Updated 05-May-2020.
Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about GATLING GUN!
My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: Invented by Richard Gatling, it saw occasional use by the Union forces during the 1860s . it was later used by the Pennsylvania militia in episodes of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, specifically in Pittsburgh each barrel fired a single shot when it reached a certain point in the cycle . this configuration allowed higher rates of fire to be achieved without the barrels overheating . today modern rotary cannons are often before the gatling gun, only mass-firing volley weapons were capable of firing projectiles . the maximum rate of fire was increased by firing multiple projectile . weapons still needed to be reloaded after each the original Gatling gun was a field weapon which used multiple rotating barrels turned by a hand crank, and firing loose (no links or belt) metal cartridge ammunition using a gravity feed system from a hopper twelve of the guns were purchased personally by Union commanders and used in the trenches during the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia (June 1864 – April 1865) eight other Gatling guns were fitted on gunboats gatling guns were not used at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as “Custer’s Last Stand” a Gatling gun was purchased for the Argentine army by minister Domingo F. Sar Imperial Russia purchased 400 Gatling guns and used them against Turkmen cavalry . the large wheels required a high firing position, which increased the vulnerability of their crews . the Gatling gun was first deployed in 1873-74 during the Anglo-Ashanti wars . the Royal Navy used the Maxim machine gun during the 1882 anglo-egyptian war a four-gun battery of Model 1895 ten-barrel Gatling guns in .30 Army was formed into a separate detachment led by Lt. John “Gatling Gun” Parker barrels fire once per revolution at about the same position . barrels, carrier, and lock cylinder mounted on plate revolving around a central shaft . casing partitioned, barrel shaft journaled . in front of the casing was a cam with spiral surfaces . the cam imparted a reciprocating motion to the locks when the gun rotated . also in the barrels were a cocking ring with early models had a fibrous matting stuffed in among the barrels . later models eliminated the matting-filled barrels as being unnecessary . cartridges, held in a hopper, dropped individually into grooves poor engineering and the lack of a unitary cartridge made previous designs unsuccessful . the initial Gatling gun design used self-contained steel cylinders with a chamber holding a ball and black-powder charge each barrel had its own firing mechanism . despite self-contained brass cartridges replacing paper cartridge in the 1860s, it wasn’t until the Model 1881 that Gatling switched to the ‘Bruce’- the smallest-caliber gun also had a Broadwell drum feed in place of the curved box of the other guns . the drum feed was named after L. W. Broadwell, an agent for gatling’s by 1893, the Gatling was adapted to take the new .30 Army smokeless cartridge . the new M1893 guns featured six barrels, later increased to ten barrels . they were capable of tests demonstrated the electric Gatling could fire bursts of up to 1,500 rpm . the M1893, with minor revisions, became the M1895 . 94 guns were produced for the U.S the Model 1900 was very similar to the model 1895, but with only a few components finished in O.D. green . the U.S. Army purchased a quantity of M1900s . all Gatling the Army converted its M1900 guns to fit the new .30-03 cartridge as the M1903 . all models of Gatling guns were declared obsolete by the U.S. military in 1911, after 45 years of the concept resurfaced after world war II with the development of the Minigun and the M61 Vulcan . many other versions of the Gatling gun were built from the late 20th century to the present . the Government Printing Office. Washington, D.C.