meet the us army's new gatling cannon m61a2 which fires one million rounds a minute
the gatling gun is a rapid firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by richard jordan gatling
it is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon
the gatling guns operation is centered on a cyclic
multi-barrel design which facilitated cooling and synchronized the fire reloading sequence
the gatling then was designed by the american inventor dr richard j galling in 1861 and passed
it in on november 4th 1862 gatling wrote that he created it to reduce the size of armies and
so reduced the number of deaths by combat and disease to show how futile war is the us army
adopted gatling guns in several calibers including 0.42 caliber 0.45 to 70 0.50 caliber 1 inch
m1893 and later 0.30 army with conversions of m1900 weapons
to 0.30203 and 0.30 to 0.06 the 0.4570 weapon was also mounted on some u.s navy ships of the
1880s and 1890s british manufacturer james george hackles previously employed by colt 1867 and 1886
developed a modified gatling gun circa 1888 known as the aqua's machine gun circa 1895
the american ordnance company acquired the rights to manufacture and distribute this weapon in
the americas it was trialed by the u.s navy in december 1895 and was said to be the only weapon
to complete the trial out of five competing weapons but was apparently not adopted by u.s
forces gatling gun operated by a hand crank mechanism with six barrels revolving around
a central shaft although some models had as many as ten each barrel fires once per
revolution at about the same position the barrels a carrier and the lock cylinder were separate and
all mounted on a solid plate revolving around a central shaft mounted on an oblong fixed frame
turning the crank rotated the shaft the carrier was grooved and the lock
cylinder was drilled with holes corresponding to the barrels
the casing was partitioned and through this opening the barrel shaft was journal
in front of the casing was a cab with spiral surfaces cam imparted a reciprocating motion
to the locks when the gun rotated also in the casing was a cocking ring with projections to
[ __ ] and fire the gun each barrel had a single lock working in the lock and cylinder on the line
with the barrel the lock cylinder was encased and joined to the frame early models had a
fibrous matting stuffed in among the barrels which could be soaked in water to cool the barrels down
later models eliminated the matting filled barrels as being unnecessary
the highest rate of fire for a machine gun and service is the m134 minigun
the weapon was designed in the late 1960s for helicopters and armored vehicles it fires 7.62
millimeter caliber rounds at a blistering rate of 6 000 rounds per minute or 100 rounds per second
about 10 times that of an ordinary machine gun according to the guinness world book of records
the metal storm gun on the other hand makes the m134 look like a toy
the prototype gun system was rated at 16 000 rounds per second or 1 million rounds per minute
the gun system was developed by an australian weapons company by the same name in 2007 metal
storm incorporated started delivering its gun systems to the u.s navy for surface ships
this video shows how the metal storm gun achieves its head spinning firing rate
a million nine millimeter rounds could cut through a tank like a hot knife through butter
until the invention of the first repeating rifles in the middle of the 19th century
the average soldier could typically fire about three rounds per minute truly skilled might have
been able to get off the occasional fourth round which is why for centuries armies lined up in mass
it was essentially the only way to ensure that some of the rounds would hit their targets
weapons such as the gatling gun and the maxim machine gun changed things in a huge way
the ladder was capable of firing 500 to 600 rounds per minute
and within decades weapons such as the general dynamics m61a2 took rate of fire to
an impressive 6000 rounds per minute yes even that impressive weapon pales in comparison to
the metal storm an experimental weapon platform that could fire a reported 1 million rounds per
minute
while that might sound like the latest high-tech super weapon australian-based metal
storm incorporated actually started developing its 36-barrel prototype system in the 1990s
unlike modern machine guns this weapon is unique in that it has no moving parts
but still manages to fire 180 rounds and less than 100 of a second with its special caseless nine
millimeter ammunition no armor in the world would be capable of stopping the us navy was apparently
impressed and in 2007 even announced that it would purchase the system for use on its ships
however more than a decade later nothing has come to pass but as business insider reported
this was both of a result of legal issues with the contracts and its applications
having a weapon that could fire 1.62 million rounds in a minute all traveling at speeds
approaching mach 5 may sound like the sort of weapon that every military would want
but how and where it could be used remains an issue a million nine millimeter rounds would
cut through a tank like a hot knife through butter but that tank would still have to be pretty close
moreover a target would need to remain directly in front of the weapon which fires so quickly it
couldn't effectively even sweep a battlefield like those world war 1 machine guns so unless an army
is going to charge down an alley the defensive capabilities of the metal storm gun seem limited
this is made worse by the fact that it is also extremely heavy requires plenty of prep time to
set up effectively for a single use and firing even a fraction of the ammunition is expensive
and much of it could go to waste however the company's designers had other ideas and this
included a scaled-up 40 millimeter grenade launcher that utilizes a similar multi-barrel
concept
so for now the m134 minigun will likely keep its place in the guinness world book
of records for having the fastest rate of fire of a military weapon in service
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