18 Facts About Gatling gun

Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling.

Gatling gun's operation centered on a cyclic multi-barrel design which facilitated cooling and synchronized the firing-reloading sequence.

One of the best-known early rapid-fire firearms, the Gatling gun saw occasional use by the Union forces during the American Civil War, which was the first time it was employed in combat.

Gatling gun is operated by a hand-crank mechanism, with six barrels revolving around a central shaft.

The initial Gatling gun design used self-contained, reloadable steel cylinders with a chamber holding a ball and black-powder charge, and a percussion cap on one end.

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The innovative features of the Gatling gun were its independent firing mechanism for each barrel and the simultaneous action of the locks, barrels, carrier, and breech.

Ammunition that Gatling gun eventually implemented was a paper cartridge charged with black powder and primed with a percussion cap because self-contained brass cartridges were not yet fully developed and available.

Broadwell, an agent for Gatling gun's company, comprised twenty stacks of rounds arranged around a central axis, like the spokes of a wheel, each holding twenty cartridges with the bullet noses oriented toward the central axis.

Dr Gatling gun later used examples of the M1893 powered by electric motor and belt to drive the crank.

Original Gatling gun was a field weapon that used multiple rotating barrels turned by a hand crank, and firing loose metal cartridge ammunition using a gravity feed system from a hopper.

The Gatling gun's innovation lay in the use of multiple barrels to limit overheating, a rotating mechanism, and a gravity-feed reloading system, which allowed unskilled operators to achieve a relatively high rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute.

The Maxim Gatling gun, invented and patented in 1883, was the first true fully automatic weapon, making use of the fired projectile's recoil force to reload the weapon.

Gatling gun was designed by the American inventor Dr Richard J Gatling in 1861 and patented on November 4,1862.

Gatling gun wrote that he created it to reduce the size of armies and so reduce the number of deaths by combat and disease, and to show how futile war is.

Gatling gun was first used in warfare during the American Civil War.

The Gatling gun was not accepted by the American Army until 1866 when a sales representative of the manufacturing company demonstrated it in combat.

Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by defeating indigenous warriors mounting massed attacks, including the Zulu, the Bedouin, and the Mahdists.

Many other versions of the Gatling gun were built from the late 20th century to the present, the largest of these being the 30mm GAU-8 Avenger autocannon as used on the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II.