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In 1883 Hiram Maxim<\/a> designed a unique system that harnessed the recoil of a rifle. Maxim filed a patent for this system which, when the U.S. government granted it in April 1884, became his first firearm design patent \u2014 a year before his now-famous machine-gun concept<\/a>\u00a0patent.<\/p>\n To prove his ideas about using recoil to operate a firearm,\u00a0Maxim modified a Winchester<\/a> 1866 lever action rifle. He removed the rifle\u2019s lever and installed a floating butt plate attached to a spring buffer system that in turn linked to a proprietary trigger guard and operating rod, which then operated the action through a series of jointed levers in the receiver.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maxim explained that he meant for the system to feature in \u201cheavy-loaded rifles such as are used for military purposes\u201d that \u201crebound with great force and often do injury to the shoulder of the person firing.\u201d<\/p>\n When the rifle fired, it would recoil back into the butt plate, compressing the two springs in the stock that act on the trigger guard, pushing it forward and acting on a lever that then worked the rifle\u2019s bolt. This extracted the spent case and loaded another, readying the rifle to fire again.<\/p>\n Maxim believed that his system would allow rifles to be\u00a0\u201cfired with great accuracy and rapidity.\u201d In his patent, Maxim<\/a> also hinted at the possibility of rapid automatic fire, which would become a reality with his later machine-gun designs. If the shooter presses \u201csteadily upon the trigger,\u201d Maxim wrote, \u201cthe full contents of the magazine will be rapidly discharged.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Maxim had high hopes for recoil operation, proclaiming in the patent that the system could \u201coperate equally well on any arm of the kind, or upon a revolver.\u201d This proved to be prophetic, as over the next decade other designers would harness the power of recoil to cycle the actions of both rifles and pistols.<\/p>\n In the meantime Maxim<\/i> continued work on the design that would soon make him famous \u2014 the Maxim machine gun<\/a>.<\/p>\n This story originally appeared at Historical Firearms.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=waisbo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1780963823\")