Need assistance on Maxim parts

[Pappy1600]

If anyone on here is a specialist on Maxims please PM me, need some information on a Maxim. Thanks

[RoscoeTurner]

What kind of Maxim?

[Pappy1600]

What kind of Maxim?

One made by the Maxim Munitions Corp. in NY

Edited August 12, 2022 by Pappy1600

[BillyDixon]

i beleve dolf goldsmith owned a maxim munitions gun with aluminum water jacket, sn 1,, check his book on the maxin guns, just sayn

[pstidan]

If anyone on here is a specialist on Maxims please PM me, need some information on a Maxim. Thanks

 

Post your request on 1919A4 dot com. Many Maxim knowledgeable people there.

[BRMCII]

The gun to which you are referring is the M1904 VSM Maxim, serial #9016, made by Vickers Sons and Maxim as a contender in English MG trials for possible military use. The aluminum construction of many parts made it lighter, given that the VSM and Colt 1904 Maxims are very heavy. It was not successful and eventually came to the US and into the hands of Maxim Munitions Corp, of which Hudson Maxim was a participant.

The gun sold at a Morphy's Auction years ago, won by collector Dr. Ed Weizmann who has since passed away. I believe that Kurt Wolf, Ordnance Research Corp, Ephrata, PA, is currently the owner of this gun having acquired it from Ed's estate.
Dolf Goldsmith's volume, 'The Devil's Paint Brush", pages 288-290 has the details. FWIW

Edited August 13, 2022 by BRMCII

[Pappy1600]

 

If anyone on here is a specialist on Maxims please PM me, need some information on a Maxim. Thanks

 

Post your request on 1919A4 dot com. Many Maxim knowledgeable people there.

 

Thanks for the information folks, posted a request on 1919A4 forum, hopefully I can get some answers.

Regards

[johnsonlmg41]

 

If anyone on here is a specialist on Maxims please PM me, need some information on a Maxim. Thanks

 

Post your request on 1919A4 dot com. Many Maxim knowledgeable people there.

 

Very few MG owners over there. Of those few, 80% also post here. At least 5X MG owners here than there, maybe more. That board is like watching a boat launch, funny if you're watching, frustrating if you're in line waiting. Lots of failures to launch there.

[RoscoeTurner]

 

 

If anyone on here is a specialist on Maxims please PM me, need some information on a Maxim. Thanks

 

Post your request on 1919A4 dot com. Many Maxim knowledgeable people there.

 

Very few MG owners over there. Of those few, 80% also post here. At least 5X MG owners here than there, maybe more. That board is like watching a boat launch, funny if you're watching, frustrating if you're in line waiting. Lots of failures to launch there.

 

My experience with the pages is just the opposite, many more full auto belt fed owners on 1919A4. Throw in the semi crowd and you have more belt fed collectors on that page as well. There are few discussions of Vickers, Maxim, Hotchkiss, or Browning belt feds on this page as compared to 1919A4.

 

Generally when someone brings up the topic of Thompsons on 1919A4 forum members send them here. Sub guns are not a big topic on that forum.

 

[pstidan]

For those who are interested, here is the evolving thread for this subject over on 1919A4 dot com:

 

Looking for any experts in Maxims | 1919 A4 Forums

 

Very interesting to say the least.

[RoscoeTurner]

For those who are interested, here is the evolving thread for this subject over on 1919A4 dot com:

 

Looking for any experts in Maxims | 1919 A4 Forums

 

Very interesting to say the least.

 

 

The information started rolling in this morning. It has been interesting to follow.

[johnsonlmg41]

Not that interesting. The OP posts pics (which he could have done here) Bob lays out some info (which he could have done here), and a bunch of guys talk about buying the book. Oh, and Dolf looked at the pictures.

Net sum= impossible to find parts for so you'd better be getting that for less than 5K and be friends with a serious gunsmith/ machinist to make what you can't find. The guys checked amazon for the book? Fascinating

 

Often when guns like this show up they end up being much bigger projects to complete than you would think and they sit, as this one has. I have some one-off projects here like that, but before I bought them I researched the feasibility of completion before buying. There are some deals not worth doing. I just acquired a final piece of a puzzle after 15 years of waiting, but I knew for sure it would be available.....eventually. Previously my longest wait was 12 years. At this point I can't do those anymore because it would likely be an incomplete part of my estate sale?

Best of luck to the OP and post some pics here when you get it!

[Pappy1600]

A little update,  form 5 has been submitted on this piece,  just waiting on approval,  I have a gentleman that knows these guns who is more than generous in offering assistance in getting it going, hopefully everything goes smoothly and we can get this piece back operational for future generations to enjoy, here are some pictures that I posted over on the other forum, the gun is missing some internals, and the barrel, we will use other foreign parts to make it work.

 

[BRMCII]

Finding this Maxim is an incredible event of extreme rarity! Perhaps not of much interest to those indifferent to the histories of vintage MGs, or frightened

by the challenge of restoration, but this fascinating gun represents a unique and quirky experimental effort by Hiram Maxim's brother to create a lighter 1904 U.S. Maxim with an aluminum jacket in the hopes of producing them under a military contract to replace the much heavier 1904 Maxims in US service. His plan was to replace the steel jackets of existing 1904 Maxims with jackets made of aluminum. There has been only one known example of his efforts which is the serial #1 gun produced by the Maxim Munitions Co., also fortunately registered and protected within the NFA community from destruction or banishment to a museum. There were allegedly three guns built by Maxim's company. The one just discovered has a different ID plate compared to the serial #1 gun and the ID plate is affixed to the topcover but is without a number issued by the Munitions Company. The gun has a serial number but it apparently is the one used by the actual manufacturer of the 1904 Maxims, either Colt or Vickers. So it is not known what number this gun is in the very limited production of the guns by the Munitions Co. raising the question of whether there are more than three. Anyway, it is a treasure for sure!