Image credit
- Title
- File:Vickers-K-machine-gun-batey-haosef-1.jpg
- Author
- Bukvoed(attribution required)
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vickers-K-machine-gun-batey-haosef-1.jpg
How Muzzle energy is calculated
E = ½ · m · v²
Not calculated: m has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Muzzle velocity is calculated
no sourced velocity for this pairing
Not calculated: muzzle velocity has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Loaded mass is calculated
m_loaded = m_empty + m_magazine + n · m_cartridge
Not calculated: m_magazine has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- One magazine, filled to the stated capacity. Spare magazines, optics, slings and lights are the owner’s, not the arm’s.
2 of 4 inputs link to their source.
How Free recoil is calculated
E_recoil = ½ · m_firearm · v_recoil²
Not calculated: v_recoil has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Propellant gas momentum is excluded: ARMAG does not record charge weights. This is therefore a lower bound on the real free recoil, consistent between entries but smaller than a figure that includes the gas term.
- Free recoil: the arm is unrestrained. Stock design, muzzle devices, stance and shooter mass are not modelled, because none of them is a property of the arm.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Capacity is calculated
as published for the primary chambering
Inputs
- capacity100estimatedsourcePublished as a 60- or 100-round pan magazine, Wikipedia infobox, uncited there; 100 rounds recorded here as the larger of the two published capacities.
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
Derived figures
Computed from the sourced values above. Open ƒ on any figure for the formula, its inputs, and the assumptions it makes.
How Momentum is calculated
p = m · v
Not calculated: m has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Sectional density is calculated
SD = mass(gr) / (7000 · diameter(in)²)
Not calculated: mass has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Reported in the conventional lb/in² so it is directly comparable with published figures.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Power factor is calculated
PF = mass(gr) · velocity(fps) / 1000
Not calculated: mass has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- A competition classification defined by the IPSC and USPSA rulebooks, stated in their units. It describes a scoring category, not an effect.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Magazine dump is calculated
t = (n − 1) / (rpm / 60)
Inputs
- n100estimatedsourcePublished as a 60- or 100-round pan magazine, Wikipedia infobox, uncited there; 100 rounds recorded here as the larger of the two published capacities.
- rpm1,075 rpmestimatedsourceMidpoint of a published, adjustable 950-1200 rpm range, Wikipedia infobox, uncited there.
Assumptions
- Cyclic rate held for the whole magazine, no stoppages, trigger held down. A theoretical figure for comparing mechanisms, not a measured one.
2 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sight error at 1 mm is calculated
θ = atan(misalignment / sight radius)
Not calculated: sight radius has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Shows what a stated aiming error costs. The misalignment is the reader’s figure; the site does not claim how well anyone aims.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
Specifications
Every row here is generated from the schema, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table, and the same rows, read the same way, are what the comparison shows.
Identity
- Type
- Machine gun
- Action
- Self-loading
- Fire modes
- Fully automatic
- Operating system
- Gas, long-stroke piston
- Feed
- Designed in
- United Kingdom
- Produced in
- Introduced
- 1935
- Production
- not recorded
Dimensions and mass
- Mass, empty
From the infobox; no inline citation is given there.
- Magazine, empty
- not recorded
- Length
Converted from a published 37 in figure, Wikipedia infobox, uncited there.
- Length, folded
- not recorded
- Width
- not recorded
- Height
- not recorded
- Barrel length
From the infobox, uncited there.
Sights and rifling
- Sight radius
- not recorded
- Sight height over bore
- not recorded
- Rifling twist
- not recorded
- Twist direction
- not recorded
- Grooves
- not recorded
- Sight graduation
- not recorded
Operation
- Cyclic rate
Midpoint of a published, adjustable 950-1200 rpm range, Wikipedia infobox, uncited there.
- Trigger pull
- not recorded
- Effective range
- not recorded
- Units produced
- not recorded
- Launch price
- not recorded
Chamberings
- .303 Britishprimary100 rounds
Scale
A to-scale outline against family siblings. The dimensions are sourced; the shape is a representative outline for the type, and says so.
- Vickers K machine gun939.8 mm37.00 inheight not recorded
Representative outline: the dimensions are sourced, the shape is not. Overall length, and barrel length where recorded, are drawn from this entry's own figures; the profile is a generic one for the firearm type and says nothing about this arm's actual contours. Vickers K machine gun records no height, so its outline is drawn at the type's proportion. That height is part of the shape, not a measurement.
Gallery
Image credit
- Title
- File:A member of a Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) patrol poses with a Vickers 'K' Gas-operated machine gun on a Chevrolet 30-cwt truck, May 1942. E12410.jpg
- Author
- No 1 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Graham (Lt)
- Licence
- Public domain
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_member_of_a_Long_Range_Desert_Group_(LRDG)_patrol_poses_with_a_Vickers_'K'_Gas-operated_machine_gun_on_a_Chevrolet_30-cwt_truck,_May_1942._E12410.jpg
_patrol_poses_with_a_Vickers_'K'_Gas-operated_machine_gun_on_a_Chevrolet_30-cwt_truck,_May_1942._E12410.jpg){kind=link}
Image credit
- Title
- File:Vickers K cockpit.jpg
- Author
- Devon S A (Mr) (Royal Air Force official photographer)
- Licence
- Public domain
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vickers_K_cockpit.jpg
Detail
The Vickers K, officially the Vickers Gas Operated (G.O.), is a gas-long-stroke machine gun Vickers-Armstrongs developed from 1935 as a development of the Vickers-Berthier light machine gun the Indian Army had adopted in 1932. It was built specifically as a flexible aircraft gun: light enough for a gunner to swing and aim by hand from an open cockpit, with an adjustable cyclic rate as high as 1,200 rounds per minute so a gunner had the best chance of hitting an attacking fighter in the brief window such an engagement allowed.
The Royal Air Force ultimately chose the belt-fed Browning for its aircraft instead, and surplus Vickers K guns were passed on to British and Commonwealth ground units. There, the Long Range Desert Group and the Special Air Service found its low-friction, gas-operated locking design markedly more resistant to jamming from blown sand than either the water-cooled Vickers machine gun or the Bren, and mounted pairs of them on their raiding vehicles in North Africa, where its light weight and high rate of fire suited fast, aggressive hit-and-run tactics far better than its original aerial role ever exploited.
Mass, length, barrel length and cyclic rate on this page come from Wikipedia’s infobox, which carries no inline citation for any of them, so all are recorded as estimated rather than verified. No manufacturer specification sheet was reachable for a weapon of this age. No published twist rate was found for this entry.
References
This entry's own bibliography. Every citation key on this page resolves into this list.
- Vickers K machine gun · Wikipedia · 1318251627 · read 2026-09-24 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Last verified 2026-09-24 · review status: draft