Gatling repeater gun

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Ten barrel British 1865 Gatling Gun Firepower - The Royal Artillery Museum

The Gatling Gun was the first successful rapid-firing repeater gun . It is a forerunner of the machine gun and the founder of the Gatling weapon class . Reloading is accomplished with muscle power by rotating the barrel set around an axis of rotation . It was developed in 1861 by the American inventor Richard Jordan Gatling . Despite the high rate of fire of up to 200 rounds per minute in the first models - up to 400 rounds per minute in later models - the Gatling Gun had few problems with heat generation because the six barrels heated up less than the individual barrel of the Union, which was developed at the same time Repeating Gun .

The weapon was used by the United States from 1866 to 1911 . Other states, including the United Kingdom , Turkey , Japan , China , Egypt , Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire , used it.

The Gatling Gun was primarily a weapon for the land forces , but it was also used on warships (for example in the United States Navy and the Royal Navy or in the South American Saltpeter War ). In some cases, the weapon was also part of the equipment of the United States Police Department .

At the end of the 19th century, the Gatling Gun was superseded by the Maxim machine gun . After the Second World War , more than 50 years later, the principle was rediscovered because very high firing frequencies can be achieved with it. However, the technology has developed considerably, and in modern Gatling weapons the barrel set is no longer set in rotation by the shooter, but rather by mostly electrically operated drive motors or by the exhaust gases of the weapon.

function

The barrels of a Gatling weapon are mounted parallel around the axis of rotation. This barrel set is continuously driven by hand using a crank. Modern weapons have an electric drive. Each barrel has its own bolt with the firing pin in its rear extension . The rear part of the barrel set lies in a cylindrical housing in which a slot (guide groove) is milled inside ; the pegs attached to the closures engage in this. The gate brings the bolt into the loading position during full handling, pushes it forward into the firing position and blocks it there while the firing pin that has accumulated on a ramp triggers the shot. Then she brings the breech back into the loading position. In the upper passage, in the loading position of the barrel, a cartridge falls from the magazine into the barrel recess, and in the lower passage the breech pulls out the empty case; this falls to the ground. The process runs continuously. Each barrel fires one shot per revolution of the barrel set.

Model 1862

Gatling Gun, Model 1862 Type I

The first Machine Gun Model 1862 , based on Richard Jordan Gatling's patent number 36,836 from November 4, 1862, Improvement in revolving Battery-Guns , was a breech - loader, here too the loading process and the triggering of the shot were brought about by means of a hand crank. The weapon did not fire cartridge ammunition, but rather paper cartridges in .58 inch caliber  loaded into loose steel chambers, corresponding to the ammunition used in the Model 1855 US Percussion Rifle-Musket and its successors.

Because bolt action rifles were still in their infancy, Gatling based himself on the proven principle of the revolver , from which the rotating cartridge chamber block, the drum, was adopted. However, in contrast to the revolver, the cartridge chamber block was open on its periphery, so that the loaded chambers could fall from the magazine into the storage below by gravity. After firing, they also fell down again. The ignition was carried out by a bolt running onto a ramp, which hit a piston with a primer cap located at the back of the chamber . The loss of gas caused by the longitudinal play of the chamber was reduced by pushing it forward to the barrel through a raised portion at the rear of the housing together with the lock case when the shot position was reached. The reduction in gas losses was bought at the expense of greater effort on the crank. Another problem was the imprecise alignment of the chambers in relation to the barrel, which led to deformation of the projectiles. To remedy this, the barrel was enlarged conically at the rear, but the problem persisted and significantly impaired the accuracy of the weapon.

The Model 1862 Type II worked on the same principle . In contrast to the Type I, however, it used rimfire cartridges in caliber .58 inches with copper cases. Instead of the chambers closed at the back, completely drilled steel sleeves were used to hold the cartridges.

The first, by the inventor Gatling on the patent drawing of 4 November 1862 as Machine Gun designated Model 1862 Gatling guns had six runs and a cadence of 150 to 200 rounds per minute. Because of the problems caused by the chambers or steel sleeves separated from the barrel, Gatling felt compelled to revise his invention.

Model 1865 and later weapons

The first Gatling Guns for the direct use of cartridge ammunition were tested from 1864/65 with rifle cartridges in the then common calibers; there was also a 1 inch (2.54 centimeter) caliber weapon. The first versions of the large-caliber Gatling had smooth barrels and fired grapefruit bullets loaded with 15 round balls ; later rifled barrels were used to be able to fire 1-inch projectiles. Like its predecessor, the barrel set of the first Gatlings for cartridge ammunition had six barrels, was driven by a hand crank and rotated continuously.

In contrast to the model 1862, the cartridges, after they had fallen from the magazine attached to the top into the loading recess, were pushed through the slide belonging to each barrel into the cartridge chamber located in the barrel , where they were fired. The cycle in which the cartridges fall into the loading recess at the top, are pushed into the chamber, fired at the lowest point and the empty cases are pulled out can be seen on the adjacent development.

Operational experience

In theory, the Gatling Gun was a promising weapon. In practice, it never met the high expectations that the military had placed on it, partly because the first models and their cartridges were still technically immature. In addition, the early models were rigidly fixed, which is why they could only be swiveled horizontally in conjunction with the complete carriage. Later models could pivot freely, but accurate aiming was prevented by the shooter's constant cranking. Therefore, the gun was sometimes operated by two soldiers at the same time, one of whom was cranking while the other aimed. In the 1874 model, a swivel mechanism driven by the crank could be activated, which automatically spread the fire horizontally by a few degrees. If the crank was cranked too quickly, the loading mechanism could jam. Until the introduction of cartridges with low-smoke powder, black powder smoke quickly obscured vision. In principle, this also applied to the artillery and rifles of that time; the slow reloading process gave the smoke more time to dissolve.

The operating crew consisted of one to three soldiers, but the complete transport crew a few more. In the US Army at the time of the Spanish-American War , a full crew consisted of nine soldiers: a sergeant , a corporal and seven privates .

Although the Gatling Gun was already used in June 1864 in the American Civil War by Union General Benjamin Franklin Butler near Petersburg , it took decades before tactics were developed that brought the advantages of the weapon to bear. The weapon was often used in the same role as a light field gun and accordingly assigned to the artillery . The next deployment was the Franco-Prussian War , in which the French used some Gatling Guns in the Battle of Le Mans in 1871 .

During the Indian Wars, the Americans used the Gatling Gun sporadically. It has been proven that all garrisons were equipped with it; they were provided to defend the forts.

Gatlings were successfully used against Indians in August 1874 in the Llano Estacado in West Texas by Lieutenant James W. Pope under Colonel Nelson Appleton Miles . Their use in the Spring Creek encounter battles in the Montana Territory in October 1876 between the Sioux and the 22nd Infantry under Lieutenant Colonel Elwell Stephen Otis is also known . In the campaign, which ended in June 1876 with the disaster of the Battle of Little Bighorn , the troops of General Alfred Terry and Colonel John Gibbon probably brought five Gatlings with them, but they were not taken by Major General George Armstrong Custer because of the impassable terrain , as they would have hindered his 7th Cavalry too much.

Two Gatling Guns used in the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1879

The weapon was first used on a large scale in the Russo-Ottoman War by Russia from 1877 to 1878 , especially in the battles of Pleven and Nikopol . The British used the Gatling Gun with some success in the battle of KwaGingindlovu in the Zulu War in 1879, but against an inferior enemy. The British also used the weapon in the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1879 .

It was only Lieutenant John Henry Parker who broke new ground in the Spanish-American War. He advocated the mobile use of these serial firearms within the infantry to support them. His department provided evidence of the possibility of mobile use in the fighting for El Caney . The Gatlings also played an important role in the storming of the San Juan Hills by the Rough Riders under the command of Theodore Roosevelt in July 1898 . There the three Gatling Guns in caliber .30-40 Krag , commanded by 1st Lieutenant John “Machine Gun” Parker , fired over 18,000 rounds at the Spanish defenders in eight and a half minutes.

Development history

  • Union Repeating Gun

  • Ripley Gun patent drawing from 1861

  • Model 1862 type II

  • Patent drawing from May 1865

  • Model 1876

  • Model 1887

  • Model 1895

Richard Jordan Gatling

Richard Gatling studied medicine but devoted his life to technical inventions. Before the American Civil War, he was successful in the construction of agricultural machinery such as a flax breaker or a steam plow . Since at that time only a small number of soldiers died from direct consequences of the fighting, but mostly from illness, he wanted to invent a weapon with strong firepower that would shorten wars.

“It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine - a gun - which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease [would] be greatly diminished. "

“It seemed to me that if I could develop a machine - a firearm - that, at its high rate of fire, could enable a man to fight like a hundred, it would largely destroy the need for large armies and, consequently, combat and battle Significantly reduce exposure to disease. "

- Richard Jordan Gatling, 1877

Even before the American Civil War, a hand-powered, rapid-fire firearm, the Union Repeating Gun, was developed. Richard Gatling most likely knew this weapon and its problems. In 1861 he developed a basically similar weapon with the main difference that his weapon was multi-barreled instead of single.

Another automatic firearm, the nine-barreled Ripley machine gun with percussion ignition existed only as a draft. In contrast to the Gatling Gun, the barrel set did not rotate. For firing, a ring-shaped drum with nine chambers loaded with paper cartridges and percussion caps was placed on the rear of the barrel set. The nine shots could be fired in series or individually using a rotary crank. The drum could be replaced to fire more shots.

The first Gatling Gun, the 1862 model, had six barrels and used paper cartridges that were inserted from the front into steel cases closed at the back. However, these cartridges were unreliable and led to high gas loss and poor flight behavior of the projectiles due to the imprecise positioning between barrel and chamber. The weapon was placed on an artillery mount and could only be aligned vertically.

Gatling very soon switched from paper to rimfire cartridges , which led to the 1862 Type II. The cartridges were inserted into the now drilled through chamber from behind. This improvement made the weapon much more reliable. He had six made at the Eagle Iron Works in Cincinnati . In a fire in the summer of 1863, the factory with the already finished weapons was destroyed. After Gatling found new financiers, he had twelve new weapons manufactured in the Cincinnati Type Foundry Works . The United States government had no interest in Gatling's weapons. Nevertheless, Union General Benjamin Franklin Butler bought twelve of them and used them on the Virginia front near Petersburg. Also, the US Admiral David Dixon Porter acquired the early Gatling model for which is under his leadership, Mississippi fleet will.

The Model 1865 was another important step towards a more practical weapon. A new type of closure made the steel jackets over the cartridges superfluous. With the cartridge chamber now in the barrel, there were no more gas losses and no more ballistic problems due to deformed projectiles. Richard Gatling patented this model on May 9, 1865; it was the basis for all later models. In February 1865, Gatling introduced the new model in Washington, and Army General Winfield Scott Hancock acquired a dozen.

The 1866 model was Gatling's first major order for his weapon. After satisfactory tests, the US Army bought 100 pieces; 50 of them in caliber .50-70 Government and the other half in caliber 1 inch. Some of these guns already had ten barrels, as did most of the later models. Like all later models, the guns were produced by Colt in Hartford .

In 1869, after intensive testing , Colonel Alexander Gorlow ordered about 70 guns for the Imperial Russian Army at a price of $ 1,500  each. Since the manufacturing cost invoiced by Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company was $ 710 each, the Gatling Gun Company made a substantial profit; it therefore allowed Russia to manufacture Gatling Guns without royalties.

The Gatling Gun was continuously developed until the turn of the century; the caliber was adapted to the respective cartridges. The ammunition supply, in particular, has been constantly changing over time. Experiments with electric drives were made as early as 1890, and in 1895 Colt engineer Carl J. Ehbets had a system patented under the name Gas-operated Machine-gun , which turned the Gatling into a gas pressure loader. The last Gatling Guns were manufactured by Colt for the American Army in 1903 and retired before the First World War .

After a total of around 1200 Gatling Guns were produced, the weapon was replaced by modern and lighter machine guns.

Model name caliber Runs Manufacturer comment
M1862 Type 1 .58 6th first prototype
M1862 Type 2 .58RF 6th Cincinnati Foundry Works
M1865 1 inch 6th Colt
M1866 1 inch 6th Cooper Firearms
M1866 Improved .50-70 6/10 Colt
M1871 .50-70 10 Colt The next Model, 1871, was designed to address some of the problems associated with continuous use. The locking bolt has been made more robust in order to increase its durability. The bolt could now be opened without tools, which allowed the weapon to be cleaned in the field. A new, curved magazine was also developed. A later variant of the model used a distinctive drum magazine called "Broadwell Drum", which in turn contained 20 vertical magazines of 20 cartridges each. After a vertical magazine was empty, the drum could be rotated and a new magazine now loaded the weapon.
M1871 1 "-121 10 Colt
M1874 Long .45-70 10 Colt The 1874 model had a horizontal swivel mechanism that was operated by turning the crank. The caliber .45-70 Government established itself as the standard for the near future .
M1874 CAMEL .45-70 10 Colt A shorter and lighter version "Camel" of the model could be set up on a tripod. The name comes from the fact that there was a structure for a camel saddle , which was not really practical. Some specimens were used in this way by Egypt .
M1875 Long .45-70 10 Colt minor improvements
M1875 camel .45-70 10 Colt minor improvements
M1875 Navy .45-70 10 Colt
M1876 Long .45-70 10 Colt minor improvements
M1877 Long .45-70 10 Colt The Model 1877 "Bulldog" had 5 or 10 barrels that were 18 inches (46 cm) long. These were no longer open, but were encased in a sheath. This shape was used on many later models.
M1879 .45-70 10 Colt The model had a completely new mount . The automatic pivot mechanism was discarded and the weapon could now be pivoted freely horizontally and vertically. If necessary, the mechanism could be locked.
M1881 .45-70 10 Colt
M1881 .45-70 10 Colt The model used the Bruce ammunition feeder. The advantage of the Bruce system was that it could be reloaded at the same time while firing. This made sustained fire possible because the magazine did not have to be changed. This model had open barrels.
M1883 .45-70 10 Colt The model had two ways to attach the hand crank, which influenced the cadence (800 or 1500 rounds per minute). The "Accles" ammunition feeder and a round magazine in a donut shape were introduced. Furthermore, the firing pin could be locked for safety, which for the first time enabled easy unloading.
M1885 .45-70 10 Colt minor improvements
M1886 .45-70 10 Colt minor improvements
M1887 .45-70 10 Colt minor improvements
M1889 .45-70 10 Colt The 1889 model reverted to the Bruce ammunition feeder because the Accles system was too prone to failure. A heavy protective shield protected the operator.
M1891 .45-70 10 Colt
M1892 .45-70 Colt
M1893 .30-40 10/6 Colt The model was made in the new caliber .30-40 Krag . In addition, loading strips were used for the ammunition supply . The system did not prove itself, however, whereupon the Bruce system was switched again.
M1895 .30-40 10 Colt Previous models were unpainted, the model was colored with a brown-olive shade for the first time.
M1900 .30-40 10 Colt
M1903 .30-03 10 Colt Conversion of the M1900 to a new caliber
M1903-06 .30-06 10 Colt Conversion of the M1903 to a new caliber

Licensed productions

After the Russian Empire bought 70 Gatling Guns through Colonel Gorlow, it later manufactured hundreds of these guns under license ; the name "Gorloff" became a synonym for the weapon in Russia.

The Austrian industrialist Charles Octavius ​​Paget also produced the Gatling for Austria-Hungary and Turkey under license in his company Paget & Co in Vienna. In England the license was given to the company by William George Armstrong .

Media reception

The Gatling Gun is often used as a style element in westerns and action films such as B. Bad Girls , Last Samurai , Wild Wild West , The Texaner or used in the remake of The Magnificent Seven . However, the use of the weapon is rarely shown realistically. Practical problems such as fogging through powder smoke, the difficult targeting and the need for a team are not discussed.

literature

  • Peter Smithurst: The Gatling Gun. Osprey Publishing, 2015. ISBN 1-4728-0597-6 .
  • Paul Wahl & Don Toppel: The Gatling Gun. Herbert Jenkins Limited, 1966.
  • James B. Hughes: The Gatling Gun Notebook: A Collection of Data & Illustrations. Andrew Mowbray Pub, 2000. ISBN 0-917218-94-9 .
  • Joseph Berk: The Gatling Gun: 19th Century Machine Gun to 21st Century Vulcan. Paladin Press, 1991. ISBN 0-87364-644-4 . Reprint: 2007, ISBN 1-58160-579-X .
  • George M. Chinn, Lieutenant Colonel, USMC, The Machine Gun , 1951 by the Bureau of Ordnance, Dept. of the US Printing Office, Washington 25, DCA

Web links

Commons : Gatling repeater gun  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Cincinnati Magazine: Cincinnati Magazine. from October 1972, ISSN  0746-8210 , Volume 6, No. 1 ( limited preview in Google Book Search, English).
  2. ^ Ernest Alfred Vizetelly: My days of adventure; the fall of France, 1870-1871. ISBN 978-1-4191-3599-6 ( limited preview in Google Book Search, English)
  3. ^ Paul Wahl, Donald R. Toppel: The Gatling Gun. Arco Publishing Company, New York 1971. Library of Congress Number 64-16612. (English)
  4. ↑ In the US Army there were three ways to be promoted to a rank:
    1. Promotion to a rank in the regular army;
    2. Promotion to a rank independent of this in the voluntary army organization;
    3. Awarded a certification grade by the US Congress. There were certification ranks both in the regular army and in voluntary associations, so that an officer could hold up to four ranks at the same time.
    For details see also under "Custers Rank".
  5. ^ Jerome A. Greene: Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1993. ISBN 0-8061-2535-7 . (English)
  6. ^ A b John Ellis: The social history of the machine gun. Ayer Publishing, 1981. ISBN 978-0-405-14209-3 ( limited preview in Google Book Search, English)
  7. ↑ The Zulu War: The Battle of Gingindlovu. britishbattles.com, accessed January 11, 2015 .
  8. ^ "We have got the Gatling Gun" Lieutenant John Adye is given his first command. garenewing.co.uk, accessed January 11, 2015 .
  9. ^ John Henry Parker: History of the Gatling Gun Detachment. John Henry Parker: History of the Gatling Gun Detachment ( Memento from May 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: infomotions.com (English)
  10. ↑ Joseph Berk: The Gatling gun: 19th century machine gun to 21st century Vulcan. Paladin Press, 1991. ISBN 978-0-87364-644-4 . P. 31, 40. ( limited preview in Google Book search, English)
  11. ↑ Julia Keller : Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It . Penguin, 2008, ISBN 978-1-4406-3359-1 , 5. The spaces between the bullets ( limited preview in Google Book Search - English).
  12. ^ Ezra Ripley: Improvement in repeating-gun batteries. US 33544 A. October 22, 1861, accessed August 16, 2014 .
  13. ^ Joseph Edward Smith, WHB Smith: Small Arms Of The World . a basic manual of small arms. Ed .: Walter Harold Black. 10th, completely revised edition. A. & W. Visual Library, New York 1973, ISBN 978-0-89104-021-7 , pp. 97-98, 100 (English).
  14. ↑ Broadwell Drum ( Memento of April 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  15. ↑ John P. Dunn: Khedive Ismail's army. Routledge, 2005. ISBN 978-0-7146-5704-2 ( limited preview in Google Book Search, English)
  16. ↑ H. Glass: Infernal Box . In: Der Spiegel . No. 41 , 1997 ( online ).
  17. ↑ Gatling Gun ( Memento from July 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  18. ^ W. Y. Carman: A History of Firearms. Courier Dover Publications, 2004. ISBN 978-0-486-43390-5 . (English)
  19. ^ Gatling Austro Hungarian Rapid Repeating Guns. hungariae.com, accessed January 11, 2015 .