Boer Maxims' "RUST & VUUR"

The Transvaal government acquired twelve tri-pod mounted 0.303-in “portable Maxim” guns of this design from MNG&ACL.

On 15 May 1896, the Transvaal Executive Committee approved the acquisition of a further eleven guns and on 19 June 1896 they were ordered through the firm T.W. Beckett & Co. In July 1896 Van Zwieten, attended the proof firing of the guns (No. 5428-5438, order no. 12421)) near London. At the same occasion Van Zwieten recommended that the inscriptions on the guns should be in Dutch (“RUST” & “VUUR”) in stead of the usual English “SAFE” and “FIRING”. With the inscriptions completed the guns were dispatched on 24 July 1896 and shortly thereafter sailed for South Africa aboard the SS Umona.

After their arrival in the Transvaal all eleven pieces were tested. Erasmus, by now a major, rejected the guns and ammunition as not a single gun could empty a 100 round belt without stopping. On most guns the Maxim cartridge cases broke off in the barrel, while some misfired. To this the Maxim-Nordenfelt company replied that the ammunition must be faulty. Beckett suggested that a representative from MNG&ACL should come to the Transvaal to inspect the guns. The Transvaal Government approved and in November a representative and 5000 test rounds were sent for.

Whether MNG&ACL did send someone to South Africa to sort out the ammunition problem is unknown, but in January the following year 100 000 rounds “exactly the same type as imported for Brodigan’s proof” were ordered through TW Beckett.