Ummm, sez mr k to his Aunt Elaine, do you object if I clamber up into your attic? Why? Well... no real reason just to play around and maybe to tote out any old Maxim machine guns that could be cached above. This fellow Dolf and his aunt...

http://www.smallarmsreview.com...e.cfm?idarticles=125

Great article. Dolf is one of the foremost experts on machine guns.

I have a number of his books on the Browning MGs, as well as his book on the Maxim.

I'd love to also have his book on the Vickers, but it's long out of print, and used copies are going for many hundreds of dollars.

Here is Part 2 of the above interview.

http://www.smallarmsreview.com...e.cfm?idarticles=123

I personally know Dolf and have can honestly say he is one of the most interesting people I can think of. He is extremely literate and speaks seven languages fluently. If you ever need something translated from or into Malay, he is your man. Dolf just had his 90th birthday a couple weeks ago and is still going strong. Nothing keeps him down.

The information in these two interviews is priceless, but it only scratches the surface of Dolf's life. The details are unbelievable. For example, his discovery of an extremely rare French machine gun sitting is a San Antonio warehouse. It had been sitting there after it was captured by the US Marine Corps during the Spanish American War.

Here are a few pictures I have taken of him over the years at various shooting sessions:


Dolf instructing my buddy Brad on how to shoot a Vickers.


Dolf shooting the breeze at the last Keith Allison ranch machine gun July 4th shoot.


Dolf shooting a P210.


Dolf shooting an AMT.


Dolf happy with his shooting performance with an MP5.

He looks familiar. Years back a gentleman looking like him let me shoot his Maxim at a range in North Georgia. Surely just coincidence. Regardless he was knowledgeable, enthusiastically generous with his beautiful Maxim.

What a great interview. Is there one of his books that might be recommended?

quote:

Originally posted by FishOn:
Is there one of his books that might be recommended?

Depends on what you want to know. He's written several authoritative, in-depth reference tomes on the history, development, and use of various families of medium and heavy machineguns. All are excellent.

(Just keep in mind that these are reference books... They're not exactly "light reading".)

"The Devil's Paintbrush" is about the Maxim machinegun.


"The Grand Old Lady of No Man's Land" is about the Vickers machinegun.


And he has a 5 Volume set on the various Browning machineguns.

Vol. 1 is about US military rifle caliber Browning MGs.


Vol. 2 is about foreign military rifle caliber Browning MGs.


Vol. 3 is about Browning MG accessories and mounts.


Vol. 4 is about .50 caliber Browning MGs.


Vol. 5 is a guide for building/repairing/maintaining Browning MGs.



His Maxim and Browning books are still relatively readily available. His Vickers book is long out of print and in high demand, with steep prices for used copies.

I own his Maxim book and Volumes 1-4 of his Browning books. I hope to find an affordable copy of his Vickers book someday.