I’ve scheduled a Vickers Machine Gun Armorer’s Class for November, on the weekend before Thanksgiving, here in Henderson, NV. I used to do a week-long Maxim-Vickers-Browning course with Dolf Goldsmith, Robert Segel, and Dr. Ed Weitzman. We had a lot of fun and collectors really got a fantastic experience. Unfortunately, I’m now the last man standing.
When we finished the Vickers Machine Gun book last year (I was co-author with Dolf, Robert, and Richard Fisher from the Vickers MG Collection & Research Association in the UK), as part of the book’s promotion, I was asked to do some 3-day courses on the Vickers Machine Gun, geared towards collectors of all levels. The goal was to get them all to the same learning plane, teach gauging, construction, laying the guns, firing, etc. I ran the course six times, with full attendance in every class. There are still a couple of guys who were in line but couldn’t make it… so now, I’ve talked with them and scheduled it over a weekend.
We’ll start on Saturday morning in the classroom, and the live fire is just function checking the guns at the range, loading and a few bursts each. We’ll schedule the weekend around the weather. Even though these are water-cooled guns, the gunners aren’t so, we’ll choose the best morning for the range.
I have literally hundreds of rare accessories, mounts, parts, pieces, and all the lore, as well as gauges. If you have a registered Vickers and want to bring it so it gets the once-over in the classroom, that’s all good, too.
This class is for novices, MG-curious people, up to expert collectors – I’ll strive to give everyone a great time, and a learning experience about the history and technology of these historic firearms.
Here’s the rough syllabus. There’s a lot more to it, but this is the basics:
Saturday
- History
- Technology
- Construction
- Gauging
Sunday
- Tripods
- Water Technology
- Sighting Systems
- Accessories
Monday
- Range Time
- Set up and fire
- Cleaning and Care
Join us for the class on the weekend of November 18-19-20 2023 at Phoenix Defence in Henderson, NV. The class tuition is $895. Please contact us at 702-208-9735 or info@phoenixdefence.com to register.
