Buried under the shifting sands deep in Iraq lay a relic of a forgotten war... A relic harkening from The Great War... Waiting for an explorer to plumb the Stygian depths of it's slumpering sepulcher... Waiting for... Indiana Colangelo and the Raiders of the Lost Milvan!

     14 foot S&M bullwhip coiled at his side Colangelo and his troop of gullible naive guides defeated the ancient guardian of the reliquary (a rusty 2500 series padlock) and emerged with their age-encrusted prize... a 12.7 mm DSHK 38/46 Heavy Machine Gun... umm... of Doom!

     Summoning the sagelike resources of his trusted collegial colleague (me) we began the delicate rites of resurrection and restoration..

The tools at our disposal were quite primitive :

We pressed on undaunted... (note the schematic I downloaded from the net) finally freeing the gas return tube from the bottom of the barrel:

The oddment you see at the top of the frame is the weapons unusual rotary cylinder feed mechanism (spins like the cylinder of a revolver only with massive bullets) :

A second view...

I spy some ancient glyphs etched into the surface of the corrupted eldritch metal...This was a weapon forged in order to beat back the Hun!

The engineering behind this artfact was clearly beyond the capability of the locals, this was made evident by the gorgeous simplicity of the bolt mechanism...

We noted the meticulous labeling of each individual part which I have rendered here for you in inverted color so you may gaze upon it's orderly glory more easily...

The robustness of the firing pin alone suggested a cyclopean theory of mechanical engineering!

The trigger a magnum opus of the smith's craft...

Weary but filled with excitement at the prospect of giving life to this magnificent beast we moved it's entirety to the sanctity of our workshop to begin the long road back to functionality...

If anyone cares (and even if you don't) I will post post restoration pictures later...