This legendary weapon was introduced in the British Army in 1912, and made an excellent military career from that date to beyond WW II. Only in 1968 the gun was phased out from most Commonwealth armies.The gun was mounted on a number of fighter aircraft as the Sopwith Camel and Spads in the French Air Service (1918-1936) and on armoured vehicles, tanks and motor torpedo boats. The Machine Gun Corps carried the weapon by hands in the field with 6-8 men. The .707 inch calibre gun features a watercooling jacket around the barrel, and included a water evaporation /circulation system, a tripod, ammo belts, etc.
The gun was so succesful, that many nations built their own versions with own calibres (Germany, Italy, Holland, Russia etc)
We have taken the gun into a nickel treatment and mirror polished the brass and nickel elements of the Gun and its Tripod, leaving it all in authentic state. The outcome is a stunning piece of heavy metal, an icon of weapons design of bygone days. The relic (stamped 1940 in the framing) was found in Normandy.
If you look at the details on the pictures, you will notice the "printed" letters and the huge number of parts and pieces, that made this one of the most reliable guns of two world wars. As a collector's item, standing on its adjustable steel tripod, you will be impressed by the sturdy construction and magnificent melange of brass and nickel elements, of the horizontal protractor and the clips, pins and chains. For reasons of heating, the two handle bars at the end with the trigger, have wooden grips and inside those, you find oily brushes for lubricating the gun's breech and moving parts. Overall lenght is 110 cm.
