The Vickers machine gun used the standard British .303 Cartridge as its ammunition and was capable of a sustained rate of fire of about 450 rounds per minute. The water jacket on the Vickers held about 3.7 liters (1 gallon) of water and was fed by a rubber hose that led to a specialized container. Notably, the weapon had a relatively high wastage of bullets due to low accuracy. The machine gun weighed about 20 kg and could only by operated with the use of a tripod. The Vickers was also mainly operated by a team of six men.