass and bronze were replaced by steel, Tula gunsmiths found ways to avoid individual fitting of each part, but the machine gun was always a rather expensive product.

Even after numerous upgrades, the machine gun could not avoid significant shortcomings. The water cooling system of the barrel in the form of a characteristic casing made it possible to conduct automatic fire in long bursts without any visible consequences for the weapon. But the need to have a constant supply of water made it difficult to use weapons in combat. Often the casing was damaged even by bullets, especially by fragments of mines and grenades.

The armored shield, together with the water-filled casing and the massive machine, determined the heavy weight of the Maxim, reaching up to 70 kg. In marching formation, the machine gun was carried disassembled by three soldiers, and boxes with ribbons were distributed throughout the company. The high position of the shield made camouflage difficult, which forced them to frequently change position, so the machine gunners often removed the protection.

The cartridge strip was made of either fabric or metal. The fabric tape contaminated the machine gun and quickly became unusable.

But the high combat effectiveness of the machine gun justified the widespread use of Maxim’s invention.

THE APPEARANCE OF “RUSSIAN MAXIM”

THE APPEARANCE OF “RUSSIAN MAXIM”

In the difficult situation of the unsuccessful war in the Far East and the unrest that began throughout Russia, the production of the Maxim machine gun began in Tula. In March 1904, ITOZ received an order for 122 machine guns and an allocation of 100 thousand rubles. Head of ITOS A.V. Kuhn planned to produce the first machine gun by September 1, 1904. But only on December 5, 1904, under the leadership of P.P. Tretyakov and I.A. Pastukhova gunsmiths M. Zyabrev, M. Sudoplatov, I. Sudakov assembled the first machine gun produced by ITOZ. On December 8, Kun sent a report to the GAU that the machine gun “passed all the established tests quite satisfactorily,” firing 3,000 rounds without delays or breakdowns. Since special steels were not received from Vickers, the machine gun was made from steel used in the production of rifles mod. 1891

Finally, mass production began in May - the machine gun, manufactured on May 1, 1905, officially bore “No. 1”. The greatest contribution to the establishment and development of production of Maxim machine guns mod. In 1905, Pavel Petrovich Tretyakov and Ivan Alekseevich Pastukhov contributed to ITOZ.

Machine gun "Maxim" produced by ITOZ with number 1 on display at the Tula State Weapons Museum. Nearby is a device for properly equipping the belt with cartridges

In October 1905, the assembly of machine guns with an improved bolt began. At the end of December 1905, the head of the ITZ reported to the GAU that 32 machine guns and almost all the parts for assembling another 105 machine guns were ready. However, in 1905, ITOZ delivered only 28 machine guns (16 entered the army). The lack of fulfillment of orders was largely due to the lack of machine tools - the plant needed about 700 more different machines. True, in 1904–1905. ITOZ was able to strengthen its equipment by 600 machines, purchased mainly abroad.

Production was initially required to have complete interchangeability of parts. It has long become mandatory for the Russian arms industry, but now the requirements for accuracy and uniformity in the manufacture of parts and compliance with technical conditions for them have increased qualitatively. It should be noted that Tretyakov and Pastukhov, while in 1903, discovered that the company had not yet achieved interchangeability in machine guns - the bolt, assembled from parts of four machine guns, caused a delay already on the 20th shot (the bolt, or “lock”, as it was then called, was the most difficult unit to manufacture). And Vickers representative Yu.K. Miller, who arrived in Tula in 1905, was able to verify that the interchangeability of the castle parts had been achieved here. But production volumes were still small.

While production was being set up in Tula, the War Ministry issued another order to the Berlin DWM plant. It has long been no secret that the German military industry largely grew on Russian orders, nor that it was a very efficient supplier. And the acceptance of ordered machine guns from DWM, for which Colonel P.P. was sent to Germany. Tretyakov, Colonel A.A. Kubasov (who took over the instrumental workshop from him) and senior master D.N. Smirnova, became a good reason to get acquainted in detail with the improvements made to the technology and organization of production by German specialists.

Help from other artillery establishments was also required. In the Journal of the Economic Committee of the ITOZ dated February 7, 1906, it was indicated that for the order for 400 machine guns the following should be received: “from the Bryansk Arsenal - 400 pairs of wheels, from the Izhevsk plant - 400 pieces of large shields, 400 pieces of small shields, 400 pieces of axles, 1600 pieces of rough machine gun barrels.”

As one might expect, problems arose with the power supply system, namely with the canvas machine-gun belt. In March 1906, three English tapes and four manufactured by ITOZ were tested at the Main Artillery Range. According to the test site’s report, “belts made from English fabric turned out to be noticeably better than those made from Russian braid” - the latter had cramped sockets, too much of the energy of the moving system was spent on removing the cartridge from the tape, which led to delays in shooting. On February 23, 1907, Artcom admitted that “improving the production ... of braid is an urgent need of the military department.” Of the various options tested by ITOZ, the best was the braid from the Riga manufactory, supplied by Šimunek and Co. Shimunek and Co. received an order for tape for machine gun belts already in 1906, at the same time 300 sets of leather covers and bags for machine guns were ordered to the Tula workshop S. Rabinovich - the involvement of “private industry” was limited to such orders. Machine guns also required improvements in cartridge production. The report of the Head of ITZ dated July 16, 1907 indicated that when firing machine guns with cartridges from the St. Petersburg and Lugansk factories, there were frequent cases of capsules breaking through, gases escaping through the capsule socket, and bullets falling out. In addition, particles of bullet casing (especially in the cartridges of the Tula Cartridge Plant) quickly clogged the muzzle, and therefore in 1906 they even tested two versions of modified muzzles, but they did not show any visible advantages.

In the first three months of 1907, ITOZ delivered 64 machine guns to the Tula department of the Moscow artillery warehouse, in April - 24, May - 40, June - 72, July - 56, August - 40. In total for 1907 - 448 (according to others According to data, 440) “infantry” and 77 naval (without carriages) machine guns. At the same time, in 1906, only 73 machine guns out of 145 produced were delivered to the army (only 3 were delivered to the navy), in 1907 - 228 out of 525, i.e., about half of the machine guns handed over by the plant were accepted. The technology for serial production had not yet been developed, and there were delays in the supply of steel from the Izhevsk steelmaking plant. But until 1908, essentially pilot production was going on. Between 1905 and 1908, 1,376 serial “land” machine guns with spare parts were produced (820 “serf” and 556 “field”) and 208 “sea” machine guns.

The first Russian machine guns also made their way abroad - immediately after the Russo-Japanese War, the Bulgarian government turned to Russia with a request to purchase machine guns. On January 3, 1906, it was “highly deigned” to release one serf and one pack machine gun with 20,000 rounds of ammunition free of charge. Experiments with them apparently made a good impression; Bulgaria intended to order ITOZ 144 pack and 115 fortress machine guns, but in the end, chose the same German DWM as the supplier.

War experience also pointed to the “desirability of obtaining greater range” and flat shooting, which contributed to the adoption in 1908 of a 3-line rifle cartridge with a pointed bullet. We had to modify machine guns for it - change the sight mount, modify the chamber to accommodate a new bullet profile, and increase the diameter of the muzzle sleeve hole to reduce impulse loads when firing. It was also decided to lighten the machine gun itself (Artkom defined such a task at the beginning of 1909) and to adopt a new machine that would allow machine guns and installations of the same type in foot and mounted machine gun teams. The requirements for the new machine were formulated by Artcom GAU together with the Officer Rifle School.

The adoption of the relatively light 8-mm machine gun of the A. Schwarzlose system in Austria-Hungary in 1907 forced the acceleration of research into “light” and “light” machine guns in other countries.

In the summer of 1908, Maxim also sent his version of the machine gun, lightweight to 18.48 kg, for testing. In July 1909, Vickers sent a new version weighing 11.36 kg - the company had been developing a “light” machine gun for several years, and Russian specialists were very interested in this work. In particular, Vickers specialists replaced bronze and cast iron parts with steel ones (it was even proposed to make some parts from duralumin), rearranged and simplified the lock, lightened the machine gun box, introduced a new muzzle, and simultaneously improved the design of the trigger rod. The new Vickers machine gun, its tripod and cartridge box could be carried in the form of backpacks by three crew numbers.

Artcom about the new Vickers machine gun, and on December 3, 1909, the GAU ordered the ITOZ to “establish as soon as possible the production of Maxim light machine guns so that their delivery begins in August 1910,” while an order of 600 was given for 1910 machine guns. On January 29, 1910, Vickers delivered its model “light” machine gun to ITOZ. It worked with delays, but the Tula team also had to make a number of changes to their experienced machine guns. To make the machine gun lighter, a number of bronze parts (control handles, receiver, barrel casing and others - except for the barrel bushing and the steam pipe in the barrel casing) were replaced with steel, following the example of the British and Germans (MG.08 machine gun). Tests in mid-1910 of a “lightweight” Vickers machine gun on a tripod with a detachable wheel travel at the Officer Rifle School training ground showed that it “did not fire at all automatically with either old or new cartridges.” Note that this was the first, not yet serial model of the modified Vickers machine gun, known in our country as the Vickers 1910. The British were just setting up production of the new model (which later became famous and widespread in the world) and were in a hurry to comply with the agreement “stake out” it in Russia. It is characteristic that during the tests, machine guns were fired at large angles of elevation and declination - in addition to the need to use machine guns in fortresses, the experience of fighting in mountainous areas during the Russo-Japanese War had an impact here. During such shooting, there were often “non-recoil” of the moving system due to its weight or lack of return of the bolt due to insufficient force of the return spring. Vickers improved the design, but still the Tula “light” machine gun was recognized as the most compliant with the GAU requirements. Taking into account the fact that machine gun production was a relatively new matter for ITOZ, the “win” for the eminent was a noticeable success.

7.62-mm machine gun "Maxim" mod. 1910 on a Sokolov wheeled machine of the original model with folding front legs, a seat cushion and a roller (roller) on the trunk

However, the Tula light machine gun also needed improvements. By October, the modified machine gun was ready. As often happens, a number of minor changes have resulted in a noticeable increase in operational reliability and ease of use. Refinement of the shutter and receiver parts increased the reliability of the power system. Pastukhov finalized the design of the muzzle. After much debate, it was decided to put the production of a light machine gun at ITOZ with changes made by the plant’s technical staff officer, Colonel P.P. Tretyakov.

Under the leadership of Tretyakov, the Tula residents also prepared the production of a “light” machine gun, delivering the first two “light” machine guns on June 15, 1910. They planned to arm the cavalry with a machine gun weighing 18.8 kg (with water). But for these purposes, the War Ministry issued an order for a “light” machine gun on a tripod machine (while the Tula residents used some features of the “light” Vickers machine gun, and used a number of modifications made at ITOZ). However, the company delayed fulfilling the order. At the beginning of the World War, “Vickers light machine guns” showed insufficient reliability, and they had to be corrected at the same ITOZ.

After testing the lightweight Tula machine gun, it was put into service under the designation “Maxim heavy machine gun mod. 1910" with a wheeled field machine of Colonel A.A. Sokolova. In addition to these changes, the machine gun sight, parts of the box and casing, the butt plate, and the trigger rod also changed. Machine gun mod. 1910 was indeed significantly improved compared to the prototype, primarily in technological terms, but it is hardly correct to say that “Russian technicians created, in fact, a new machine gun.” Nevertheless, the financial relationship with Vickers, Sons and Maxim within the framework of the contract was reviewed, agreeing on a reduction in remuneration. The regulations of the Military Council dated March 4, 1910 established: “Under the contract concluded on March 9, 1904 by the Main Artillery Directorate with the Vickers, Sons and Maxim company, to pay from January 1, 1910 to the end of the contract on February 23, 1915, 60 f. Art. instead of the 80 pounds stipulated by this contract. Art. for each finished machine gun." Also in 1910, a new machine for equipping machine gun belts was adopted.

The machine gun mount was truly a new and completely original design. After the Russo-Japanese War, the following view on the use of machine guns was established: the machine gun is a powerful weapon of fire, necessary for both infantry and cavalry; a machine gun is necessary both during defense and during an offensive, and therefore the design and size of machine guns and installations should allow them to accompany troops everywhere, allow covert movement, and quick installation in position. The development of the new machine began shortly after the Russo-Japanese War and based on its experience. We tested several field installations of domestic and foreign design, including those proposed by officers who “were with machine guns in the last war.” P.P. Tretyakov developed his own version of the “mountain pack tripod” for the machine gun, but the most attention was attracted by the tripod machines and the machine gun of Captain Sokolov, developed in 1907 with the participation of the foreman of the St. Petersburg gun factory Platonov and combining the features of a “sled” (allowing crawling and shooting from a prone position and camouflage in low vegetation), wheeled (the ability to roll on the march and on the battlefield) and tripod (stability, the ability to fire from a sitting position) machines. Sokolov's machine was refined based on the results of tests at the Officer Rifle School and in the troops. The machine was put into service under the designation “machine arr. 1908", but more often it was referred to as the "Sokolov machine".

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Movement of the Maxim machine gun mod. 1910 on Sokolov’s machine using a strap on the battlefield (1) and on the march (2)

The importance attached to the machine gun and the new machine is evidenced by the awarding of the Mikhailov Prize to Sokolov, who by that time had become a colonel, for 1912. Serial production of the new modification of the Maxim and the new machine began in 1911. Sokolov also developed a machine-gun gig, manufactured by St. -Petersburg (later Petrograd) Arsenal, and then - Bryansk Arsenal. Acceptance of the gig was an urgent problem - A.A. Brusilov, for example, recalled that when at the beginning of 1909 he received the 14th Army Corps in the Warsaw District, the machine guns in the regiments were “without harnesses, so that in case of war they would have to be transported on ordinary carts.”

Before the complete “victory” of the Sokolov machine gun, four more types of field installations were used for the Maxim machine gun: a “field” wheeled carriage with a shield and a seat for the gunner (very similar to the “fortress” carriage), a Vickers tripod mod. 1904 and 1909, Vickers tripod model 1910 with wheels and shield. Wheeled carriages were finally replaced in the Russian army by Sokolov machines or tripod machines by 1914, in connection with this, in 1913 the question was raised about using the freed carriages as wheeled rifle shields (the question of rifle shields was also raised by the Russo-Japanese War) . But if the shield protected against a blunt-pointed rifle bullet of 5.5 - 6 mm at a distance of 50 steps, then a pointed one pierced it even from 150 steps, so the engineering units were not interested in these carriages. Machine guns on wheeled carriages still remained in schools as training ones - at least, the cadets had them during the revolutionary battles in Moscow in October - November 1917.

Among the many projects and proposals on methods of using machine guns that came to the Russian military department, there were very interesting in essence, although curious in execution. For example, the project of a protected machine-gun cart by S.B. Apostolova (a privilege was even taken for her in 1904), in which the horse was harnessed behind a chaise with a machine gun mount and an armored shield. Similar projects for “rolling up” machine guns to enemy positions were proposed ten years later, during the First World War - for example, the project of a three-wheeled “shield-cart” by P. Streltsov with a pair of horses harnessed from behind, two “Maxim” machine guns and an armored shield.

Many copies were broken due to the installation of a machine gun, most suitable for cavalry. After the Russo-Japanese War, the Grodno Hussar Regiment tested two systems of “light cavalry machine gun carriages,” and the Olviopol Regiment tested Captain Kozlovsky’s carriage—all unsuccessfully. On July 10, 1906, the resolution of the State Defense Council “to accept machine guns of the Maxim pack system for the cavalry” was “highly approved.” However, the issue of machine gun armament for the cavalry was resolved for several more years. A special meeting with the Inspector General of Infantry was unable to give specific recommendations, and Minister of War Sukhomlinov ordered “despite the incomplete suitability for cavalry of the type of Maxim machine gun being adopted, they are now being introduced into cavalry arsenal.”

In the Maxim cavalry mod. 1910 was readily accepted with Sokolov’s machine.

With regard to the “serf” machine guns, the situation looked worse. During the experimental mobilization in September 1912 - in connection with the 1st Balkan War - in the Osovets fortress, for example, a shortage of 24 machine guns and 678,780 machine gun cartridges against the staff was revealed - even at the reduced standards of 1908, observation and fire control fortress guns and machine guns were weak. In addition, machine guns on high-wheeled carriages turned out to be inconvenient for firing through embrasures and had to be placed on the gunwales. It is not surprising that work was carried out to replace wheel carriages with stationary or portable installations, but for the most part they remained experimental. Major General I. Fabritius, who served in the Main Engineering Directorate, developed projects for a light hidden machine gun turret and an “armored pipe for hiding the Maxim machine gun,” which were to be mounted behind a concrete parapet and quickly brought into firing position. In June 1907, the State University of Engineering even proposed to manufacture Fabricius' experimental installations in Petrograd, but despite all the ingenuity of the design, they were not accepted.

In July 1911, experimental firing of machine guns on Vickers tripods was carried out in the Mikhailovsky Fortress. In protocol No. 1, the testing commission indicated that at full declination angle, “the machine gun is located so low that its placement in the caponier is impossible.” At the request of the commandant of the Kronstadt Fortress, 24 “armored posts” designed by Colonel Sokolov were installed to cover the machine guns placed on the Alekseevsky and Nikolaevsky forts for defense from the land side. However, the posts were unfinished, and already during the war, Artcom, by decision of November 3, 1915, recognized “it was necessary to make some changes in the posts.” In some fortresses, heavy machine guns remained on fortress carriages; some of them ended up in border divisions at the beginning of the war.

The adoption of a ten-year program for the restoration and development of the army and navy made it possible to improve financing for the production of new weapons. This program also included 1275 machine guns for the fortresses of Kovno, Osovets, Novogeorgievsk, Brest and Vladivostok (worth 5,100,000 rubles), and first of all, ITOZ in July 1910 received an order for 100 machine guns for Vladivostok, which it delivered by July 1911 (in total, according to the 1910 project, the Vladivostok fortress was supposed to have 268 machine guns on the land front and 56 on the coastal front). To arm the land front of the Sea Fortress of Peter the Great on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, 164 machine guns were planned - machine guns were included in the “machine gun batteries” of the artillery of the land front of the fortress.

Upon completion of the entire production program of “light” machine guns mod. 1910, it was supposed to remake the 2,790 “heavy” Maxim machine guns available in the army according to its type (model 1905 and English - by replacing parts), but the last operation began only in 1914. To remake the old machine guns for a pointed cartridge, the head of the assembly machine gun workshop Colonel A.A. Kubasov designed the insert. By the beginning of the World War, not all old machine guns had been converted to a new cartridge, as evidenced by the GAU message to the Chief of Artillery Supply of the Southwestern Front dated October 12, 1914 about the deportation from Tula “to the forward reserve of exactly 5 million blunt cartridges... for 100 heavy machine guns "

The 1st Balkan War of 1912–1913, in which machine guns were used very intensively, had a noticeable influence on the machine gun armament of the Russian Army. In connection with this war in Russia, an inventory of the reserves of the War Ministry was carried out, and it turned out that the mobilization reserves were missing 24% of machine guns, the available cartridges were mostly of the old type (with a blunt bullet), and the reserves of new cartridges did not even meet the standards established in 1908 The reason for the low standards and slow procurement of cartridges lay, first of all, in the regular cutting of allocations. All this had to be taken into account when drawing up the Program for strengthening the army. The “Small Program,” which became law on July 10, 1913 and was designed for five years, allocated the bulk of the funds to the development of artillery, including the completion of deliveries of machine guns according to the main plan of 1906, the conversion of “heavy” machine guns into “light” ones, as well as the completion of preparation of 3-line cartridges for rifles and machine guns. On July 24, 1914, a more ambitious “Great Program to Strengthen the Army” was adopted, which provided for bringing annual production to 1000 machine guns and 700 machines for them, but its implementation was not even started. The production level of 1000 machine guns per year was considered to be the limit; there was simply no need to spend money to increase it beyond this norm.

Machine gun "Maxim" mod. 1910 on a simplified Sokolov machine from the exhibition of the Tula State Weapons Museum. Front right view

Even during the Russo-Japanese War, the question of “expanding” the Tula Arms Plant was raised, but after it ended, the authorities simply had no time for it. But since, with new orders for machine guns, the plant continued to produce both rifles and revolvers, separate areas were required for the production of machine guns. ITOZ planned the creation of “two new machine gun workshops.” The territory of the plant was limited, and the head of the ITZ petitioned the State Agrarian University to allocate funds for the construction of a separate machine-gun assembly workshop. Permission was received on March 25, 1905. Financial difficulties after the Russo-Japanese War and the revolution of 1905–1907. delayed the decision on the acquisition of a new site. Only on May 21, 1912, the Tula Imperial Peter the Great Arms Factory, with the permission of the State Agrarian University, acquired from the L.V. Trading House. Gautier" site, buildings and equipment of the "steel and mechanical plant". The GAU allocated 1,300 thousand rubles for the construction of a new machine gun plant on this basis.

The production of machine guns required the most accurate metalworking machines and measuring tools for those years, and highly qualified workers. Let's say the tolerance on the diameter of the bore along the rifling fields was 0.0028, and at the bottom of the rifling - 0.0031 inches. Some parts of the Maxim machine gun lock “rubbed” together with the precision of the patterns they were made from. If the production of a 3-line rifle required 106 parts and 540 patterns, then the production of the Maxim machine gun required 282 individual parts and 830 patterns, and its machine required 126 parts and 234 patterns. The production of one Maxim machine gun took 2448 operations, 2422 transitions, 700 working hours and loading 40 machines per day. The net production time for one rifle is 35 hours, one machine gun is 500 hours, and a machine gun machine is 170 hours. For the manufacture of machine gun barrels, cast steel with a low carbon content and admixtures of manganese and tungsten was used. The production of machine guns in general has significantly increased the consumption of high-quality carbon and alloy steels in the weapons industry.

The dynamics of the production of machine guns, machine tools, parts for them and packs can be seen from the following table, compiled from the works of A.A. Manikovsky and V.S. Mikhailova.

In total, before 1914, 4,782 machine guns were manufactured in Russia, including training and experimental ones.

“Naval” Maxim machine guns on ships were placed on pedestal installations with large elevation angles. A wheeled landing carriage was also proposed for the fleet, which differed from the field one only in its lower mass, stroke width (for installation in a boat) and smaller shield dimensions, but it was not accepted.

Cavalry Killer

From the first examples of use, the Maxim heavy machine gun had a great influence on combat tactics. The military actions of the British in suppressing uprisings in the African colonies and the Russo-Japanese War showed the futility of massive infantry attacks against machine gun fire.

The military armies of different countries, who in the past had uniforms of bright colors, changed into modest khaki, less noticeable in a machine gun sight. Maxim’s invention forced armies to bury themselves in the ground, largely predetermining the emergence of the concept of “trench warfare.”

He forced the mounted army units to dismount and put an end to cavalry as the main type of troops. When attacking with lava, machine guns mowed down people and horses almost completely.

Although it was the use of spring carts with machine guns mounted on them that gave birth to a new type of mobile fire weapon. The legendary cart became a symbol of Budyonny’s First Cavalry Army and the units under the command of Father Makhno.

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Tuesday, January 03, 2012 11:05 + to quote book “Maxim” heavy machine gun - part 2.
Epigraph (from the film “Brother -2”): “Machine gun?
Chapaevsky... Thing! The ancestor of all automatic weapons - the Maxim machine gun - was widespread in many countries around the world at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, but most of our compatriots strongly associate this weapon with Russia; we consider the Maksimka to be a purely Russian machine gun. And there are certain reasons for this...

Maxim machine gun in Russia

Maxim reached Russia in 1887. The demonstration sample of the .45-caliber (11.43 mm) machine gun he brought was tested at the training ground, after which even Emperor Alexander III, who was interested in the new product, fired from it. He, representatives of the Russian military department and military designers were very surprised when they were presented with a weapon that fired at a rate of more than 600 rounds per minute. As a result of the demonstration, Russia ordered Maxim 12 machine guns for the caliber of the Berdan rifle (10.67 mm). The machine guns were delivered to St. Petersburg in mid-1899. The Russian navy also became interested in the new weapon, which ordered two machine gun models for testing, and then purchased another 291 machine guns during 1897-1904.

The Maxim machine gun used by Emperor Alexander III

The company “Sons of Vickers and Maxim” began supplying the Maxim machine gun to the Russian army at the beginning of 1899. By that time, the Berdan rifle had already been withdrawn from service, and the Maxim machine guns were converted to the 7.62x54 mm R caliber of the Russian Mosin rifle. In the Russian army, machine guns, as a new type of weapon, were subordinated to artillery. It was installed on a heavy carriage with large wheels and a large armored shield. The mass of the entire structure was about 250 kg. It was planned to use this installation for the defense of fortresses, as well as from pre-equipped and protected positions. It was planned to use machine-gun fire to counter massive enemy infantry attacks on Russian fortifications; They also thought about using these weapons in field maneuver battles. In the navy, machine guns were supposed to be used to repel enemy boarding attacks and shoot enemy sailors serving the guns.

“Fortress” machine gun “Maxim” - a participant in the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905.

However, purchasing machine guns abroad was difficult and expensive - each British Maxim cost the Russian treasury 3,000 rubles in gold! Therefore, in February 1902, the Main Artillery Directorate (GAU) decided to organize the production of machine guns at the Tula Arms Plant. The GAU entered into an agreement with a representative of Vickers, Sons and Maxim Limited on the following terms: the company transfers to Russia the right to produce machine guns, for which it is paid 80 pounds sterling (756 rubles in gold) for each unit for 10 years, after which “maxims” "can be produced in any quantity without any remuneration. The production of machine guns was entrusted to the Imperial Tula Arms Plant (ITOZ). Calculations by ITOZ specialists showed that each “Maxim” would cost the Russian treasury, taking into account payments to the British, 2,113 rubles - almost a thousand rubles less than what had to be spent on buying a machine gun abroad. The first prototype of the Tula Maxim was manufactured on December 5, 1904. It received the name “machine gun model 1905”. Its cost completely coincided with the calculated one, and the reliability of the weapon even increased. Thus, Tula machine guns turned out to be cheaper, easier to manufacture and more reliable than foreign ones; their valves were completely interchangeable, something that English and German factories could not achieve for a long time. By that time, Russia had already gained the first experience of combat use of the Maxim - in the battles of the Russo-Japanese War. Already the first battles of 1904 showed that the machine gun was an extremely reliable and effective weapon, extremely necessary for maneuverable field combat. However, something else emerged: under the conditions of that time, machine guns installed on ships turned out to be completely useless in naval battles, which were fought with large-caliber artillery at a distance of several kilometers. Therefore, dozens of Maxims from the ships of the Pacific squadron were transferred to the army for the defense of the port-fortress of Port Arthur. The battles also showed that the heavy carriages with large wheels of the Russian “serf” Maxims were too bulky and difficult to maneuver even for transfer to an area of ​​fortifications that had come under attack, not to mention use in the field. However, in Port Arthur and Manchuria, even such bulky Maxims showed their irreplaceable value in battle. So, in one of the battles near Mukden, a Russian battery (let me remind you that in the Russian army machine guns were subordinate to the artillery department), equipped with sixteen Maxim machine guns, withstood several attacks by thousands of Japanese. Soon the entire battlefield was littered with enemy bodies - the Japanese side lost half of their soldiers from the total number of attackers. Without the help of machine guns it would have been simply impossible to repel these attacks. Having fired several tens of thousands of rounds in a relatively short period of time, the Russian machine guns nevertheless did not fail and were in good condition, thereby proving their exceptional combat characteristics. Now machine guns began to be purchased in the hundreds, despite the significant price. At the same time, already in the troops, “Maxims” were removed from heavy carriages and, in order to increase maneuverability, they were placed on homemade machines that were lighter and more convenient to transport.

Photo from the period of the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905.

After the end of the Russo-Japanese War, work began at the Tula plant to modernize the Maxim in accordance with the combat experience gained. First of all, new machines were developed for this machine gun, which would allow it to more quickly maneuver on the battlefield. The best results were shown by the wheeled machine developed by Colonel Sokolov. Sokolov also designed special cartridge boxes for Maxim, a gig for transporting ammunition, and sealed cylinders for boxes of cartridges. Simultaneously with the development of a more convenient machine, Tula gunsmiths reduced the weight of the machine gun itself, and also altered some parts in connection with the adoption of a cartridge with a pointed bullet of the 1908 model. This also caused the need to change the sighting devices in the Maxim machine gun, remake the receiver so that it would fit the new ammunition, and also widen the hole in the muzzle bushing to avoid too much shaking of the machine gun when firing. For greater strength, the barrel casing was made of corrugated steel. The Maxim machine gun with the new machine now weighed about 60 kg; It also included machine gun belts, machines for filling belts with cartridges, and a supply of water for cooling the barrel. The modernized Maxim" received the name "Easel machine gun of the 1910 model".

Maxim machine gun mod. 1910 on Sokolov’s machine: Caliber - 7.62 mm; weight with machine – 60 kg; Firing range - 2700 m; Rate of fire - 500–600 rounds/min; Initial bullet speed - 800 m/s; Tape capacity, cartridges 250

During the combat use of the Maxim machine gun in the battles of the 1st World War, it became clear that in most cases fire was fired at a distance from 800 to 1000 m, and at such a range there was no noticeable difference in the trajectory of the light and heavy bullets with which the cartridges were used for Maxim. Therefore, in October 1914, the machine gun underwent a final modernization, during which it was equipped with a simplified sighting device. Now it had one sighting bar instead of two (which were previously used when firing a light or heavy bullet). At the same time, to save and speed up production, barrel casings began to be made of smooth rather than corrugated steel. This machine gun was in service with the infantry; it was installed on armored vehicles, armored trains, ships, and even on the first Ilya Muromets heavy bombers (in a lightweight version). The experience of the 1st World War showed that the Russian Maxim was not inferior to the best foreign machine guns of that time. Thanks to good stability when shooting, a large capacity of the feeding cartridge belt and an effective water cooling system for the barrel, it had high shooting accuracy and the ability to conduct continuous fire for a long time, which made it very popular. From 1905 to 1918, 37,345 Maxim system machine guns were produced in Russia. The Maxim machine gun was actively used not only in World War I, but also in both revolutions that followed in 1917, and then in the Civil War, in which the mobility of the machine gun was significantly increased by installing it on carts.

Maxim machine gun from the period of the 1st World War and Civil War - to reduce the cost and speed up production, the barrel casing is made of smooth steel.

At the end of the Civil War, “Maxim” continued his service in the ranks of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. Moreover, the Maximka was used not only by ground forces and the navy, but also by aviation. For this purpose, in the 20s, designers developed the PV-1 (Vozdushny Machine Gun) - an aviation version of the Maxim machine gun, intended for installation on military aircraft. This machine gun differed from the base model in the way it was attached to the carrier and in the absence of a water cooling casing. In 1930, the machine gun was modernized again, and a number of changes were made to the design. Thus, for shooting at long distances and from closed positions, a heavy bullet mod. 1930, so the machine gun’s rack-mount sight received two scales with divisions in hundreds of meters: one with divisions from 0 to 22 for a light bullet, and the other from 0 to 26 for a heavy one. In addition, the Maxim was equipped with an optical sight and a quadrant protractor for long-range shooting. There was also a periscope panoramic optical sight of the 1932 model with a magnification factor of 2 and a field of view of 20 degrees, it was mounted on the left on a bracket on the swivel of the machine and was connected by a special rod to the barrel casing. On the modernized Maxim, they again returned to the corrugated (ribbed) barrel casing to increase strength; the new shield received an oval window with an armored shutter. A number of changes have been made to make it easier to use. Thus, the trigger mechanism received a new design fuse, which made it possible to turn it off and press the trigger lever with one hand. To achieve this, the safety was moved directly to the trigger lever. In addition, a return spring tension indicator was installed on the machine gun and a separate firing pin was introduced to the firing pin. The modernized machine gun was called the “7.62 heavy machine gun of the Maxim system, model 1910/30.”

A group of Red Army soldiers with a Maxim machine gun. Late 20s – early 30s.

According to the instructions of the Red Army, the Maxim machine gun was intended to support infantry with fire, as well as to suppress enemy fire and clear the way for infantrymen during an attack, or for cover during a retreat. In defense, the Maxim machine gun was intended to combat enemy firing points and to fire at open approaches. Of course, the Maxim design was already obsolete by the end of the 1930s. The machine gun itself, without the machine, water and cartridges, had a mass of about 20 kg. The weight of Sokolov’s machine is 40 kg, plus 5 kg of water. Since it was impossible to use a machine gun without a machine and water, the working weight of the entire system (without cartridges) was about 65 kg. Moving such weight across the battlefield under fire was not easy. It was difficult to use Maxim in the mountains, where fighters had to use homemade tripods instead of standard machines. In addition, the high profile of the machine gun made it difficult to camouflage. In addition, supplying the machine gun with water caused significant difficulties in the summer. For comparison, the German MG.34 single machine gun, capable of firing both from the hands and from a tripod, had a mass of 10.5 kg without cartridges and a tripod, and also did not require water for cooling (it had a quick-change barrel, which made it possible, if there were spare barrels, conduct intensive burst fire). Firing the MG.34 without a machine turned it into a light machine gun and contributed to the concealment of the machine gunner's position. Based on the foregoing, even before the war, a more advanced and modern design of an easel machine gun, the DS (Degtyareva Easel), was developed and put into production. However, this weapon turned out to be very unreliable and demanding to maintain, so its production was soon curtailed, and most of the copies received by the troops were lost at the initial stage of hostilities. As a result, there was nothing to replace the old Maximka, and the veteran of a number of wars took part in the new, Great Patriotic War. In October 1941, the Maxim machine gun underwent its final modernization in accordance with the requirements for the production of machine guns in wartime conditions and the mobilization of the economy. To fill the barrel casing with snow and ice in winter conditions, the machine gun was equipped with a wide neck with a lid on a hinge - the solution was borrowed from the Finnish Maxim model of 1932, with which the Red Army had to deal during the Finnish War.

Maxim machine gun mod. 1910/30/41: Caliber - 7.62x54 mm; The weight of the machine gun with the machine and armored shield is 60.4 kg; The initial speed of a light bullet is 865 m/s; initial speed of a heavy bullet - 800 m/s; Sighting range (light bullet) - 2000 m; Sighting range (heavy bullet) – 2300 m; Combat rate of fire - 250–300 rounds/min; Rate of fire - 600 rounds/min; Belt capacity - 250 rounds. The Maxim machine gun, during its last modernization in 1941, received a wide neck on the barrel casing, which made it possible to cool the weapon with snow and ice.

The Maxim machine gun was actively used by the Red Army throughout the Great Patriotic War. It was used by both infantry and mountain rifle units, as well as the navy (as an anti-aircraft weapon). During the war, not only designers and manufacturers, but also soldiers directly in the troops tried to increase the combat capabilities of the Maxim. Soldiers often removed the armor shield from the machine gun, thereby trying to increase maneuverability and achieve less visibility. For camouflage, in addition to camouflage coloring, covers were put on the casing and shield of the machine gun. In winter, the Maxim was mounted on skis, sleds or on a drag boat (including in swampy areas), from which they fired. During the Great Patriotic War, machine guns were often mounted on light SUVs "Willis" and GAZ-64. There was also a quadruple anti-aircraft version of the Maxim. This ZPU was widely used as a stationary, self-propelled and ship-based one, and was installed in the bodies of cars, armored trains, railway platforms, and on the roofs of buildings. Maxim machine gun systems have become the most common weapon in army air defense. The quadruple anti-aircraft machine gun mount of the 1931 model differed from the usual "Maxim" in the presence of a forced water circulation device and a large capacity of machine gun belts - 1000 rounds instead of the usual 250. Thanks to special anti-aircraft ring sights, such a mount was able to conduct effective fire on low-flying enemy aircraft at altitudes up to 1400 m at speeds up to 500 km/h. These mounts were also often used in ground combat to support infantry.

Quadruple anti-aircraft machine gun installation for army air defense.

However, despite the dedicated service of the Maxim, the urgent need to replace the outdated, too heavy and vulnerable machine gun with a more modern weapon did not disappear, so work on a new model of the “machine gun” continued. And in 1943, the heavy machine gun of the Goryunov SG-43 system with an air barrel cooling system was adopted. The SG-43 was superior to the Maxim in many respects, and was immediately liked by the Red Army. He began enlisting in the troops in the second half of 1943. However, even the accelerated and expanded production of the SG-43 could not fully satisfy the needs of the fronts in the number of heavy machine guns, and therefore the Maxim continued to be produced until the end of the war at the Tula and Izhevsk factories. Produced in huge quantities during its production, the Maxim remained the main heavy machine gun of the Red Army until the end of the war. With the end of the 2nd World War, the “Maxim”, which had served its purpose, seemed to have left the stage - new, more advanced “machine operators” took its place. However, in some remote parts “Maximka” remained for a long time. In particular, it is known that the last combat use of this machine gun occurred in 1969 - during the border conflict on Damansky Island. Thus, the Maxim machine gun, created by an American designer back in the 19th century, faithfully served Russia for more than 70 years...

Veteran - after the battle...

Series of messages “Long-lasting barrels”:
Part 1 - “Long-lasting barrels”: “Brown Bess” - more than 100 years in service Part 2 - “Long-lasting barrels”: Mosin’s “Three-line” - 120 years of use Part 3 - “Long-lasting barrels”: revolver Smith-Wesson model 1905 - more than 100 years of use Part 4 - “Long-lasting barrels”: the Maxim machine gun (1) Part 5 - “Long-lasting barrels”: the Maxim machine gun (2) Part 6 - Happy birthday, Mr. John Moses... Part 7 - 05. STEEL CONQUERS THE WILD WEST. “Kings of the Prairie” - “Yellow Guy” and his descendants ... Part 20 - Nagan (3.1) - comparison with competitors Part 21 - Nagan (3.2), and his relatives Part 22 - Nagan (4) - celebrity revolver

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Technical and tactical characteristics

The 1910/1930 model machine gun met the Great Patriotic War as part of the Red Army. Attempts to replace it with similar weapons of the Degtyarev system failed, and the Maxim machine gun, the characteristics of which became obsolete in the early 40s, began to be produced in large quantities again. The production of new machine guns of the Maxim system was finally stopped in 1945.

In different countries of Europe, several varieties of heavy machine guns of the Maxim system were designed and produced: the English Vickers, the German MG-08 and MG-11, etc. Some of them were used as manual ones, there were also large-caliber versions, they were installed on ships and aircraft.

"Maksim". Relatives of the famous machine gun

"Pom-pom." Big Brother

The world's first automatic cannon, in which recoil energy was used for reloading, was invented by the same H.S.
Maksim. In 1883 he patented a 37 mm cannon. The principle of operation of the machine gun and automatic cannon was the same, and externally they differed mainly in size. Maxim delivered a 37-mm cannon to Russia in 1888. At first it was tested by the Military Department, and then transferred to the Naval Department. Based on the test results, the Maritime Department ordered two 37-mm cannons from Maxim in 1889. In 1891, a decision was made to purchase six Maxim guns, and then twenty more. But no money was allocated for this.

The report of JSC MTK for 1894 stated:

“Every year MTK makes journal decisions about the advantages of the 37-mm Maxim gun over the 37-mm Hotchkiss gun, but the matter does not move beyond continuing testing of Maxim guns, and only at the beginning of 1894 8 Maxim guns were ordered for the Black Sea battleships.”

Left: 37 mm Maxim cannon, 1891. Right: 37 mm Maxim cannon on a Boer field machine, 1901.
The gun became famous thanks to the first Boer War.
The British refused to purchase automatic weapons, while the Boers who fought against them acquired a batch of guns through intermediaries. The Boers effectively used Maxim guns as infantry weapons, and it was they who gave the weapon the nickname "pom-pom" (due to the sound of firing), which was assigned to the 37 mm Maxim gun.

Having tasted the taste of large machine guns, the British also began to buy them, and the rest of the Europeans followed suit.

Left: 37 mm Maxim gun from the Obukhov plant, 1901. Right: QF 1-pounder Vickers

In 1901, the Obukhov plant produced a prototype of the 37-mm Maxim gun for the Naval Department.

The 37-mm automatic cannon worked on the same principle as the Maxim machine gun, being, in fact, an enlarged version of it. A device has been added that absorbs excessive recoil - a hydraulic buffer; the rate of fire has been reduced to 250 rounds per minute.

With the outbreak of the First World War, automatic cannons were urgently needed to fight both infantry and the enemy in the air. Against the planes of those years, made of sticks and rags, a hit from a pom-pom projectile was fatal. Automatic guns were used on both sides of the front, both in anti-aircraft and ground versions.

For the Vickers assault rifle, and then the Maxim in 1914, Lieutenant Sherspobayev designed an automatic tube installer (OUT) in a cartridge strip. This was the first domestic and, probably, the first OUT in the world. Soon it appeared on all naval anti-aircraft guns.

The Naval Department urgently ordered 120 37-mm Maxim guns from the Obukhov plant, of which 80 were supposed to be delivered in 1917 and 40 in 1918. However, until the end of 1917, the Obukhov plant did not produce a single machine gun. This is due, firstly, to the extreme design complexity (of course, for that time), individual fitting of parts (many of which were not even interchangeable), and secondly, to the heavy workload of the plant, which manufactured naval and land guns with a caliber of 37 up to 406 mm.

The delivery, or rather the issuance, of machine guns in the unit began only at the end of 1918, that is, they did not take part in the First World War, but were used during the Civil War in Russia.

40-mm Vickers QF Mark II automatic cannon
In Great Britain itself, at the beginning of the war, they decided that the automatic anti-aircraft cannon should shoot further, faster and be at least a little simpler.
Therefore, in 1914, at the request of the Royal Navy, she developed a simplified and more technologically advanced version of the Maxim-Nordenfeldt cannon with a more powerful projectile - the automatic 40-mm Vickers QF Mark II cannon. The drawings of the gun were transferred (for money, of course) to the allies, including Russia. Both the Russian Naval and Military departments immediately ordered 40-mm Vickers machine guns from England. Moreover, the first required machine guns on pedestal frames, and the second needed 16 anti-aircraft machine guns mounted on armored vehicles, and 4 machine guns on field wheeled carriages of the Depora system.

By the end of 1916, twenty 40-mm Vickers assault rifles (from the naval order) were in service with the Black Sea Fleet.

And in the same year, the Maritime Department issued an order to the Obukhov plant for the production of 60 swinging parts of 40-mm Vickers assault rifles. By the end of May 1917, 12 swinging units were sent to Revel. The pedestal installations for them were made by the workshops of the Peter the Great Fortress.

After the Civil War, efforts were made at the (former Obukhov plant) to restore production. We remembered the technology for producing the guns themselves. We developed a new machine. But production remained almost artisanal, with individual fitting of parts and appropriate quality.

They also decided, on the basis of the simplest 40-mm Vickers assault rifle, to develop an automatic cannon suitable for serial production on existing equipment, and with higher characteristics. And in order to improve ballistics without making the artillery system heavier, we switched from 40 mm to the more familiar 37 mm caliber. This is how the 37-mm automatic cannon mod. 1928

37-mm automatic cannon mod. 1928

During the first tests, it turned out that the shooting accuracy had dropped due to the poor geometry of the projectile and improvements were required. In addition, the automation itself did not work perfectly...

And, hiding behind the heavy workload of developing large-caliber guns, as well as the production of tractors and tanks, he managed to transfer the refinement and production of automatic guns to another plant that had never before dealt with automatic guns. This plant bore the name of Comrade Kalinin and was located in Podlipki.

The machine was assigned the index 11-K. At the beginning of 1930, for the gun mod. In 1928, engineer Upornikov designed a wheeled carriage, which received the factory index B-5. By the way, in some documents the entire system was called that.

In the stowed position, the carriage had a two-wheel drive, and in the combat position, the movement was separated and three three-meter frames were moved apart, on the coulters of which the carriage rested.

In 1929, Plant No. 8 was given an order for 50 machine guns for the fleet. Only in 1932, 5 machine guns were presented for testing, but the machine guns did not want to fire normally. It was not possible to deliver a single 11-K machine gun either in 1932 or in 1933.

Our venerable specialists in the history of artillery (led by the well-known A. Shirokorad) have not only set fire to the “illiterate defectors” from Plant No. 8 named after. Kalinin because they failed to master this and that. But at the same time, for some reason, citizen specialists do not want to talk about the fact that the plant itself in question arose not as some kind of initially conceived integral enterprise with an established technological cycle, but completely improvised, on the basis of defense enterprises evacuated from St. Petersburg, who after the Civil War returned their most valuable equipment, and most of the specialists left back. Therefore, at first the plant really did not shine with either high technology, or workers, or design personnel.

So automatic arr. 1928 was safely buried, and in the Artillery Department, in order not to get hit, they immediately came up with a super idea - to order everything from the Germans. True, things turned out no better with the Germans.

In Great Britain, after World War I, the Vickers automatic cannon continued to be mass-produced and was used in the navy, army, and exported. The gun received new shells and a metal band instead of a fabric one. Pom-poms finally disappeared as active weapons only after the end of World War II.

Stepsons of Russian Maxim

In November 1918, a new old state appeared in Europe - II Rzeczpospolita, also known as the Republic of Poland.
One of the main types of machine guns initially used by the new Polish army was the Maxim machine gun mod. 1910 under the Russian cartridge or, as the Poles called it - Karabin maszynowy Maxim wz.1910. After the adoption of the 7.92x57mm Mauser caliber as standard rifle ammunition in Poland in 1922, attempts were made to adapt the wz.1910 machine gun to fire this cartridge. The result of this work was the Maxim wz.1910/28 with 7.92 mm ammunition. Parts of MG08 machine guns were used for modernization.

However, not all machine guns were converted - 400 were sold to fraternal (brothers in hatred of the young country of the Soviets) Finland. The remaining 2,000 machine guns, after conversion to the German cartridge, were sent to secondary units and warehouses, and in 1937 they were sold to Spain.

Karabin maszynowy Maxim wz.1910/28
After the declaration of independence of Finland in 1918, up to 600 7.62-mm Maxim machine guns of the 1910 model entered service with the emerging units of the Finnish army and received the name Maxim m/1910.
This type of machine gun became the main heavy machine gun of the Finnish army. Subsequently, Finland bought these machine guns wherever they could - in Poland, Germany, Italy. The production of Maxim machine guns was also organized at the Tikkakoski plant.

The machine gun underwent a slight modernization - the sighting devices were replaced, and the Finns also abandoned the shield. Some machine guns received a tripod machine of their own design, M/21, instead of the Sokolov machine. It was developed on the basis of a German export pre-war machine (the same Swiss model).

Unlike the German design, the Finnish design had handles (metal loops) on the front legs of the tripod, and its longer third leg had a telescopic design, allowing its length to be adjusted. This tripod could also be equipped with an anti-aircraft adapter, allowing the machine gun to be used as an anti-aircraft gun.

Maxim M /09-21

By the beginning of the 30s, the Finnish military was no longer satisfied with the canvas tape used for the machine gun. The original fabric belts for 250 round ammunition limited both the maximum rate of fire and proved problematic in some cases - in wet, humid and cold weather. In frosty weather, the fabric tape could first get wet and then freeze.

Therefore, in April 1931, the already well-known gunsmith Aimo Lahti was given the task of developing a modification of the Maxim machine gun for a non-loose metal belt. Aimo Lahti designed a metal strip based on individual links of the Prideaux type, but not falling apart due to the permanent connection between the sockets. This non-loose metal tape was patented in Great Britain on October 12, 1933.

Maxim M/32

The machine gun itself received the name Maxim M/32 under the new belt. In addition to the new tape receiver, the machine gun received a wide casing neck, allowing the casing to be filled not only with water, but also with snow, an accelerator mechanism (in the rear of the receiver), and a new muzzle, which made it possible to increase the rate of fire to 850 rounds per minute.

Probably, the Finnish Maxim M/32 is one of the best modifications of the Maxim machine gun.

Air brother

In 1923, the development of the first Soviet fighters began in the USSR. To arm the aircraft, a batch of air-cooled Vickers machine guns was purchased, but these machine guns used British cartridges, and it was immediately decided that their own air-cooled and belt-fed machine gun was required.

In the same year, work on converting the Maxim machine gun into an aviation one began by the pilot and aircraft designer of the Moscow Aviation Plant A.V. Nadashkevich. Initially, this work was carried out at, and from 1924 at the Tula Arms Plant. Engineers P.P. provided great assistance to the designer in this work. Tretyakov and I.A. Pastukhov, who were directly involved in the modernization of the original “Maxim” back in 1910, as well as S.A. Yartsev.

Nadashkevich’s design retained the Maxima automatic (recoil energy was used with a short barrel stroke). The aircraft machine gun differed from the easel machine gun in its lighter weight, achieved by turning and shortening the barrel, and the introduction of an air machine gun. The trigger mechanism was adapted for synchronized shooting. To increase the rate of fire of the machine gun, the diameter of the muzzle sleeve was reduced and a buffer spring was introduced, which imparted additional speed to the moving system when it moved forward and took the blow when it retreated.

As a result of design changes introduced into the machine gun, the rate of fire increased from 600 to 750 rounds per minute.

PV-1 machine gun
Initially, it was planned to use loose metal tape, similar to the English one, but some of the machine guns of the first releases were fitted with a standard canvas tape.
It was only in 1930 that loose metal began to be fully used. Field tests of the Nadashkevich PV-1 machine gun (first air machine gun) began on May 19, 1926. Six months later, on November 15, 1926, the Artillery Committee, having reviewed the test results, accepted the presented model for supplying the Red Army Air Force.

PV-1 machine guns were installed on aircraft to fire through the propeller from fixed installations, and outside the plane of rotation of the propeller - from fixed or limitedly mobile installations.

The first production PV-1 machine guns had barrels with a shortened muzzle to reduce weight, but on August 24, 1930, the head of the Artillery Directorate of the Red Army G.I. Bondar turned to the head of the Red Army armaments with a proposal to standardize machine gun barrels. Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR I.P. Uborevich approved the transition to the production (starting in 1931) of PV-1 machine guns with Maxim machine gun barrels.

The development of the I-4 fighter with two firing points for ease of placement on the aircraft required the creation of a machine gun with belt feeding from left to right. The first batch of ten such machine guns was manufactured in 1929. In December 1929, after testing, machine guns with left-hand feed were put into service. Their production began in 1930.

At the same time, an even lighter modification of the machine gun under the symbol A-2 was developed. The machine gun box became of a mixed design - some of the steel parts were replaced with duralumin. The barrel casing also became duralumin.

All design changes led to a reduction in the weight of the machine gun by almost 2 kg while maintaining other characteristics. The machine gun was produced for some time, but was later withdrawn from service, as it was recognized that the complication and increase in cost of the design with these characteristics was not justified.

In total, almost 18 thousand units of PV-1 were produced in 1927–1939. In 1940, due to the transition to more modern models of larger calibers and the removal from service of aircraft models on which the PV-1 was installed, production of the machine gun was discontinued.

During the Great Patriotic War, in addition to arming U-2 aircraft, built PV-1s were used in anti-aircraft machine gun mounts designed by N.F., produced in Tambov. Tokarev, including for air defense of Soviet armored trains.

In 1942, the arms factory in Zlatoust began installing the remaining PV-1s in storage warehouses on wheeled machines of the 1910 model designed by A.A. Sokolov (there were no others). At the same time, the machine gun's tape receiver was changed to a standard Maksimov one, under a canvas tape, and the buffer spring was removed to prevent failures due to the fault of the tape at an increased rate of fire. 3,009 heavy machine guns were supplied to the infantry units of the Red Army.

Almost manual

The issue of a light machine gun was one of the main ones posed by the First World War to the Russian army, and in the early 20s it became a priority in the Red Army's weapons system.
During the war, Russia purchased light machine guns abroad, but also Danish “Madsen” submachine guns (for which a plant in Podolsk was built, but never built), and French “Shosha” sub-machine guns, and the more successful American “Lewis” by the middle The 20s were worn out, did not have spare parts and the proper amount of ammunition, which could not be replenished in the conditions of isolation of the Soviet country.

The production of the Danish “Madsen”, planned for 1918, was actually disrupted. Developing and fine-tuning our own model of a light machine gun took time. According to Deputy People's Commissar of Military Affairs M.V. Frunze:

“The tested Maxim heavy machine guns... are completely abandoned, meanwhile... our factories have every opportunity to convert a heavy machine gun into a light machine gun.”

Moreover, there was the experience of the German army, which made its manual MG.08/15 and MG.08/18 based on the easel MG.08.

Light machine guns in Russia.
From left to right: Lewis Mk. I; Chauchat Mle 1915; Madsen. In 1923, Artkom GAU issued the “Vystrel” training ground with the task of converting the “Maxim” machine gun into a manual version.
The site designer I.N. was involved in the work. Kolesnikov, then F.V. joined it. Tokarev, who worked for TOZ. Kolesninov's sample was ready already in 1923, Tokarev's - in November 1924.

Technical requirements for future light machine guns were developed by a commission of the USSR Revolutionary Military Council formed on September 8, 1924, chaired by S.M. Budyonny:

the barrel must be shortened and made replaceable, the casing must be removable, the machine gun must have an adjustable front sight on the casing and a simplified sight, the folding bipod can be rotated in a horizontal plane, the butt of a rifle type, the casing tube must be eliminated.

German light machine guns. From left to right: MG.08/15; MG.08/18; MG Dreyse 13.

It is easy to see that the German MG.08/18 was taken as the basis for the requirements (German weapons were available for study at that time, thanks to cooperation with Weimar Germany). The priority was to lighten the system without changing the main parts and assemblies.

F.V. Tokarev and his son in the workshop near a light machine gun.

At F.V. Tokarev's converted light machine gun turned out better than Kolesnikov's, which was confirmed by tests on April 10, 1925, in which, in addition to the Budennovsky commission, representatives of the command and staff of the Red Army, ground forces, air force and even the navy took part. Everyone unanimously voted for the Maxim-Tokarev (MT) model.

Maxim-Tokarev light machine gun

Reducing the weight of the weapon, Tula gunsmiths redesigned the receiver design. Instead of the previous rectangular box, a design with several recesses was used. Weight savings were achieved through three notches in the front and rear of the receiver. In addition, the new design of the trigger mechanism with the trigger made it possible to reduce the length of the receiver.

Photos of the Maxim-Kolesnikov machine gun most likely simply do not exist. All variants of the supposedly MK machine gun that are shown to us in magazines, books and the Internet, upon careful examination turn out to be variants of the Tokarev machine gun.

The MT machine gun received a barrel with a length of 655 mm and a weight of 1.7 kg (for the mounted Maxim it was 2.1 kg) with fastenings for quick replacement. For the shooter's safety, the barrel was covered with a casing with oval holes. Like the barrel, the casing could be replaced if necessary. Fulfilling the requirements of the military, Tokarev provided the possibility of replacing the barrel without removing the casing.

A lightweight tubular folding bipod was attached to the front of the casing. The place of the butt plate was taken by a wooden butt of a rifle type, to which the trigger mechanism with a safety lock was attached.

Certain types of MT machine gun

Not wanting to complicate production, the authors of the MT project completely borrowed the automation from the base Maxim. The new light machine gun used the recoil of the barrel with a short stroke. The barrel was locked by a bolt connected to two levers. Belt ammunition was used. The canvas belt was shortened to 100 rounds and placed in a drum, again following the example of the German machine gun. Spent cartridges were ejected through a window in the lower part of the receiver.

Military tests confirmed the possibility of using MT in the army, despite the inherent shortcomings of the conversion systems. The MT was adopted for service on May 26, 1925, even before the final test results were received. The Red Army Armament Commission under the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR even assigned it the place of a new light machine gun.

The MT machine gun was also tested as a tank machine gun and a light company machine gun with a Lewis-type tripod.

Tank modification of the MT machine gun

MT machine gun on a Lewis system tripod

On July 1, 1925, TOZ began installing the production of MT light machine guns, which began in November. Finishing the design took time, and by July 1, 1926, TOZ had produced only 50 MT. For 1926–1927 2,450 copies were produced, after which production was discontinued.

The main reason is the adoption of a more advanced light machine gun of the Degtyarev system mod. 1927 (DP).

As the DP was received, the MT machine guns were removed from the troops and sent to warehouses, but they did not have to remain there for long. In 1937, the Maxim-Tokarev machine gun, among other weapons, began to be sent to the Spanish Republic. A certain amount of MT in the late 30s also went to China as part of the “Soviet Lend-Lease” - either to the communists or to the Kuomintang.

How accurate is the number of machine guns fired? The same Spaniards claim that they received 3,750 MT machine guns from the USSR. How many more were sent to the Chinese?

This is the short fate of the reworked Maxim.

Looking to the zenith

Since the advent of combat airplanes, machine guns have become one of the most effective means of combating them.
At first these were standard infantry models, used from standard machine tools or homemade devices for anti-aircraft shooting. And at first there really were enough machine guns, and the planes did not fly very well. But as the altitude and flight speed of combat aircraft increased, it was necessary to come up with specially designed machine gun mounts, and later multi-barrel anti-aircraft machine gun mounts that could hit the plane many, many times with the right aim. And they also had to be invented.

In the Russian army, the first anti-aircraft machine gun was a tripod designed by I.N. Kolesnikov, created by him in 1915. The tripod had an original guidance unit (a little later used by Kolesnikov for his infantry machine) and telescopic legs. But they released very few of them. Either there were few planes on the German front, or, as always, the industry “couldn’t do it,” or the snobby generals from the GAU didn’t like it.

Tripod machine designed by I.N.
Kolesnikova The first Soviet anti-aircraft gun was designed by M.N.
Kondakov under a machine gun of the Maxim system mod. 1910. It was made in the form of a tripod and connected to the machine gun using a swivel. Possessing simplicity and reliability, installation of arr. 1928 provided all-round fire and large elevation angles. Anti-aircraft tripod machine model 1928

with swivel M.N. Kondakova had a mass of 16 kg. The tripod was a folding mechanism consisting of three support tubes and one telescopic tube. Due to the telescopic pipe with a bracket (swivel) for the machine gun, height adjustment is possible. It was equipped with a ring sight designed for firing at aircraft moving at speeds of up to 320 km/h at a range of up to 1,500 m.

Subsequently, with an increase in flight speed, the sight was repeatedly modernized. The anti-aircraft machine was an addition to the Sokolov machine gun. The tripod turned out to be easy to use due to its good stability, the ability to adjust the height of the machine gun, and the ability to conduct all-round fire at large elevation angles. A tripod with a machine gun was often installed on trucks, military trains, torpedo and patrol boats.

Anti-aircraft tripod machine model 1928

The production of anti-aircraft tripods was established at the Kiev Arsenal and the plant named after. Stalin NKTM in Voronezh (Voronezh Diesel Plant). In 1941, due to the sharply increased need for anti-aircraft machine gun mounts, Degtyarev DA and DA-2 machine guns began to be massively installed on tripods.

In 1931, under the then fashionable motto of “versatility”, the universal wheeled tripod machine S.V. was adopted. Vladimirov model 1931 weighing 39 kg. To fire at airplanes, a machine gun with a swivel was removed from the wheeled travel, telescopic pipes extended from the openers, thus turning the wheeled machine into an anti-aircraft tripod.

Machine gun "Maxim" on a universal machine Vladimirov model 1931

In the early 30s, a special anti-aircraft machine was produced for cavalry units, mounted on a machine-gun cart. The disadvantage of such a machine was the limited possible sector of anti-aircraft fire. Therefore, he was quickly withdrawn from the troops, although he was shown at parades.

But since one Maxim machine gun had a low fire density to shoot down planes effectively enough, in 1928, by a decision of the GAU Art Committee, adopted in July 1928, the design bureau of the Tula Arms Plant was tasked with designing and building a twin, triple and quad Maxima machine gun mounts for firing at air targets.

By 1930, designers N.F. Tokarev, G.G. Kurenkov, S.A. Prilutsky and A.I. Panov completed the task.

These installations at that time were usually designated by a common name - “complex”. Their design made it possible to install them permanently: on the ground or special platforms, and movably: in the back of a car, on a cart, on a railway platform or wagon, and on ships of the sea and river fleet.

Based on the test results, all installations developed under the leadership of Nikolai Fedorovich Tokarev (son of the famous gunsmith) were accepted into service with the Red Army. Twin and triple installations were put into service in 1930, quadruple - in 1931.

Paired and stacked complete installations.
The twin installation was used mainly on armored cars and was produced in small quantities.
Data on the actual production of the built installation in 1931–1941. not available.

Complex anti-aircraft installations of Maxim machine guns were produced until 1941. The producers were: plant No. 393 NKV, Kiev (Arsenal) and the Agricultural Machinery Plant named after K.E. Voroshilov", Kolomna.

Twin and triple complex installations

The most powerful of the complex installations created, a quadruple one, was named
the M4 quadruple anti-aircraft machine gun mount of the 1931 model
. It was also the most common in the Red Army.

The power of the quad Maximums was first confirmed by their actions against Japanese aircraft during the armed conflict near Lake Khasan in 1938. The ZPU mod. 1931. Operated on Khalkhin Gol in 1939, in the battles of the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939–1940, in the Great Patriotic War.

Quadruple anti-aircraft machine gun M4 model 1931

The installation consisted of a base, a swivel, a swinging frame with counterweights, shoulder pads and a trigger rod, a sight and a forced cooling system. The base was a metal cabinet with a telescopic vertical pipe, balancing springs and a rack and pinion lifting mechanism. The base was secured to the platform with three arms (arrows).

The tubular swivel rotated on the pipe on bearings. A frame was placed on the swivel sector, on which four maxims were mounted in a row, united by one cooling system, common sighting devices and a trigger. Boxes with high-capacity cartridge belts (500 rounds) were placed on the swivel. To prevent the tapes from twisting, gutters were introduced into the design of the ZPU for them.

A block of machine guns (weighing up to 80 kg) was aimed at the target by the gunner using shoulder arcs. In the vertical plane, machine guns can be aimed in an angle range from –10° to +82°; in the horizontal plane, a 360-degree all-round fire is provided. The cooling system was designed to increase the cooling intensity of the barrels and prevent steam formation, which would interfere with the gunner’s work.

Initially, the ZPU was used with an anti-aircraft ring sight model 1929; to change its range settings, there was a shaft with a handwheel on the frame. Then they installed sights o6r.1936 and model 1938, and for shooting at ground targets they used the usual sight of the second from the left (main) machine gun.

An integrated anti-aircraft machine gun installation with four Maxims, possessing a high combat rate of fire, convenient and fast aiming at the target and flexible fire maneuver, was in many ways superior to similar foreign weapons that appeared later. To determine the settings of the ZPU sight, a stereo rangefinder ZD with a meter base was used.

Four quadruple installations were introduced into the staff of the rifle regiment - the Maxim installation laid the foundation for the regimental anti-aircraft weapons. At the beginning of the war, the rifle regiment had an anti-aircraft company of three 12.7 mm machine guns and six 7.62 mm mounts, another six mounts were part of the division's artillery, and a cavalry regiment was supposed to have three mounts. In reality, by the beginning of the war, these states were not provided with, which had an extremely negative impact on the anti-aircraft cover of troops and facilities.

Due to the shortage of air defense systems, at the beginning of the war, on the basis of PV-1 aircraft machine guns N.F. In August 1941, Tokarev created a built-in anti-aircraft gun, consisting of a base and a swivel with a head for PV-1 machine guns that were in arsenal storage. The base was a pipe with three struts and three legs for mounting on the platform. Three PV-1s were installed on the swinging head.

This weapon, despite its unsightly appearance, significantly strengthened the military air defense of the Red Army. The aircraft machine gun differed from the Maxim machine gun in the absence of water cooling, which made it possible to reduce the weight of the weapon. The weight of all three PV-1s without cartridge belt was 43.5 kg. The total rate of fire of the built anti-aircraft gun was over 2,200 rounds/min. At the same time, for the much more complex and heavy quad M4, this figure was 2,400 rounds per minute.

The Tokarev surrogate anti-aircraft installation, created in a short time, with less weight and cost, was practically not inferior in efficiency to a specially designed quad installation.

Mass production of built anti-aircraft machine gun installations using PV-1 began at the end of 1941 in Tambov. In 1941, the military accepted 626 such installations, and they were produced in 1942. ZPU were used in the defense of Leningrad and Stalingrad.

Built anti-aircraft machine gun installations in battle

But in the middle of the war, it became finally clear that the increase in speed, as well as the increase in security and survivability of aviation, did not allow the ZPU, created on the basis of Maxim rifle-caliber machine guns, to effectively fight enemy combat aircraft.

Actually, the inadequacy of the 7.62 mm caliber for anti-aircraft guns was clear even on the eve of the war, due to the increased survivability of combat aircraft. And since February 1943, 7.62-mm quadruple anti-aircraft launchers designed by Tokarev were removed as obsolete from the anti-aircraft regiments of the RGK anti-aircraft divisions.

However, the installations located in the active army in secondary sectors fought until the very end of the war.

Legendary name

The Maxim machine gun has become a truly iconic weapon. Being English, it became inseparable from the history of the Russian and Soviet armies during the two world wars, and was in service with all warring parties in the civil war.

“Maxim” became the hero of poems and songs, he is depicted in the paintings of battle painters, he was filmed in films in the past and is being filmed now. He is an active participant in battle reconstructions conducted by military history clubs.

Its small-sized layout is available to collectors. A Maxim machine gun with two cartridge boxes, deactivated in a special way, can be bought for an amount equal to approximately 100 thousand rubles.

Half a century in service

The inventor of the first rapid-fire weapon, Richard Gatling, a doctor by profession, naively thought that, horrified by the consequences of the use of the first machine guns, humanity would abandon wars. It is known about Sir Hiram Maxim that he lost his peace of mind while studying reports from the fields of the First World War. It was his invention that was the first to be called a weapon of mass destruction.

An Englishman by birth, the Maxim machine gun received its own name in Russia and, having served faithfully in the army for fifty years, became a legend.