Comments by "peabase" (@peabase) on "The world's longest serving machine gun, the Maxim Model 1910 with firearms expert Jonathan Ferguson" video.

  1. It's nothing like it. A Russian would never waste vodka like that, diluted or otherwise.
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  2. A Russian would rather suffer a seized-up machine gun than waste vodka like that.
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  3.  @Kesssuli  Initially, the Soviets didn't understand the importance of metallic ammunition belts either. Every so often, their cloth ammo belts would freeze solid, jamming the gun. Also, Soviet machine gunners weren't allowed to adjust their aim according to where their tracers landed. Instead, they had to trust their sights, with the result that their aim was too high. You can't make it up!
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  4. I wonder where you got the idea of using ice. Snow is plentiful and easy to handle; ice, not so much. You'd have to break icicles off tree branches or rocks, assuming they'd formed during a thaw. Also, snow doesn't impede the movement of a cold barrel. Friction melts the snow where it touches the barrel, just like skis do, leaving a nice 'greased' tunnel for the barrel.
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  5.  @EchoCharlie1361  I think we can agree that water at -25 °C equals ice. So they used snow instead of water. Snow won't freeze solid, like I tried to explain earlier. My grandfather took part in the 1939 Battle of Tolvajärvi as a machine gunner. He rejoiced about the heavy snowfall, because it made the attacking Soviets wade waist-deep in snow (they weren't issued skis) and it provided an abundance of coolant for his Maxim. As a shopkeeper, my granddad marvelled at the ammunition he expended, but the casualties he never mentioned. He did dryly mention once that the state made a mass-murderer out of him.
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