(edited title) Museum's inventory: Vickers Mk I.

D

dauph197

Regular
Rating - 100%
7   0   0
Hey Guys,

Really need you on this one. I can't figure which model it is? The worst part is it appears completely new for me. The cleaning of this one is impeccable!

So, what is your call on this one. This is exactly the kind of weapon I don't know nothing about it!


Thanks for this one...

Martin























 
Last edited:
The rear top cover is not welded in place, so I presume it is not deactivated?
Very nice condition.
Does it have the matching tripod?
 
It's a Vickers Mk.1. It was the standard medium MG from about 1915 to 1965. The smooth water jacket is a late WW1 war economy measure that replaced the more typical corrugated or fluted jacket.

Here's one on its tripod with all the later WW2 'bells and whistles'.


 
Tootall,

No, the MG is not deactivated. In fact, it is in very good shape and I will have to find the bolt somewhere. I'm pretty sure it is there and fully functional.

buffdog,

Do we know what "VAC" stand for?


Martin
 
My great uncle was a Vickers gunner from 1919 to 1938 - he served with the British Army in India, Afghanistan, China, Mesopotamia, and Palestine. Everything from mule trains in the Khyber Pass to a gun boat on the Yangtze River. He was recalled from retirement in late 1938, cut off at Dunkirk, narrowly avoided being executed in a French Barn and spent WW2 in a progression of bad to worse POW camps (due to insubordination with German guards, attempted escape and at least one case of sabotage that resulted in torture). They simply do not make people (or guns) that tough any more.
 
buffdog said:
.
One of the finest machine guns made. Also good for rapping knuckles of novice machine gunners.
Click to expand...

For entrenched defense, there indeed may not have been anything better.

"The weapon had a reputation for great solidity and reliability. Ian V. Hogg, in Weapons & War Machines, describes an action that took place in August 1916, during which the British Army's 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps fired their ten Vickers guns continuously for twelve hours. Using 100 new barrels, they fired a million rounds without a single failure. "It was this absolute foolproof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one."

We all talk about the reliability you can count on an AKM or an SKS to deliver, but the Vickers by all accounts was simply incredible.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom