Last Gasp of the German Maxim: the Air-Cooled MG 08/18
Germany
•
8m 59s
The MG 08/18 was developed at the very end of World War One as a lighter alternative to the MG 08/15. It used an air-cooled barrel, and between not needing water and having lighter parts it managed to be about 6 pounds less weight than the 08/15. Only a few hundred appear to have been produced before the end of the war, and they were not used by the German military during the Weimar era (the Mg 08/15 was). The 08/18 barrel jacket served as the basis for the MG34 barrel shroud, interestingly.
Thanks to Limex for giving me access to this very rare gun to film for you!
Up Next in Germany
-
Rheinmetall MG42/59: The Slow-Fire Co...
After World War Two, when West Germany was allowed to reconstitute its army and join NATO, it needed small arms. The new Bundeswehr chose the MG42 as it’s standard GPMG, and the Rheinmetall firm undertook the project of recreating the technical data package to build them. The work was completed i...
-
Germany Adopts the PPSh in 9mm: the M...
During World War Two, both German and Russian soldiers often thought that the other side's weapons were better than their own. In particular, both sides often preferred their opponents' SMGs. In late 1941, a group of German officers formally requested that Germany simply copy and produce the PPSh...
-
Germany's L26 Silencer for the K98k, ...
Patented in Germany as System Schätzle, the L26 was a departure from the copies of the Russian wipe-based silencer designs. The L26 used a set of six identical cone-shaped metal baffles inside a simple tube. It attached to a rifle by clamping around the front sight, just like the rifle grenade la...
