Maxim

[Promo]

Having shown it only to friends, I had been asked to also show this thing public. Well, since they are all lawfully owned I do not have any problems with doing so, therefore take note of the attached pictures.

It's a short walk through history, starting with the very first officially used at the very rear - Maxim for the M1903 rifle from WWI. Note that while the Maxim has a big nut remaining on the barrel and for installation requiring the frontsight to be slided out, the two for the K98k are clamped in a similar manner as the Gewehrgranatgerät. And the Maxim features an offset bullet channel, while the other two have a central bullet channel.

The middle one is one for the rubber shims. It carries a chart on it's body where it tells you which rear sight setting you should use for which "real distance". I assume it was meant to be used with a special subsonic ammo. Worth mentioning with this piece, it uses a wrong direction threading and hence has also an arrow pointing in the direction it should be turned to open it. I believe this was due to the rubber shims, which are in fact touched and probably could otherwise cause unlocking itself due to the bullet spinning.

[cplnorton]

I would love to have that Warner Swasey with the Maxim. I never was interested in the Maxim Silencer until I got digging back then and realized just how much they used them. Now I would love to own one.

That is a really neat set up Georg, and I have to admit I'm a tad bit jealous of that one.

[Promo]

I'm not sure if the Maxim is more correct for the early M1908 scoped M1903s, or more the later M1913 scoped M1903s. As you might know, the pictured M1903 with the M1908 W&S scope is serial 352.844, while the scope is serialized to M1903 serial 352.843.

Assuming that any single M added to the rear of the listing in SRS means "Maxim" and adding those which are titled to have a Silencer I was able to find the following rifles:
34.397 050514 MOORE SILENCER TEST
46.136 050514 MOORE SILENCER TEST
146.876 RIM 100109 RIA SILENCER TEST
155.268 SGM 071509 MAXIM SILENCER
155.268 SGSM 071509 OCO (SENT TO SA)
220.597 SGSM 020210 MAXIM (SENT TO SA)
255.402 SGSM 121509 SOM SILENCER TEST
258.341 SGSM 121509 SOM SILENCER TEST
259.173 SGM 100109 MAXIM SILENCER
259.173 SGSM 100109 RIA SILENCER TEST
276.099 SGM 120109 MAXIM SILENCER
346.571 050514 MOORE SILENCER TEST
348.914 050514 MOORE SILENCER TEST
349.084 050514 MOORE SILENCER TEST
349.088 050514 MOORE SILENCER TEST
349.229 050514 MOORE SILENCER TEST
349.985 050514 MOORE SILENCER TEST
350.393 050514 MOORE SILENCER TEST
350.789 050514 MOORE SILENCER TEST
353.003 SGSM 051009 3RD CAV (M1908 SIGHT #333)
386.714 M 121809SA ACCURACY TEST
424.145 M 072425US ARMY TROOPS IN CHINA
426.333 SGM 050514CO M 24TH INF
434.874 M 072425US ARMY TROOPS IN CHINA
452.382 SGM 042227FT H G WRIGHT
453.916 M 072425US ARMY TROOPS IN CHINA
454.477 SGSM 091339 WARNER & SWASEY
460.458 SGM 013114 7TH CO CAC
.... and SA Museum also lists 357.867 as having a Moore silencer. And in their entry to this rifle they list as having bought 100 of the Moore silencers. See http://ww2.rediscov.com/spring/VFPCG...TABASE=objects,

Looking at that I'm not sure if it follows a pattern. Considering especially the design of the Maxim, not requiring a special threading etc. to the rifle, it appears that it was not actually assigned to a certain rifle. I had previously seen M1903s with a threaded muzzle, but not sure for which device this threading was meant for (if I'm not mistaken the rifle I'm thinking of was in the 67x.xxx serial range, or at least higher 6xx.xxx serial range).

Very interesting for me is serial 259.173. It has two entries, one for the Maxim silencer, and the second one now being a scoped rifle. Might be worth researching that one more!

[clintonhater]

Lord, can hardly believe such fabulous objects exist outside museums!

Maxim ads claimed they significantly reduced felt recoil; is this true?

[cplnorton]

Hey George I just realized I used to own one 3 digits off your Warner Swasey. lol I used to have 352840, but it was plugged. But 3 digits off that is amazing when you think they were made over a 100 years ago.

The Maxim silencers seem to work their way on a lot of stuff back then, so I'm not sure if it made it on one model Warner Swasey more than the other or not. I doubt it. I see a ton of mentions of them though on a wide range of 1903's. I especially see them mentioned a lot being used for match rifles both with Telescopic sights and ones without.

You know someday, I need to organize better. I have a lot of stuff on the W&S, and to me I skim it, but I really don't undestand a lot of it. You could school me all day long on the Warner Swaseys. I should oganize it all and get it over to you. There might be something new in there that I don't understand the significance of.

ClintonHater: Georg is like the person that a urban legend is formed around. Like we all hear rumors about there is a guy out there who has like one of everything, well Georg is that guy and not a urban legend. lol And what makes it even worse, he is a really good guy to boot, so you can't even hate him for it.

[cplnorton]

Hey I did see this. This is from the 1918 Ordnance Manual.

[Promo]

That one has a different attaching of the silencer, with the clamp type behind the rear sight - not the large sized nut like mine has. But thanks for the great picture! Gets me in the bad situation to pick a M1913 scoped M1903 to place it upon ... or I might just leave it where it's now.

Steve, I remember your plugged receiver if this was the rebuilt one with the later barrel and the Hatcher's hole. Did you ended up selling it? I remember when it was originally advertised on gunbroker. This idiot of seller had various barreled 1903 receivers for a long time. And I once asked him specifically about rifles in W&S serial ranges. He told me he has none, only to about a year later list one, advertised as coming from the same batch. And it sold extremely expensive.

I still have a project rifle around, a very nice 62x.xxx receiver with the original holes, not plugged. Need to replace the rear sight base and find a stock for it. I have the M1913 scope about 20 digits off from that rifle!

[cplnorton]

Yeah it was that SRS hit Marine rifle. One of our mutual friends collects SRS hits and I owe him a lot, so I sold it to him for what I had in it. I will tell you who it was offline in case they care if people know he has it. But it's still around.

[Fred]

Georg, you are most certainly an advanced collector! Wonderful collection of rifles and other stuff! Thank you so much for sharing photos of some of your stuff.

[PhillipM]

Lord, can hardly believe such fabulous objects exist outside museums!

Maxim ads claimed they significantly reduced felt recoil; is this true?

I can't speak for the Maxim, but I have shot an Accuracy Inernational in 338 Lapua that is a clone of the Canadian sniper rifle that made the incredibly long shot in the sandbox a few years ago.

I shot a gong at 300. The crosshairs shook a little and I saw the impact. The supressor really made it a pussycat. I suspect the Maxim did similar.