Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. Such automatic weapons with a caliber of 20 mm or larger are generally referred to as autocannons.

History

Multi-shot guns have a long development, going as far back to the 1400s with plans from Leonardo Da Vinci, and stretching back to some of the earliest firearms and attempts at higher rates of fire, and some machine-gun-like traits happened as early as the 1700s. However, it would not be until the mid-1800s that successful machine-gun designs came into existence. Key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relatively high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came with the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's idea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Mr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered Gatling guns; this externally powered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg and Miltrailleuse volley gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volley guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are consider to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate in many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used.

Related Topics:
1400s - Leonardo Da Vinci - 1700s - 1800s - Gatling gun - United States Navy - Hiram Maxim - Maxim machine gun - Volley gun

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Early rapid-firing weapons

Among first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a London lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It was a design for a 1 in. (25.4mm) caliber, flintlock semi-automatic cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships. According to Puckle, it was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks. While ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopted or produced.

Related Topics:
James Puckle - London - Puckle Gun - May 15 - 1718 - Flintlock - Ship

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In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared which offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as volley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols relied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needing multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. However, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic.

Related Topics:
Volley gun - Mitrailleuse

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The coffee-mill machine gun of the Civil War featured both automatic loading and single barrel, only separated functionally from the modern machine gun by being hand-powered rather than using cartridges.

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The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first machine gun to offer controlled, sequential automatic fire with automatic loading. The design's key features were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War and was subsequently improved. Many were sold to other armies in the late 1800s and continued to be used into the early 1900s, until they were gradually supplanted by Maxim-type machine guns. The Gatling weapons were the first widely used machine guns and, due to their multiple barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-cooled, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant that recoil-operated weapons, which could be made lighter and cheaper, would supplant them. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in chain guns, miniguns, and automatic aircraft cannons.

Related Topics:
Gatling gun - 1861 - Richard Jordan Gatling - American Civil War - 1800s - Chain gun - Minigun

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Maxim gun

The first true machine gun was the Maxim machine gun, invented in 1883 by Hiram Maxim. It used the recoil energy of the previously fired bullet to reload rather than being hand powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the barrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative designs were used on all sides during the First World War. The design required less crew, was lighter, and more useable than earlier Gatling guns.

Related Topics:
Maxim machine gun - 1883 - Hiram Maxim

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Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by many other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century. Submachine guns (e.g., the Thompson submachine gun, or "Tommy gun") as well as lighter machine guns (the BAR, for example) saw their first major use in WW1, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in WW1 was actually various types of artillery, but a combination of machine guns and wire entanglements led to the stalemate of the trenches. The automatic mechanism features of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (leading eventully to machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircraft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solved in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a rear-mount propeller.

Related Topics:
Vickers machine gun - 20th century - Submachine gun - Thompson - BAR - WW1 - Casualties - Wire entanglement - Machine pistol - Borchardt - Beretta 1918 - World War I - Interrupter gear

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During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning 50 caliber in 1933, which, along with others, were used in World War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, lighter machine guns, and more powerful submachine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined characteristics of an ordinary rifle and a machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (1900s), Federov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44 , M2 Carbine, AK-47, AR-15 and have come to be known as assault rifles. Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannons, and similar cannon (nicknamed "Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Sweden were widely used by both sides and have greatly influenced similar weapons developed since then.

Related Topics:
1933 - World War II - Cei-Rigotti - Federov Avtomat - AVS-36 Simonov - MP44 - M2 Carbine - AK-47 - AR-15 - Assault rifle - Pom-pom guns - Bofors - Sweden

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Modern era

The Cold War era saw mostly a refinement of weapon types in the form of lower weight and higher reliability. The semiautomatic rifles of World War II vintage were almost totally replaced by lighter assault rifles such as the M-16 and Soviet AK-74. Infantry adopted general-purpose machine guns like the American M-60 for squad use, using air cooling for lighter weight. Heavy machine guns were retained for ground vehicles and fortifications. For aircraft use, even heavy machine guns proved to lack killing power in the air-to-air role, and by the late 1950s fighter aircraft armament had almost totally switched to automatic cannons. Machine guns, with lower recoil, remained popular for helicopters and for ground attack aircraft, supplemented by new Gatling-style, electric multibarrel weapons like the American Minigun. In police, special operations, and other paramilitary roles, smaller automatic weapons, including light submachine guns and machine pistols, proliferated, many relying on the increasingly ubiquitous 9x19 mm round.

Related Topics:
The Cold War - M-16 - Soviet - AK-74 - M-60 - 1950s - Fighter aircraft - Automatic cannon - Helicopter - Minigun - Machine pistols

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Future

Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing machine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developments are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons.

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In the future, electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have found little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especially with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given power will likely continue.

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The newest machine-gun designs center around the Personal Defense Weapon concept, a cross between a submachine gun and a sidearm that is useful for support personnel who need a small, concealable weapon that keeps their hands free yet provides massed firepower when needed—roles such as security teams in occupation zones. A precursor is the now-popular FN P90. The Pentagon is also working on a next-generation infantry weapon under the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program, the ultimate aim of which is to combine a lightweight carbine with an airburst grenade launcher, potentially improving the effectivity of an individual soldier manyfold. The XM29 received much attention as a prototype developed under this program, but was for various reasons, including high cost as well as weight and bulk considerations, eventually deemed unsatisfactory. The OICW program has since been split into several increments, each intended to bring the vision of a combined kinetic energy rifle and airburst grenade launcher one step closer to reality.

Related Topics:
Personal Defense Weapon - FN P90 - Objective Individual Combat Weapon - XM29

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