Gatling gun

“ But a grave disadvantage of the English pattern was that it had to be used with the Boxer coiled cartridge supplied for the Martini-Henry rifle, and until this was replaced by a solid-drawn cartridge case it was impossible to avoid frequent “jams.” The modern, fully automatic, machine gun suffers from this to a considerable extent, and it was an even more serious defect with a hand-operated weapon, as the British troops found in 241 their campaigns against the Mahdists. But the Gatling had many advantages over its newer rivals as regards simplicity and strength. ”

“ At the same time the infantry rifle was a slow loader, and the augmentation of the volume of infantry fire attracted the attention of several inventors. The French, with their artillery traditions, regarded the machine-gun therefore as a method of restoring the lost superiority of the gunner, while the Americans, equally in accordance with traditions and local circumstances, regarded it as a musketry machine. The representative weapons evolved by each were the canon à balles, more commonly called mitrailleuse, and the Gatling gun. ”

“ The heaviest rifle-cannon should be placed on the salients and flanks of a fortification, having an enfilading fire on a channel. Heavy smooth-bore pieces should occupy the curtains and faces which bear, directly on the channel. The 24-pounder flank-defense howitzer is employed in the defense of ditches. Single- or double-shotted canister should be fired from it. The Gatling gun has been recommended as a desirable auxiliary in special cases. A 12-pounder field-piece may be usefully employed to prevent a landing, or to fire in close engagements at the rigging and boats of vessels. ”

“ Gatling’s miniature battery in the Civil War (1862-1865) , invention has been busy evolving more and more perfect [Pg 97] types, till the most modern machine-gun is a marvel of ingenuity and effectiveness.
The Gatling machine-gun, which has been much improved in late years by the Accles system of “feed,” and is not yet completely out of date, consists of a circular series of ten barrels—each with its own lock—mounted on a central shaft and revolved by a suitable gear. ”

“ The Maxim gun can easily fire ten shots a second, and if every man at the piece were killed the moment the first shot was fired the gun would keep on until it fired at least 332 more shots.
306 The Gatling, Gardner, Maxim, and similar guns are known as machine guns. Of the same general family, so to speak, are rapid-fire guns, which are, however, distinguished from machine guns by having a larger calibre, loading by hand, having only one barrel, and being provided with artificial means of checking recoil and returning the piece to the firing position. ”

“ Round the masts are placed some of the shot and shell for the large guns below, painted white, and the knobs (i.e. studs to fit the rifling) and points gilded. Were here shown a Gatling gun for service on shore or for clearing the decks of boarders, &c. On going below we saw a couple of rocket-tubes burnished like a looking-glass. . . . In the steerage we saw a 7- or 9-pounder boat gun polished beautifully (as was all the metalwork in the ship) which had an arrangement for reducing the recoil by a cylinder full of oil. The main-deck battery consisted of 12-ton guns, lacquered to look like jet. ”

“ Gatling contends that, shot for shot, his machine is more accurate than infantry, and certainly the absence of nerves will ensure steadiness; 222while so few men (four) are necessary to work the gun that the exposure of life is less. No re-sighting and re-laying are necessary between each discharge. When the gun is once sighted its carriage does not move, except at the will of the operator; and the gun can be moved laterally when firing is going on, so as to sweep the section of a circle of 12° or more without moving the trail or changing the wheels of the carriage. ”

“ The machine gun as an idea is not modern at all. The thought has been engaging the attention of inventors for several centuries. The idea was inherent in guns which existed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but they should be called rapid-fire guns rather than machine guns, since no machine principle entered into their construction. They usually consisted of several gun barrels bound together and fired simultaneously.
The first true machine gun was the invention of Richard Jordon Gatling, an American, who in 1861 brought out what might be termed a revolving rifle. ”

“ Gatling, the ingenious scoundrel who invented the gun that bears his name with commendable fortitude, says he has given much thought to the task of bringing the forces of war to such perfection that war will be no more. Commonly the man who talks of war becoming so destructive as to be impossible is only a harmless lunatic, but this fellow utters his cant to conceal his cupidity. ”

“ The largest gun as yet mounted on our largest torpedo-boats is the 6-pounder, while a single 1-pounder is the gun armament of the ordinary torpedo-boat. The Hotchkiss revolver cannon is not given in the table because its caliber, etc., is the same as that of the 1-pounder, and, in fact, the latter has superseded it in the latest armaments, so that it is now found only on the older ships of the modern fleet. The machine guns are not given because their effective work is practically the same. The Gatling is of 45-caliber, and uses the government ammunition for the Springfield rifle. ”

“ Our own policy in regard to new implements of war is not to attempt to conceal their construction. Experience has shown that no secret of the least value can long be preserved within the walls of an arsenal, although the French certainly apparently succeeded in surrounding their invention with mystery for a while. The machine gun, or “battery,” invented by Mr. Gatling, an American, is said by English artillerists to be free from many defects of the French mitrailleur. ”

“ The War of Secession produced the first practical machine-gun,—the Gatling,—though such guns were not used to any extent. The machine-gun has, in fact, passed through a long period of gestation, and it is only in recent years that it can be said to have attained its full birth. ”

“ The aiming of the gun, when rapid fire is taking place, may also be difficult even on firmly fixed mountings, owing to vibration. The greater delicacy of the modern machine gun has been alluded to above.7 Nevertheless the advantages of safety, steadiness and lightness which the automatic weapon possesses, have ensured its victory over the older type of weapon, and although the simple strong and well-tried Gatling still has its advocates, every civilized army has adopted one or more of the automatic types. ”

“ The gun is perfectly safe: it never comes below the armpit, even in taking a crop leap: it is pulled out in an instant by bringing the elbow forwards in front of the gun and then backwards, pressing it against the side; by this manner, the gun is thrown to the outside of the arm: then, lowering the hand, catch the gun as near the trigger-guard as you can, and lift it out of the bag: (it is a bungling way to take out the gun whilst its barrel lies between the arm and the body) . Any sized gun can be carried in this fashion, and it offers no obstacle to mounting or dismounting. ”

“ The recoil is tremendous, and would injure the shoulder if the sportsman did not use a pad against which he rests the gun. The guns must be strong, because very large charges of powder are invariably used where great power of penetration is required. African sportsmen found this out experimentally long before the idea occurred to artillerists.
Sights.--The hind sight should be far from the eye, even though it be placed half-way down the barrel: else it becomes out of focus and indistinct, when the eye is firmly set on the object aimed at ”

“ Some savages--as, for instance, those of Timor--when in want of bullets, use stones two or three inches long. Some good sportsmen insist on the advantage, for shooting at very close quarters, of cleaving a conical bullet nearly down to its base, into four parts; these partly separate, and make a fearful wound. I suppose that the bullet leaves the gun with the same force as if it were entire; and that it traverses too short a distance for the altered form to tell seriously upon the speed: when it strikes, it acts like chain-shot. ”

“ It first must be understood that all modern guns on ships-of-war are breech-loading and rifled, and that the smooth bore exists only as a relic, or to be brought out in an emergency for coast defense, when modern guns are not available. From the thirteen-inch down to the four-inch, the guns are designated by their caliber, the diameter of their bore, and the shot they throw, while from that to the one-pounder they take their name from the weight of the shot. Everything below the one-pounder is in the machine-gun class. ”

“ Most of the wear on a gun is purely mechanical. It don't matter who pulls the trigger, you see, the erosion by the gases produced in the chamber, and the wear caused by the bullet passing through the barrel will be the same. You see, sir, 'tisn't relevant to the gun who pulled its trigger or what it's fired at. The bullet's a slightly different matter. To the bullet, it is relevant which gun it was fired from and what it hit. All these things simply have to be taken into account, Sir Pierre."
"I see," said the knight. "Very interesting, Master Sean." Then he turned to Lord Darcy. ”

“ Load the gun, and secure it at the proper height from the ground. Opposite the muzzle of the gun, or at such distance to the right, or left, as may be required, fasted the end of a black string, or line made of horsehair or fibre, and pass it across the path to the gun. Fasten the other end to a stake, long enough to stand higher than the hammer. Stick the end of the stake slightly in the ground, and let it rest upright against the lock projection, the black line being fastened nearly at that height. Pass round the small of the stock a loop of single or double string. ”

“ It has been mounted upon the backs of camels, on tripods, swivels, and field-carriages. In Europe its principal rival is the Nordenfelt, in which the barrels are stationary and the breech mechanism works horizontally. It is probably superior to the Gatling in the amount of metal thrown in a given time. In mechanism and accuracy it is inferior. Its principal claim to superiority is that it fires either volleys or single shots. The recoil, which is always great in volley-guns, requires a very heavy stand, making it clumsy and unwieldy compared to the Gatling. ”

“ Pour the powder gently down the barrel, holding the latter upright so that none of the powder will lodge in the grooves or rifles. Get ready a “patch,” which has been previously prepared by oiling on one side a piece of fine but substantial linen with sperm oil such as is used for sewing machines, and cutting out with a “patch-cutter,” always to be had with a new gun. Place this patch over the muzzle, oiled side downward, and then set the bullet perfectly straight and true in the muzzle, and with the “starter” press it downward two or three inches, using the ramrod to force it home. ”

“ A small part of the gas generated by the explosion of the individual cartridge operates the mechanism, discharging the bullet, throwing out the empty shell and making ready for the next shot.
A machine gun is designed to enable one man to fire the equivalent of a volley, or series of volleys, discharged by an entire platoon (one-third of a company) of infantrymen. As at present developed, it represents a step toward the evolution of a shoulder-rifle that will throw a continuous stream of bullets. ”

“ Old guns which have been laid by will not uncommonly be found spiked, by having a common nail driven into the vent. If efficient tools are at hand this may be drilled out, if not, put a charge of powder in the gun, bore a gimlet hole in one of your wooden wads, through which pass a loosely-twisted string well impregnated with dissolved gunpowder, and afterwards dried. Cut the end of your prepared string just at the muzzle of the gun, light it, and get out of the way, when the explosion, which soon takes place, will not unfrequently expel the spike. ”

“ The gun is a remarkable object among the rest of our artillery. Its barrel, immensely long but very slender, has a well-bred, aristocratic look compared with the thick noses of our field-guns. It drives its forty-five pound shell about seven miles, and shoots, I am told, with perfect accuracy. It is an enlarged edition of the beautiful little twelve-pounders which we have hitherto been using, and which exceed the range of our fifteen-pounder field-guns by about a half. Why should naval guns be so vastly superior to land ones? ”

“ When Jack wished to load it, he emptied the charge from his powder-horn into the palm of his hand; this was carefully poured into the muzzle of his gun, and then the round bullet, enclosed in a piece of greased cloth or a damp bit of paper, was rammed down upon it. The ramrod was afterwards pushed back in place on the under-side of the barrel, and, raising the clumsy hammer, which clasped the piece of yellow flint, the pan beneath was filled with powder, connecting by means of a touch-hole with the powder in the barrel behind the bullet. ”

“ We use two sizes, one with .45 bore for the Navy, which takes an all-lead bullet weighing 480 grains, and the other with .303 bore, the ordinary nickel-coated [Pg 101] rifle bullet for the Army. But as the Maxim gun can be adapted to every rifle-calibre ammunition it is patronised by all governments.
The gun itself weighs 56 lbs., and is mounted for use in various ways: on a tripod, a field stand, or a field carriage with wheels. This carriage has sixteen boxes of ammunition, each containing a belt of 250 cartridges, making 4000 rounds altogether. ”