The Colt Model 1895 Machine Gun (Boer War)
The 1895 Model Colt machine gun that the Royal Canadian Dragoons and other Canadian mounted units adopted after their arrival in South Africa. It was mounted on a carriage that could be pulled by a single horse. Here it is operated by a British team.Developed by the celebrated American firearm designer, John Browning, this machine gun was introduced by the Colt Company of Hartford, Connecticut in 1895. Like the Maxim gun introduced four years earlier, it operated entirely by mechanical means. The tapping of a small amount of gas generated by the combustion of the propellant was diverted to a piston, which drove back the breech block and cycled the mechanisms to load, fire, and extract. Unlike the water-cooled Maxim, this gun was air-cooled. It had a lower rate of fire, but was of lighter weight and was more easily handled.
This .30-calibre machine gun quickly became a favourite of the volunteer mounted infantry units of the British Army, which found the lightweight weapon a natural compliment to their fast moving, highly mobile methods of warfare. Doubtless this was one of the factors influencing the decision of their Canadian counterparts to dispense with their Maxims in favour of Colts after their arrival in South Africa.
