Don't Jam My Vickers MG

[sand digger]

Ultra reliable and capable of continuous fire.

http://www.nwha.org/news_2Q2001/news_page4.html

[rune]

1. It doesn't say they didn't jam, it says there were no MAJOR breakdowns.

2. Barrels were changed every hour in the test firing, how often were they changed at Somme? Either way the gun is down during that time.

Interesting article none the less.

Rune

[Elmar Bijlsma]

I believe the cloth ammo belt was a major pain.

But I'm still not very happy about the Vickers in CM. It's continuous fire capability is not at all well modelled.

Oh well.

[Breakthrough]

I agree that the Vickers jams too often in CM. Many accounts of its WW II service note its reliability under any conditions.

[Londoner]

As Elmar points out the ammo belt was a pain, especially when it got wet.

[Other Means]

"Don't Jam My Vickers MG" damn you sand digger, now i've got Dire Straits going through my head.

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by Breakthrough:

Many accounts of its WW II service note its reliability under any conditions.

Name one.

[Andrew H.]

This is interesting:

The standard Mk VII ball ammunition used in the Enfield rifles and the Bren light machine guns performed poorly in long-range fire, and was replaced with Mk VIIIz ball ammunition for this type of firing.

Perhaps the special ammo reduced the number of stoppages.

[sand digger]

Try firing for just one hour continuous with an air cooled MG, any air cooled MG

[JonS]

1) Something else missing is the indirect capability.

2) VIIIz was boat-tailed, optimised for range, and was only for use with the Vickers.

3a) A CANLOAN Officer. (Rex Fendick)

3b) 27 (Machine Gun) Battalion. (Robin Kay)

3c) The Grand Old Lady of No Man's Land. (Dolf Goldsmith)

Opps. That's three. Also, it didn't gain the sobriquet "Queen of the Battlefield" because of it's campy dress-sense. Still, I don't really think Dorosh was disagreeing, just trolling for good links in a rather unpleasant way.

4) Vickers MMG crews were 3 (4 if you include the driver). Not 6.

Regards

JonS

[ October 03, 2004, 01:54 AM: Message edited by: JonS ]

[JonS]

Originally posted by rune:

2. Barrels were changed every hour in the test firing, how often were they changed at Somme? Either way the gun is down during that time.

5,000,000 rounds over 7 days gives an average cyclic rate of 496rpm. The Vickers is rated for 450-500rpm. So, including time off for barrel changes, the tested gun achieved a cyclic rate barely below the rated max*. Continuously. For a week.

The ten guns on the Somme acheived an average cyclic rate of around 138rpm each. Continuously. For 12 hours. This is markedly below the 500-odd max, but given that the MGs never fired continuously in a tactical situation anyway (see: 'taps', for example) it is still pretty darn impressive.

To answer the specific question: given that the rate on the Somme was roughly 1/4 of that achieved in the test, it follows that the Somme barrels were changed approx every four hours. So, one 'jam' per Vickers every four CM hours please.

Regards

JonS

* Incidentally, those 4rpm represent approx 30 seconds per hour of 'saved up' time if the gun was firing at 500rpm when it was actually firing.

[ October 03, 2004, 01:55 AM: Message edited by: JonS ]

[rune]

Thanks Jon, interesting information!

Rune