The Gatling Gun – Commentated Movie Weapon Review
let him have it
Hollywood loves the Gatling gun it’s featured in
countless western civil war and even steampunk
movies not to mention video games this was a
revolutionary weapon which brought rapid fire
to the battlefield after its invention in 1861.
the Gatling Gun saw service in the american civil
war and around the world at the height of many
colonial conflicts the weapon is intimidating and
imposing and it usually steals every scene it’s in
which is no different than as modern counterparts
it’s unlikely the inventor Dr Richard Gatling
knew just how influential his invention would be
it served the united states military for 45 years
to date the Gatling gun has been featured in over
100 tv shows and movies some great and some bad
the Gatling gun first saw initial service during
the civil war ironically dr Gatling when designing
the Gatling gun wrote one of his intentions was
to be able to reduce the size of combating armies
through rapid-fire which he hoped would
ultimately lead to less casualties
the civil war would be America’s bloodiest war
in history with over 625 000 deaths though the
Gatling gun would only account for a tiny
fraction of these as the weapon was only
purchased privately in limited numbers by union
predict future tacticians would counter rapid-fire
with levels of attrition beyond comprehension
the first foreign use of the Gatling
gun would be by the armies of Argentina
Peru and Canada who in 1885 used them during the
northwest rebellion but the gun would be most
infamously used in Africa and Asia the British
would use the gun in the Zulu and Sudanese wars
400 guns would be purchased by Russia and used
against Turkmen cavalry and other ethnic central
Asian people the gun would also be acquired
by modernizing Asian nations such as china
and japan America starting in the 1850s would
pressure japan into opening trade with the west
with a display of naval technological superiority
japan quickly modernized its armies thereafter
over the life of the Gatling gun between 1862 and
1903 many different variants would be produced
they would all have the same firing mechanism
which is a hand crank rotating between 6 and
10 barrels each firing once per full rotation
before the gallon gun only mass volley weapons
offered anything resembling the Gatling’s firing
power these weapons needed to be reloaded after
every discharge whereas the Gatling gun
had fast methods of being fed ammunition
Gatling guns are gravity fed into a breach through
a hopper or simple box magazine but many different
magazines would be developed smaller caliber
galling guns could use the Broadwell drum which
held 240 to 400 rounds o drum magazines held up
to 500 rounds were highly prone to jamming by 1881
gallon guns could accept two rows of cartridges
meaning an empty cartridge could be changed while
the gun was still firing though i’m not sure
this would be possible in this contraption
that’s really something mr pierce the Gatling gun
started its career firing 200 rounds per minute
and ended it firing up to 900 in 1883
the maxim would become the first fully
automatic weapon effectively replacing it
the maxim did not require a hand crank and
instead used recoil force to reload itself
this is the most potent weapon in war
all right i’m johnny thanks for
watching this video on the Gatling gun
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