Interchangability of belt-fed mounts

[AlexanderA]

It seems that one of the legacies of the early Maxim guns, adopted in many countries, is that the mounts (tripods, etc.) are interchangable. That is, U.S. Brownings (M1917 watercooled, M1919 aircooled, etc.) fit perfectly on British Vickers tripods and Russian Sokolov wheeled mounts, and these foreign guns fit on U.S. mounts. I think the same applies to German Maxim mounts, but I'm not sure. FYI.

 

[Ian]

The Vickers and Browning guns have the same geometry of mounting points. So most mounts will interchange, although something meant for an air-cooled Browning may interfere with the water jacket on a Vickers.

Some Maxims also share these mounting points, but not all. The Russian 1910 does, but the German MG08 does not. It used one connection under the receiver box and a clamp around the water jacket. I believe (but am not completely sure) that the early British and American Maxims will fit, and the Chinese Type 24 Maxim (which I see the most of around, after the Russian 1910) does not.

FWIW, there was no change in mounting points on the Vickers or Brownings - all variants are the same.

 

[AlexanderA]

This is good to know, because a Russian Sokolov wheeled mount was (at least until recently) considerably cheaper than a U.S. M1917 tripod mount.

When I get the time, I'm going to see if a .50 cal. M2HB will fit on the Sokolov mount. Offhand, it looks like it will (the rear mounting point swivels to the rear). If so, that would be cool. With the armor shield, it would look like a miniature piece of artillery.