This is a fine example of a WWI era British Vickers/Maxim type machine gun that was assembled using a set of British Vickers machine gun parts mated to a newly manufactured Wilson Arms side plate. The Vickers machine gun was basically an updated and improved version of the original Maxim, introduced in the late 1880s. In 1889, Great Britain was the first country to recognize the battle advantage of the machine gun and also the first country to actually introduce it into their inventory . These Maxim machine guns were to be dubbed the "Devils Paintbrush" as they would produce huge numbers of casualties during the mass charges from trench to trench during WWI. The original water cooled version held approximately 7 quarts of water in the barrel jacket and could fire intermittent burst of fire for 500-800, rounds and after approximately 2,000 rounds, the water would boil off, and they had to reduce the firing rate. This example is currently fitted with one of the very rare, early large British, parabolic flash hiders. This style of flash hider was basically a large round bulbous device with four vent holes, one on each side. It was designed to basically capture all the gas and firing residue inside this large bulbous area and then let the gas and flash slowly dissipate through these side vent holes. It is also fitted with the correct long staff, 3000 meter, adjustable rear sight. The lower area of the staff is marked: "V.S.M./M /303/No2/VII/MkI". The top rear section of the water jacket is stamped "B/1750", the right top side of the feed tray is stamped V303, while the front end of the feed tray is stamped with "DP" on each side, along with various British acceptance proofs on many of the parts. The right rear area of the receiver side plate is stamped "WILSON ARMS CO./BRUNSWICK GA./VSA-084". This desirable example comes complete with an original and correct MkIV tripod and brass cradle that is stamped on the edge: "No. 4206 ri 1942". The top area of the tripod has a large rotating brass wheel that is indexed 0-180 degrees left or right and is marked" M.T. 303 Mk IV. DIAL DIR. MkII." It comes with an original British proofed canvas water jacket cover, an original red rubber water hose, two British ammunition cans and one cloth ammunition belt with brass clips.

Very fine as rebuilt with 95% of the refurbished blue/black finish on the various metal parts and 95% of the green repainted finish on the water jacket. The tripod has 75% of the old repainted green finish flaking and is pealing in some areas. NOTE: This weapon is a National Firearms Act (NFA), fully transferable Class 3, which is registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, (BATFE) under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44 and 27 CFR part 478.