history in motion America's WWI Tripod Machinegun

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America’s (fun2shoot) WWI Heavy Machinegun

 

The 1914 Hotchkiss was used by many of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers to stop the Germans and their Maxim machineguns.  This original example may have been proudly brought back by an American veteran.   These 1914 Hotchkiss guns saved the lives of so many American soldiers and allies.  This machinegun is fully functional, firing the long- range 8mm Lebel cartridge, available and easily reloadable.  To feed the gun, the cartridges are hand inserted into 24 round reusable metallic feed strips.  Twenty steel strips are included.  With the price of ammunition today, these 24 round feed strips are more affordable to shoot than 250 round belts, and equally fun, as the feed strip feeds through the receiver; check out the video.  Plus, you can attach feed strips together, the job for the Gunner’s Assistant.  All exterior serial numbers match except the  brass feed block and the front sight.  See photos.  Barrel serial number matches receiver serial number and has excellent rifling with sharp lands and groves. This Hotchkiss is mounted on an original 1915 Omnibus tripod, which firmly supports this machinegun on a flat surface or straddling a wartime trench.  All three serial numbers on the Omnibus tripod match. It is a true joy to be able to operate a machinegun that Americans used to win The Great War in Europe over a century ago!   

The 1914 Hotchkiss was popular because it was air-cooled, saving critical time required to service a water-cooled machinegun.  Plus, it had less than half the parts of the German Maxim machinegun.  Simply designed, reliable and still functioning a century later: a tribute to the Hotchkiss design.  Watch the video attached!  Benjamin Hotchkiss, an American gunsmith, founded Hotchkiss in France, ultimately providing the United States, and the world, with thousands of machineguns in various models.  The United States first used 1909 Model Hotchkiss feed strip fed machineguns to stop Poncho Villa’s raid on the American border town of Columbus, New Mexico in 1916.  (Poncho Villa is notoriously pictured with a Hotchkiss.  Mexico used them as well). Hotchkiss provided this 1914 Model to the US and French troops as they battled the Germans throughout World War One.  This example was manufactured in 1917, as marked on the receiver.  These Hotchkiss machineguns have become familiar to movie-goers as Americans watched new movies of WWI produced over the last several years.  Imagine being able to actually own one of those machineguns.  And to display it in your den or living room. This is your opportunity.  $25,000.  Fully transferable and a Curio and Relic.  Quickly transfers to your dealer tax-free on eForms. Sales@fullautoclassics.com or (575) 405-0911.  Email for video of this machinegun shooting.

 

There are many reasons for people to be interested in machine guns. But if the guns, themselves, just fascinate you, find an opportunity to shoot some of the World War I machine guns. They are utterly intriguing and have so much more personality than modern machineguns, many of which were derived from these century-old designs. The Communist PKM belt-fed machinegun operates on the same design as the 1908 Maxim machine gun and the Vickers. And, contrary to what everybody believes about the World War I French Chauchat machine gun, its bolt is of the same basic design as the M-16! “There’s nothing new under the sun.” Investigate World War I machine guns. You will be fascinated with them, as you learn more about how they function, and have more opportunity to interact with them.