gSpartan150 Posted 23 August , 2014 Share Posted 23 August , 2014 I saw this MG on a documentary. I think it is an MG08 but I've never seen anything like the piece on the end of the barrell. Does anyone know what it is? http://imgur.com/i9I54dH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoppage Drill Posted 23 August , 2014 Share Posted 23 August , 2014 Well, I'll make a start. A chronoscope ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 23 August , 2014 Share Posted 23 August , 2014 How about some elaborate muzzle gas-trap to eliminate flash and boost RoF? Regards, MikB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 23 August , 2014 Share Posted 23 August , 2014 Hi MikB Do you think this is testing a similar device as the British Vickers muzzle attachment that's designed to get the additional recoil boost from the propellant gases exiting the muzzle? John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 23 August , 2014 Share Posted 23 August , 2014 Its an MG08 fitted with a water cooled recoil booster. On page 138 of Central Powers Small Arms of WW1 (John Walters) there is a photo of a similar weapon belonging to the 129th Infantry Regiment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 23 August , 2014 Share Posted 23 August , 2014 It was called a Rűckstossverstärker S and adopted sometime during the war so yes John but I think they are using it rather than testing it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 23 August , 2014 Share Posted 23 August , 2014 It was hard to imagine what else it could be for. Even in the 1960s, chronographs were large affairs measuring bullet flight time over several feet, often by breaking wires, so only measuring one round between resets. It might *now* be practical to build a device that size that could calculate velocity mean and standard deviation over an input number of rounds, and adjust elevation to strike a designated target, but it wasn't then! Regards, MikB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 24 August , 2014 Share Posted 24 August , 2014 It was hard to imagine what else it could be for. Not that hard it might have been a flash suppressor for example. The recoil booster was developed after the onset of trench warfare as it was believed that the 300 rpm standard rate of fire was too slow to repel mass attacks. It increased the rate to 450rpm. Vickers held a number of patents on devices of a similar nature but it was decided that a higher rate of fire tended "to kill the same man several times over" and wasted ammunition so never applied them. It would seem that the Germans soon realised this so that the booster was not much used and indeed I have seen text books that suggest that for ground defence they may have adjusted their Maxims to give a slightly slower rate than the possible 300 rpm. In WW2 the use of more powerful rounds in the Vickers increased the recoil and resulted in some speeding up of the rate of fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 24 August , 2014 Share Posted 24 August , 2014 I'd already thunk that thought, Cent - see my post #3. Regards, MikB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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