I have probably posted this before?? If not, then lets try again. Some years ago, I was asked to make from scratch three WW1 machine guns, both water cooled and air cooled. They gave me some old "blue prints" I discovered that half the measurements were missing, and that most of the work was done just using the mans skill to produce the finished thing. So it became patently obvious that WW1 machine guns certainly did not have interchangeable parts, each one was made to the skilled mans own measurements, So if you see films with old machine guns, they may well be mine, and the same applies to the WW1 fighter planes that fired through the propellers they may also be mine....Ever since..... I wish I had made a spare for my own satisfaction.....By the way, they are not for firing. They were made of mild steel, and thus any bullet fired through the barrel would have caused a catastrophic effect.
As a coincidence I have just read a passage in Gordon Corrigan's book, Mud, Blood and Poppycock on the relative effectiveness of weapons in WW1, and the myth of the MG as an example of WMD was put into a sort of perspective in terms of causalities recorded by the RAMC. Grenades = 2% Bullets = 39% (MG + rifle) Shells = 58% (arty + mortar) Other = 0.32% (eg, bayonet)
Think you must have the wrong blueprints: all WW1 firearms were precision made and had fully interchangeable parts. In particular, Vickers and other MMGs were carefully engineered so that the barrels and locks could be replaced quickly in the field.
