Oh the glorious Gatling Gun! No black and white war movie would be complete without a soldier cranking out hundreds of rounds per minute at advancing enemy troops. The mere knowledge of a Gatling Gun being used by opposing troops made the soldiers of the day shake in their boots. At the time, there was no counter to the Gatling Gun, no shield from its fury, and little chance of survival if you were a foot soldier trying to advance on an army using this terrifying machine on the front lines.
Clint clearly enjoys his time with the Gatling Gun

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

Gatling Guns were feared by the opposition back in the height of its popularity. Surprisingly, the Gatling Gun was invented by a man of peace. Richard Gatling was born to a loving mother and successful farmer and inventor father on December 12, 1818. Growing up in Hertford County, North Carolina, he spent his days out in the fields or in his father's barn, creating gadgets with tools and piddling with machinery. Between 1857 and 1860, he patented a lathe making machine, a hemp rake, a washer for tightening gears, a seed planter, a rotary plow, and a steam plow. After three of his sisters died at a young age, he decided to devote his life to medicine. He became a doctor and later moved to Indianapolis. In 1861, during the early months of the Civil War, Dr. Gatling watched a train pull in from his Indianapolis window. Struck with horror and disbelief, he watched as the casualties from the Southern killing fields were unloaded and transported to local doctors and hospitals. There were so many of them, and those were only those that were injured and maimed and did not include all of the dead soldiers. At that moment, Dr. Gatling began thinking of war machines. The doctor was aware of techniques and engagement of war. Opposing troops faced each other and charged headstrong into the firing guns of the enemy. The ones who survived the first round would reload, aim, and fire again. This barbaric action troubled the good doctor, and he began to search for a way to cause fewer fatalities and casualties. He pondered an idea to stop the attacking force and prevent men from standing face to face shooting each other. He thought about his seed planter and knew that if he could invent a high-speed, accurate seed planter, he could use that technology to invent a high-speed firing machine that only required a couple of troops rather than a force of hundreds. His hopes were that with fewer troops operating guns and enemies refusing to approach a high-speed firing machine, that he could save lives. He wanted to create a machine where a few soldiers could replicate the firepower of a hundred men. Within a few weeks, Dr. Gatling had a working prototype. The machine only required two men to operate, and fired 200 rounds per minute. The thunder of the gun could be heard from 5 miles away, and it was capable of mowing down a forest of 10-inch trees within seconds.

HOW IT WORKED


Hand-Cranking Fun

Early Gatling Guns required just two men to operate them. The first man would sight the target and turn the crank that fired the ammunition. The other man was to load ammunition, this was a busy job with constant reloading. The first Gatling Guns were mounted on a set of wheels and were an arrangement of six barrels, without stocks and mounted around a center rod. Every barrel had its own bolt. The entire group of barrels could revolve by hand-turning a crank. At the breech, the bolts were covered by a brass casing. Ammunition was fed into a hopper as the group of barrels revolved. Each barrel would fire when it reached the lowest point of the revolution, and then reload upon the completion of that revolution. This was a continuous cycle of fire and reload.

SO WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT GATLING GUNS NOW?

The reason that we are talking about Gatling Guns 160 years after the fact, is that there is actually a modern-day Gatling Gun that I want to tell you about. This mini style Gatling Gun is produced by Tippmann Armory. It uses the same concept as the Gatling Guns of yesteryear but in a compact package! The Tippmann Armory Gatling Gun is chambered in 9mm and is compatible with Glock 9mm magazines and drums. Drumroll please.....and Classic Firearms is giving away this modern-day, hand-cranked piece of living history! Be on the lookout for our upcoming giveaway of a Tippmann Armory Gatling Gun. You will want to enter this contest! Pass the word along to your friends and family as well, as this is truly a once in a lifetime chance to win this incredible piece of machinery!

MACHINE GUNS

There are many deviations that have grown from the Gatling Gun. An example would be a minigun, a modern-day version of the Gatling Gun that is mounted on helicopters and fires at a head-spinning rate of 6000 rounds per minute. It's capable of destroying enemy villages in one burst. There are also even larger versions, such as the 20mm Vulcan Anti-Aircraft Defense system. But most assuredly a man cannot crank out 6000 rounds per minute, so how is this not a Gatling Gun? By definition, Gatling Guns that are powered by hydraulics, pneumatics, or electronically are classified as machine guns. A Gatling Gun powered by a human is an actual Gatling or Gatling style gun.

LEGAL TO OWN?

ATF RULE 2004-5

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has examined the 7.62mm Aircraft Machine Gun, commonly referred to as a "Minigun. The Minigun is a 36-pound, six-barrel, electrically powered machinegun. It is in the U.S. military inventory and identified as the "M-13411 (Army), "GAU-2B/A" (Air Force), and "GAU-17/A" (Navy). It is a lightweight and extremely reliable weapon, capable of discharging up to 6,000 rounds per minute. It has been used on helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and wheeled vehicles. It is highly adaptable, being used with pintle mounts, turrets, pods, and internal installations. The Minigun has six barrels and bolts which are mounted on a rotor. The firing sequence begins with the manual operation of a trigger. On an aircraft, the trigger is commonly found on the control column or joystick. The operation of the trigger causes an electric motor to turn the rotor. As the rotor turns, a stud on each bolt travels along an elliptical groove on the inside of the housing, which causes the bolts to move forward and rearward on tracks on the rotor. A triggering cam, or sear shoulder, trips the firing pin when the bolt has traveled forward through the full length of the bolt track. One complete revolution of the rotor discharges cartridges in all six barrels. The housing that surrounds the rotor, bolts, and firing mechanism constitutes the frame or receiver of the firearm. The National Firearms Act defines "machinegun" as "any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically, more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger." ATF has historically held that the original, crank-operated Gatling Gun, and replicas thereof, are not automatic firearms or machineguns as defined. The original Gatling Gun is a rapid-firing, hand-operated weapon. The rate of fire is regulated by the rapidity of the hand-cranking movement, manually controlled by the operator. It is not a "machinegun" because it is not a weapon that fires automatically. SO, the answer to the question of " Is it legal to own a Gatling Gun", is HECK YEAH!
Clint's New Every Day Carry

FINAL THOUGHTS

I hope you enjoyed learning a little about the history and operation of the famous Gatling Gun. This was definitely a fun article to research. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing all of your entries for the upcoming Tippmann Gatling Gun. Want to see this thing in action? Check out our contest video here!
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