There it was, amongst the other military period pieces brought to the Square for the Bucky O'Neill rededication yesterday. A genuine Gatling gun. I'd heard about this Civil War Era precursor to the machine gun but, like the purple cow, I'd never hoped to see one.
A later model, I note -- ten, not six barrels. Mean-looking. But, not mean enough.
In 1870 Gatling opened a new factory in Hartford, Connecticut to produce his gun. He continued to improve the Gatling Gun and by 1882 it could fire up to 1,200 rounds per minute. However, sales of the gun declined after Hiram Maxim began producing his automatic Maxim Machine Gun -- this according to
Spartacus.
Just in case you want your own,
RG-G Inc. offers half-scale replicas-- $58.97 for a set of blueprints or, for a mere $10,900, a complete, ready-to-fire unit. Maybe you can luck out like the guy at the Square. He found his beautiful brass original on the Internet. Where else?
There it was, amongst the other military period pieces brought to the Square for the Bucky O'Neill rededication yesterday. A genuine Gatling gun. I'd heard about this Civil War Era precursor to the machine gun but, like the purple cow, I'd never hoped to see one.
A later model, I note -- ten, not six barrels. Mean-looking. But, not mean enough. In 1870 Gatling opened a new factory in Hartford, Connecticut to produce his gun. He continued to improve the Gatling Gun and by 1882 it could fire up to 1,200 rounds per minute. However, sales of the gun declined after Hiram Maxim began producing his automatic Maxim Machine Gun -- this according to Spartacus.
Just in case you want your own, RG-G Inc. offers half-scale replicas-- $58.97 for a set of blueprints or, for a mere $10,900, a complete, ready-to-fire unit. Maybe you can luck out like the guy at the Square. He found his beautiful brass original on the Internet. Where else?
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2 comments:
Tkhose are nice pictures. I've seen them in movies only.
Steve, you cause me wonder just how many Gatling guns are out there, especially outside museums.
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