Gun Show Find today... Sand, you will love this!

[sirhrmechanic]

Picked this up today at a gun show nearby. For short $$! Maxim sight in original leather case. These are hard to find in any condition.

And the leather case it stores in!

Here is the sight as fitted to an 1895 Argentine Maxim. I'll have to add a mount to the sideplate of my Imperial Russian Maxim. But definitely a great find!

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[sandwarrior]

Yes I do! What an amazing piece in amazing condition! One day, it'd be so much fun to all meet up in the middle of nowhere and shoot all the stuff we've ever owned. I know from that I'd never get it out of my system.

 

[bogeybrown]

That guy probably had that thing forever hoping a history buff/ collector would buy it as a bookshelf oddity. I doubt he ever expected to sell it to a guy who OWNS A FRICKEN MAXIM!!!!!!!!!

Thats great man, nice find and its wonderful that it'll be put back into service again.

 

[Dog&Jeep]

That's better than a great find, Sir. That's outstanding!

 

[sandwarrior]

I had dreams last night of this mounted on sirhr's Maxim and unloading short bursts out to 3k+ meters

Not withstanding those visions can you give us a little bit of a rundown on what is what and how it all works? As you did for the Warner & Swasey sight.

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[sirhrmechanic]

I will do that, Sand! Of course... I have to figure it out first. But in the next couple of days I'll retrieve it from the gun room and see what I can cipher out. It has a neat reticle which, I think, is designed to compensate for a 'spread' of bullets at long, long ranges. As one of the features of these Maxim and Vickers guns was to be able to do indirect fire (plunging fire) into trenches and the like. Once you were at a long enough range, you could drop bullets, still lethal, in at a steep angle and cause considerable damage.

Martin Pegler's book on the Vickers is also a great reference. So I'll dig those up and put together a neat little background.

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[sirhrmechanic]

thanks to a friend in Russia... I just got ahold of a VERY rare plate for a Sokolov Mount.... with an opening for an optic.

This one even has battle damage. A hit around the sight opening

Bead Blasted You can see where the hit shattered the plate around the opening.

Primed with etch primer.

I am going to try and find a picture of the 'door' that goes over the sight opening and reproduce that. I think I know how it should fit, but would like to find a picture. Not easy! These plates are very, very rare.

This one came from outside what was, at the time, Stalingrad. Now Volgograd. Battlefield dug find by a guy who works the battlefields with a metal detector over there.

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[K-tech]

Sirhr, I'm sure I speak for everyone but these kind of posts just make my day. Thank you

 

[6172crew!]

Interesting, we have 2 Maxims and a Vickers. The Fin Maxim tax stamp just came in yesterday