Brandon Herrera walks us through the history and workings of Hiram Maxim’s machine gun… designed waaaaay back in 1884. The period from 1850 to 1950 has got to be the most amazing time in terms of technological advancement actually and obviously changing things, and military tech was a large part of it. Interestingly, what the Maxim did is pretty much exactly what modern machine guns do; the lead it sent downrange would be largely indistinguishable from what a modern gun would send. The difference, of course, is that a modern gun would be *far* simpler and much lighter, thus more practical. Compare to the difference between a musket from 1850 and an M-14 from 1950: there is no comparing what they did.
Which points out the genius of Moses Browning, and why we need a Federal holiday – nay, an entire *month* – to properly celebrate him and his 1911.