Seaforth Highlanders of Canada with Vickers machine guns somewhere in Britain. Corporal G.O. Holmes, Vancouver; L/Cpl W.D. Stinken, Vancouver; Pte. R.F. Collins, San Francisco, USA; Pte. M. Polly; Pte. D. McCowan; Pte. W. Kinnear all of Vancouver. 4 (or 5?) Dec 1942. The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The Vickers Machine Gun was an improved version of the Maxim gun that had been in widespread use before the introduction of the Vickers and for some time, in many armies, the two guns served alongside one another. The machine gun typically required a six to eight-man team to operate: one fired, one fed the ammunition, the rest helped to carry the weapon, its ammunition and spare parts. It was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft.