Vickers Mk1 1914

Vickers machine gun Mk I, first introduced in 1912 and remained in service until 1968. This was the principal machine gun used by the British Army during WW1. It fired a .303 round at a rate of 500 rounds per minute with a range of 4,500 yards. Vickers took the Maxim gun design and, by reversing the crank to break upwards and use of improved steel, made it smaller and much lighter. Careful design also made it very reliable. This animation shows the mechanism, and how easy it was to replace the barrel,