Colt Vickers Model 1915 Machine Gun

By Jack Melton Jr. · Originally published May-June 2022 · pp. 51

Colt Vickers Model 1915 Machine Gun — lead photograph from the original article

World War I photograph of a British crew operating a Vickers machine gun in the Battle of Passchendaele, September 1917. Officer in right foreground is wearing a kilt. This photo may have been staged as the rear sight is down and the assistant gunner (behind the gun) does not appear to be guiding the ammunition belt; the gun is not firing because no bullets seem to have been ejected from the gun as the feeding end of the ammunition belt is not advanced. Finally, none of the men have any of their kit except their gas masks.

Colt Manufacturing, Connecticut Firearm Manufacturing Company, Hartford, Conn., with its correct World War I tripod. This model has a water-cooled jacket around the barrel that held approximately one gallon of water. This particular model used .30-06 caliber ammunition. The rate of fire was around 450 rounds per minute. Many Colt Vickers M1915’s were destroyed after the war.

Oblique rear view of Colt Vickers showing sight and trigger. Note chain attached to elevating system (rear) and front of mount to ensure these crucial parts were not lost.

During the British attack on High Wood, August 24, 1916, near Bazentin le Petit in the Somme Département, northern France, ten Vickers machine guns assigned to the British Fourth Army fired an estimated one million rounds during a twelve-hour period. (Courtesy Cowans Auction Company)

Photographs from the Original Article

Colt Vickers Model 1915 Machine Gun — photograph 2 from the original article

Captions and credits appear in the article text as originally printed.