German WWI Capture Russian 1905/10 Maxim Gun on MG08 Mount (One-of-a-Kind) Original Items

Original Item: One only! This is an Original Russian Contract M-1905/1910 Water Cooled Maxim Machine Gun with M-1905/10 Brass Water Jacket Faceplate which has been re-jacketed from the smooth 1905/10 water jacket to the later M-1910 fluted water jacket. The weapon is fitted with the early WW1 Drum back sight and a Fusee spring cover is still marked with the Russian Imperial Crest and dated 1915 although some evidence is visible of an attempt to remove the markings by the Soviets at a later date. This Machine gun however, was captured by the German Army on the Eastern Front and then converted for use with a Sled Mount by the addition of two Water Jacket Trunnions on top and beneath at the rear end of the jacket directly in front of the receiver, and then reissued to a German unit who added their markings to the rear of the fluted Water Jacket “F.M.G.Z.211.G.8.” for use in the European theater during WW1. These markings represent ” Festungs-Maschinengewehr-Zug, Grenadier Regiment No.211, Machine Gun #8.” These captured Guns were used in fortress defensible positions where they were intended as permanent armaments and were traditionally therefore left in their original calibers and used with captured ammunition.

Later in WW1 this Machine Gun ended up in Turkey, perhaps as Imperial German aid during the conflict and was subsequently recaptured by the Russians before the close of the war. The Gun then, presumably with the Turkish mount was then captured by the Finns in the Winter War with the Soviets of 1939/40 as evidenced by the Finnish Arsenal and inventory date added in 1943. The Finnish Army later sold the weapon as surplus to IMA in 1996.

It is offered on it’s accompanying M-1909 Commercial Tripod complete with Anti-Aircraft Extension which still bears Turkish characters on the ranging bar and legs. This weapon being of Russian Maxim contract origin does not interface with the M-1909 Tripod as regards to the rear Ranging bar mount, so was therefore issued without a connector.

An exceptionally rare WW1 Maxim Display Machine Gun that served in three separate armies, all in the WW1 period and again in the Russo/Finnish Winter War of 1939/40.