THE MAXIM GUN.

Waikato Times, Volume XLI, Issue 3347, 9 December 1893, Page 12

THE MAXIM GUN.

TnE terrible execution credited tc the Maxim gun in the fight with Lobengula's- troops confirms the reputation of the weapon so far as it could be established by merely experimental trials and competitive tests, in which jthe Maxim has bsaten all its rivals. This is the first time the Maxim has 'been used in an important action, with .•serious results hanging in the balance, although it had been used in a small expedition on the Seirra Leone coast <with similar effect. The first machine •gun used in actual warfare was the Fieuch mitrailleuse, which _ made a sensation in a few special actions, but •could only fire in volleys, and was too • slow to fire and cumbersome to become -a practical arm. An improvement was made with the Gatling. the first •practical weapon of the kind, after; which came the Nordenf eldt, still more nearly approaching the necessary | ■<3onditions. Then came the Gardener gun, and these were the leading types until the appearance if the Maxim. There are various other • -patterns, all hand worked, liable to the serious defect of the mistimed cxplosiou of hang fires, and the draw* back of feeding by gravity: The -■automatic system invented by Mr Maxim supplants hand power by the use of the recoil, in which there is a fund of hitherto wasted energy, the gun actually operates itself, feeding its cartridges from a belt by a positive •action which entirely overcomes the ' defects' of the gravity 5 feed. If a •cartridge fails, the gun waits for it to ; .explode, so that no breakdown J from this cause is possible. With ; hand power guns the speed is practically limited to about 300 rounds per minute. With the Maxim system it is ' -often more than GOO, and one man .■sitting comfortably behind it can vsweep everything in front of him, '''precisely as if he were playing the . -enemy "with a hose. The gun is so • .light and easily handled that a !man •might write his name on a target with ' a streak of bullets.-. The:* overheating : of the barrel is prevented; by enclosing it in a tube containing water, ; wmch absorbs the heat. It requires as much* heat to evaporate lib of water. as to ; •melt 51b of iron, so that .vateris five times more efficient than iron for absorbing ■the heat. The mechanism of the gun is wonderfully simple and '•,; -.free tram liability to get.out •and its extremely rapid fire makes it the most formidable invention of its class yet perfected. In fact one man with a Maxim gun is equal to, «Ibattaiibn,bfi 'infantry. ]/ The one' difficulty is to keep it supplied with; ■a'inihnmtiori* 4, " ,, A ::;: -ignii-' that 'fires 600 shots a minute "going easy," and gets •' IhroiighlOOO rounds in* two; minutes, has a tremendous-appetite, and the necessity for a cumbrous ammunition, service has been the one barrier to the ; full use of the so far , is'-'•concerned. ' the field is the true test, however, „and as the deadly shower of bullets may makeitun* ■ n??9e?9arj;;toTke^ ; ;;the difficulty of the amminm'tiojji j •supply may not occur in actual Mvar» ife^imwwprac^caUySight inlying, that;the,gun. wquiagoon ' filing^r^Ja^^e^ the .»; woney to pay for the ''machine'could 'reallybeleft'lo 1 itself Jpr several minutes,-firing alUhp time, The cost of is small;in } consideration £ oi(jia A :,xifle,calibrej..witiicarrmtfe.liiiiber find i' all igear complete, beiug: < worth, about £'M).- Up to the 'date oithe perfeci tioh of had 5 into discredit. ,and „to ~degree of ridicule, owing, tb Jheir I Mures in the fade of enemy,} and

on the testing ground; but the adbpv , tion of the automatic motive power/ '"/' the positive feed and the'water 1 jacket ■ Temdves' the direct cause* of ■'■ those 5 failures and the Maxim goes far 1 towards tyjideal macbine pin; 'The, practical trial of the * Matabele cam- •': 7. paign wffl'lw^gi^frTOlae^n.tjßjting its merits. It is to te regretted that j 0 the British Government has. not taken measures toi keep"thei invention exy • 'Clusively for itself; but- the' invention has such value that within a shorttinie , -of its appearance guns were supplied '' io Russia, Austria/ ' Trance, ; , America,' ; Spain and ! Chma. 'The English; ; ,have. , fgainpdby the Maximjin South Africa may be turned against them some day in conflict with- some; European y. -power. ■ \ : .... : -.,f »-;M:<i ,-A \