Home | Events | Location | Education | Shop | Vehicles | Weapons
The development of the machine gun can be traced through three stages. Firstly, the multiple guns which comprised of a number of barrels firing one shot in sequence or in some instances where all the shots were fired as a volley. Secondly, the machine guns of the Gatling and Gardner type fitted with a number of barrels, each one firing in succession, they were hand operated and usually fed by a gravity hopper full of cartridges. Thirdly, the automatic guns of the Maxim and Vickers type which fire successive shots through one barrel, and were operated by the energy obtained from the combustion of the cartridge.
A hand driven machine gun was developed in 1781 by James Puckle and operated on a similar principle to the revolver. It had one barrel and the charges and shot were contained in a cylinder with several chambers; as the cylinder was revolved each chamber was in turn presented to the rear of the barrel and fired. The gap between the rear of the barrel and the front of the cylinder only permitted the use of low powered charges.
In 1862 Dr Richard Gatling, of Indiana USA, patented a machine gun which was the first practical step in the development of the machine gun. The gun had a number of barrels, between four and ten arranged around a central axis, each barrel had its own breech lock, the whole assembly was rotated by a handle and fed by a mechanism mounted above the breech. Some of these guns were used in the American Civil War. These gatlings seem to have been the best hand driven guns of their time and were avidly used. In 1871 orders were made on behalf of the British Army and Navy. The British Boxer cartridge did not function well in the gun and jams were frequent, but once the drawn brass cartridge case was perfected, the machine became reliable. The Navy adopted the Gatling after trials in 1880.
The Nordenfeldt machine gun was developed between 1873 and 1878 and was avidly used in Europe. It had four barrels in line horizontally and was fed by gravity hoppers, the mechanism was accessible, and if a jam occurred the barrel could be disconnected and fire maintained with the other barrels. The cyclic rate of fire was about 350 rounds per minute. It has been claimed that the Gatling could attain a cyclic rate of over 800 rounds per minute for a short while. The Gardner was another contemporary weapon.
The accuracy of these guns was liable to be influenced adversely by the turning of the handle (the Nordenfeldt was operated by a lever which was moved to and fro). All these guns were used by Great Britain, others were designed in France, Germany and the USA but did not become internationally famous.
Although hand driven guns lasted into the twentieth century, automatic guns originated in 1883 when Maxim first applied for a patent covering the use of energy obtained from the combustion of the cartridge to operate the firing of the gun continuously. Having started with automatic rifles he turned his energy to a more efficient exterminating device, the automatic gun. He experimented with both gas and recoil driven mechanisms and finally decided to use a short recoil action. The original gun was operating successfully in 1885. It was belt fed, water cooled and fired the .450 inch Martini-Henry cartridge. The British Army adopted a similar model of this gun (Mk 1) in 1889, a .303 inch version was also adopted in the same year; the gun weighed 60 lbs without water. In 1912 the Mk 1 Vickers was introduced in the same calibre and weighed 34 lbs without water. The Vickers worked on exactly the same principle as the Maxim, but it had been redesigned in detail in order to reduce the weight. The toggle action locking device was turned upside-down so that the lock breaks upwards. A gas muzzle trap was fitted to assist recoil. Hiram Maxim had produced a machine gun action before 1885 and the basic principles of this action lasted over 50 years and was used with minor modifications in Great Britain, Germany and Russia.
The Hotchkiss automatic gun was developed during 1890s from an invention by Captain Baron A Odkolek von Augeza of Vienna. It was driven by the conventional barrel vent, cylinder and piston. The first model appeared in 1897 and was made by Benjamin B Hotchkiss. This gun was to become one of the basic designs, and its essential features appeared with minor variations in many countries including Britain, France and Japan.
America adopted Browning's designs mainly manufactured by the Colt plant. John Moses Browning was the son of a gunsmith and a most prolific designer of small arms. In 1889 while out duck shooting he observed the effect of muzzle blast on nearby foliage and realised that this energy could be used to operate an automatic gun, so the first automatic gun to be operated by gas (muzzle blast) came to be built. It was followed by the Colt machine gun designed by Browning. This machine was used in the American Army up to 1914.
Paul Mauser 1838-1914 was the son of a German gunsmith who had developed the famous K98 Colt action rifle and up to the end of the first World War his firm had provided the bulk of the rifles and semi automatic pistols for the German Army. In 1934 Germany began to re-arm and the Mauser Group played a great part in the provision of infantry weapons. A series of excellent machine guns were designed and produced, among these were several different models of MG 34 and the MG 81; both were recoil operated with a muzzle gas trap booster and belt feed. The first was a dual purpose gun to fill both the light and medium roles, whilst the second was designed for use in aircraft and often mounted in pairs controlled by a single pistol grip and trigger. These guns formed the backbone of German small arms during the Third Reich; the MG being the Infantry machine gun for the first three years of the War.
Between the first and second World Wars Britain had relied on three different types of machine gun. The Vickers being the medium machine gun, and the Hotchkiss (Cavalry) and the Lewis (Infantry) the light machine guns, but just prior to the second World War these light machine guns were superseded by the Bren. The Bren was developed from the Czech SB 26 which was made by the Brno factory and was redesigned at Enfield. The BR from Brno and the EN from Enfield were combined to give the name Bren. The Bren was a magazine fed, gas operated weapon, of a very high performance, later it was adapted to take the 7.62 mm NATO cartridge and was finally superseded by the Belgian FN General purpose machine gun which is now in use with the British Army and known as the L7A2 machine gun. This general purpose MG has been adapted for ground use both as a medium and light machine gun and has been modified for use on armoured fighting vehicles and helicopters.
Machine Guns in the Collection - 1
Machine Guns in the Collection - 2
Machine Guns in the Collection - 3
REME Museum of Technology Home Page
Email Enquiries or telephone 0118 976 3375 for further information
Page produced by Peter Eldred - Last updated 3 August 2004