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LOT 1389
World War I Imperial German
Army DWM Model 1908 Maxim Water Cooled Heavy Machine Gun with Capture History, Class III/NFA DEWAT C&R
Machine Gun - Serial no. 47315, 7.92 mm Mauser cal., 30 inch round bbl., blue/gray paint finish. Manufactured in 1918. This is a
very fine example of a World War I German Maxim heavy machine gun manufactured in 1918 by the DWM factory that has capture information written on top of
the water jacket. The top of the water jacket has been hand written in an original World War I era white paint with:
“Captured by 27th Div. A.E.F./Sept. 1918”. This is the real deal, as the 27th Infantry Division was a unit of the Army
National Guard that served in both World War I and World War II. The division traces its history from the New York
Division, originally formed in 1908. The New York Division was called to active duty during the Mexican border
crisis in 1916. It was redesignated as the 6th Division in June 1916 and then released from active duty in December
1916, only to be recalled for World War I service in July 1917. The 6th Division was reorganized and redesignated as
the 27th Division on 1 October 1917. The Maxim MG is probably one of the most influential weapon designs of the
20th century as it was the first true self-sustaining machine gun that could fire in a fully-automatic mode without
external means other than by power of the round and mechanism itself. This design was developed by Hiram Maxim
in the 1883/84 time frame with the final design finalized 1885. He demonstrated his design throughout Europe circa 1887, and the British Army was the first country to recognize its
importance and the first to officially adopted it and to use it in battle. Germany officially adopted the weapon in 1899 and used it throughout WWI and well into the Weimar period.
This is a very late “1918” production model with serial number “47315”. It has all matching visible serial numbers to include the top cover, back plate/butterfly trigger mechanism,
spade grip assembly, barrel jacket and various smaller parts. All of the side plates of the receiver are correctly stamped “DWM” certainly indicating its originality. Unfortunately it
does not come with the internal lock mechanism (bolt assembly). The top cover is marked: “47315/M.G.0.8./D.W.M./BERLIN/1918”. The tangent style rear sight is graduated from 400-
2,000 meters, and a simple inverted “V” front sight is fitted to the front of the water jacket. The water jacket could hold seven quarts of water that would allow the machine gunner
to fire long bursts of sustained fire. After approximately 500 rounds of fire the water would started to boil and would completely boil off/evaporate after 2,000 rounds. During
World War I, the Maxims would wreak havoc and devastation in the large open field battles in France and Germany where it was nicknamed the “Devils Paintbrush” because of the
thousands of soldiers it killed. This single weapon changed the tactics of land warfare forever.
CONDITION: Very fine with 85% of its original blue finish on the receiver and various other parts. The complete water jacket has an old original field gray paint applied by the
Germans and the noted historical capture
information written in white on top of the
jacket. The walnut grips are in very good
condition showing numerous handling
marks and pressure dents on the sides.
Mechanically non-functional, bolt assembly
absent. A super nice and very historic World
War I Model 1908 Maxim Machine Gun.
NOTE: This is a registered DEWAT weapon
with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), as a
National Firearms Act (NFA) weapon, that
is fully transferable. It has been classified
as a Curio or Relic as defined in 27 CFR, 478.11. These
weapons are still subject to the provisions of 18 U.S.C.
Chapter 44 and 27 CFR part 479, National Firearms Act.
Estimate: 14,000 - 22,500