Maxim – The First Modern Machine Gun

When you think of classic belt fed machine guns, you’ll usually think of the MG42, M60, PKM, M240, or even the M2 Browning. However, the first modern machine gun was arguably the Maxim.

This water-cooled, recoil-operated machine gun was designed by Hiram Maxim in 1884, and is still in service in the Russo-Ukranian war by Ukraine. To put this into perspective, the weapon that is most commonly considered to be the longest serving in different countries’ armed forces is the Mosin Nagant, a bolt action rifle which was designed in 1891, 7 years after the Maxim Machine Gun.

In order to load the Maxim, you have to push a spring loaded button and lift the chamber, where you can load the belt into the feeding tray. The user must then rack the bolt twice, first loading one round into the tray and second loading another round into the tray, in order for it to work properly as a machine gun. Most machine guns will eject spent casings out of the side of the feeding tray, however you can notice that when firing, the shells come from a hole under the feeding tray. The Maxim is recoil-operated, meaning that when fired, the barrel reciprocates the recoil slightly, pushing a lever that forces the bolt open.

As was earlier mentioned, the Maxim is water-cooled, preventing the barrel from overheating and warping. This works because a tube around the barrel, as can be seen in the picture below, can be filled with water. Typically, when fired for a long period of time, such as in trench warfare from WW1, the Maxim would be hooked to a reservoir of water to prevent overheating.