Sword, Musket & Machine Gun

[Racalman]

At the start of this engaging series, Sam Willis stated that a Vickers machine gun once had 5 million rounds shot through it by teams of squaddies in a week and was then pronounced to be still fit for purpose.

Anyone know if they changed the barrel during this trial?

[Chapuis]

Taken from Wikipedia-

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 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps fired their ten Vickers guns continuously for twelve hours. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without a failure. "It was this absolute foolproof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one."

Somehow I doubt that even the venerable Vickers as good as it was would be capable of firing 5 million rounds without a breakage or on one barrel. Also if you do the maths and knowing the rate of fire of the Vickers M.G. you will realise that there aren't quite enough hours in a week for the Vickers to fire 5 million rounds.

[Daryll]

So... 10 Vickers, each using 10 barrels, and each firing 100,000 rds... 10,000 rnds per barrel

100,000 per gun over 12 hrs = 8,333 per hour, at 450 rpm that would only take less than 20 mins, so they obviously had time to change belts, let the guns cool etc..

Or more likely fire 10,000 rnds, change the barrel, sweep up, have some tea and tiffin, then repeat...

[Chapuis]

So... 10 Vickers, each using 10 barrels, and each firing 100,000 rds... 10,000 rnds per barrel

100,000 per gun over 12 hrs = 8,333 per hour, at 450 rpm that would only take less than 20 mins, so they obviously had time to change belts, let the guns cool etc..

Or more likely fire 10,000 rnds, change the barrel, sweep up, have some tea and tiffin, then repeat...

Yes but what about the single gun and five million rounds mentioned in the original post?

[GeeRam]

At the start of this engaging series, Sam Willis stated that a Vickers machine gun once had 5 million rounds shot through it by teams of squaddies in a week and was then pronounced to be still fit for purpose.

Anyone know if they changed the barrel during this trial?

Yes.

"In 1963 in Yorkshire, a class of British Army armorers put one Vickers gun through probably the most strenuous test ever given to an individual gun. The base had a stockpile of approximately 5 million rounds of Mk VII ammunition which was no longer approved for military use. They took a newly rebuilt Vickers gun, and proceeded to fire the entire stock of ammo through it over the course of seven days. They worked in pairs, switching off at 30 minute intervals, with a third man shoveling away spent brass. The gun was fired in 250-round solid bursts, and the worn out barrels were changed every hour and a half. At the end of the five million rounds, the gun was taken back into the shop for inspection. It was found to be within service spec in every dimension."

[kevinww]

The maths doesn't work out, they would have to fire 496 rounds a minute continuously, for 7 days. They either over estimated how many rounds they had or it would have been a good way to hide black market sales as I doubt any one counted the cases afterwards.

[Racalman]

Thanks for the info. I like Dr Willis but maybe he didn't research this one thoroughly enough ...

[dromia]

There are a lot of dubious history and "expert" opinions in that series and and I got the distinct impression that although Mr Willis enjoyed playing with guns he was definitely anti gun.

[450 Martini]

I remember when they were filming that series at the Black Country Museum, as with most of the BBC output around lawful use of firearms there is always a negative focus.

On a related note I had the rare opportunity to fire a Russian 7.62x54 maxim gun a few weeks ago, great bit of kit!