Flavio Posted 4 July , 2023 Share Posted 4 July , 2023 (edited) Hi guys, a few months ago I found a strange piece in areas frequented by the British army in the Asiago plateau. I never understood what it could be used for or where it came from Today, however, showing it to an expert on weapons from the First World War, it turned out that it is a rare piece and belongs to the belts for the Vickers mounted on aircraft until 1916, so since there was no raf squadron in Italy until 1917, I assume it was mounted on an Italian plane. What do you think? Ps The british 303 shot is naturally empty @Richard Fisher Edited 4 July , 2023 by Flavio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 5 July , 2023 Share Posted 5 July , 2023 The appearance of the 303 doesn't suggest empty to me. The stab crimps still look sharp, when either firing or pulling tends to flatten them, the primer's undented and the bullet's unmarked. Just sayin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HenryTheGerman Posted 6 July , 2023 Share Posted 6 July , 2023 No doubt - for loading the weapon, the cartridge needs to be backwards pulled out of the belt elements - so the belt certainly was made for a Maxim-type of machine gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flavio Posted 6 July , 2023 Author Share Posted 6 July , 2023 1 hour ago, HenryTheGerman said: No doubt - for loading the weapon, the cartridge needs to be backwards pulled out of the belt elements - so the belt certainly was made for a Maxim-type of machine gun. Hello, and first of all thanks for the answer... I'll tell you that I'm a bit confused because whoever told me that this piece is part of the first model of the disintegrable link for Vickers tape for aircraft also sent me a photo which I am now attaching Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HenryTheGerman Posted 6 July , 2023 Share Posted 6 July , 2023 Well, it seem to be the metal belt system designed by Prideau for Vickers aircraft machine guns. See here: https://web.archive.org/web/20150131141822/http://www.ima-usa.com/nation/u-s-militaria/u-s-machine-guns/metal-belt-links-for-ww-1-u-s-m1915-vickers-aircraft-gun-phosphate-finish.html Regards H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 8 July , 2023 Share Posted 8 July , 2023 On 04/07/2023 at 21:18, Flavio said: ...Today, however, showing it to an expert on weapons from the First World War, it turned out that it is a rare piece and belongs to the belts for the Vickers mounted on aircraft until 1916, so since there was no raf squadron in Italy until 1917, I assume it was mounted on an Italian plane... @Richard Fisher On 06/07/2023 at 12:40, HenryTheGerman said: Well, it seem to be the metal belt system designed by Prideau for Vickers aircraft machine guns. See here: https://web.archive.org/web/20150131141822/http://www.ima-usa.com/nation/u-s-militaria/u-s-machine-guns/metal-belt-links-for-ww-1-u-s-m1915-vickers-aircraft-gun-phosphate-finish.html The OP's photos don't show the Prideaux type links, but the earlier MS type links that were replaced by the Prideaux links. It's difficult to be certain here, but to me they appear to be the MkII version. See - Goldsmith, "The Grand Old Lady of No Mans Land", 1994, pages 133-135: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HenryTheGerman Posted 8 July , 2023 Share Posted 8 July , 2023 Indeed, @ Andrew Upton - and again I've learned something. Thanks. Regards H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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