Manufactured in 1918. A licensed copy of the Maxim Gun, the MG08 was a mainstay heavy machine gun with German forces leading up to and throughout World War One, used to great and brutal effect in the trenches, where the belt fed ammunition and water cooled barrel could maintain a volume and duration of fire unmatched by manually operated weapons. While changes in strategic doctrine devalued water-cooled guns in the Weimar years, the MG08 still had a niche in fixed fortification defense, not fully retiring until the end of World War II. Blade front and folding ladder rear sights, with the manufacture marks and date on the receiver cover and a round deflector plate mounted behind the flash hider. A mount for an optical sight (sight not included) is installed on the left sideplate above the tension adjustment device, pair of checkered "spade" grips and a "butterfly" thumb trigger at the rear, the latter with an attached lever for deactivating the thumb safety. Added to the bottom rear corner of the left sideplate is the "bullet" logo of Charles Erb, noted restorer of NFA items. A steel "sled" field mount is included, along with two extra barrels, a leather barrel case, and a spare bolt.