THE GATLING GUN - WHAT A FORMIDABLE WEAPON OF ITS TIME

[Gil Boyd]

In July/August of 1861, Gatling developed the a multi barreled gun that was 2.21 feet long and weighed a total of 170 pounds.
The only variance with machine guns as we know them today, was the repetitive hand wound mechanism. The fire power it delivered was unprecedented for the time and IMHO changed a lot of what followed in the war.
The theory is clearly still revered today, with its use in the C130 during Vietnam and later conflicts.
I just found it so ahead of its time when you consider purely the firing mechanism striking each round for instance.

Short video on the mechanism:

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Gil Boyd]

[browningautorifle]

I've looked at them too and seen one in the flesh at the Henry Ford museum in I think it was Lansing Mich when I was a kid...not what they wanted us to look at but I knew how rare they were.

[gsimmons]

Jim,
Greenfield Village/ Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mi. I belonged to the North- South Skirmish Association when they had the Muzzle Loaders Festival. A local gentleman would bring out one or two of his Gatling gun and do a demonstration shooting a picket fence (long pieces of wood hanging from a target frame) and try to cut them in half as quickly as possible.

[30Three]

It's a wonderful piece of engineering. Thanks for posting!

Is the 10 barrel gun a replica?
I ask because in the video we see that the central gear is held on with a circlip. As far as I know the circlip was invented in the 1920's.

[RCS]

Starting in 1893, they were installing electric motors on the Gatling guns and by 1914 were able to fire 3000 rounds per minute (Machine Gun by Lt Col Geo, Chinn)

[ssgross]

There are several originals at the NRA museum in Fairfax. I never tire of popping in to see them on my way home from a meeting in the city. Great way to pass the time otherwise spent sitting in traffic.

[Gil Boyd]

I certainly wouldn't have wanted to clear an IA in a tube as hoards of opposing forces charged at you with their bayonets fixed................"No Pressure then"!!
The cleaning regime MUST have been horrendous, but with every bolt and every firing pin sequentially numbered it was ingenious in its design to ensure the correct order was kept, it was way ahead of its time!

[browningautorifle]

The cleaning regime MUST have been horrendous

Picture 45/70, black powder and lead bullets. Get scrubbin'...

[Gil Boyd]

Interesting there's no videos on the cleanup..............it would have been caked in the 1870's!!