Not to be confused with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .

50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni

tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82.

[edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name.

Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic.

A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use

in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose (

un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103

^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface

5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca

pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele

ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons

Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon.

British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f

ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon

Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1]

Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin

g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir

ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber.

Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con

tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr).

Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com

plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site

The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t

he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a .

50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire

d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to

only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man

y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20

th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf

^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons

3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of

these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this

type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used.

[edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before

the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm

ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun

PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug

h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed.

Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box.

Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe

n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ

ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac

teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts

are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are

included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a

barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers.

Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability

. A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo

lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta

lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow

ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach

ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns

2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber

submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an

d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and

whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light

er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al

so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon

Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei

ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3]

The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward

Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute.

In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use.

The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning

M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i

t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine

gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous

ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to

alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us

e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne

r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other

great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface

The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic

ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm

such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte

nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons,

such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a

nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip

le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future

A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon

General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute.

Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but

its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w

hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i

n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1

,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a

pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly

Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto

matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc

ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t

he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a

"new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The

"Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are

the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982,

p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys

tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person

actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement

gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id

ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The

Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG

42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action

Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use

d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward

Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk

y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h

opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra

ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however.

Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70

^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired,

a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs

ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m

inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W

hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper

ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag

ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes

^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation). A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e

ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns

the two are often an automatic rifl other cooling sys fully automatic f existing firearm

Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members. According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig

h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle: Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated.

direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ

ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914) The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo

ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was

developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun

Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular ScienceNot to be confuse d with Assault rifle. For other uses, see Machine gun (disambiguation).

A .50 caliber M2 machine gun: John Browning's design has been one of the longest serving and most successful machine gun designs A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity ma gazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute. Machine guns are generally categorized as submachine guns, machine guns, or auto cannons. Submachine guns are designed to be small, portable automatic weapons fo r personal defense or short range combat, and are intended to be fired while bei ng hand held. Submachine guns use small pistol caliber rounds. A proper machine gun is often portable to a certain degree, but is generally used when mounted on a stand or fired from the ground on a bipod. Light machine guns are small enoug h to be fired and hand held like a rifle, but the gun is more effective when fir ed from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and autocannons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 16 mm.[1] Another factor is whether the gun fires conventional rounds or explosive rounds. Guns firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either auto cannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). By contrast wit h the other two categories (sub-machine guns and autocannons), machine guns (lik e rifles) tend to share the characteristic of a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is e ssentially a fully automatic rifle, and the boundaries between the two are often blurred. Often, the criterion for a machine gun as opposed to an automatic rifl e is considered to be the presence of a quick change barrel or other cooling sys tem (see below). In United States gun law, machine gun is a term of art for any fully automatic f irearm, and also for any component or part that will modify an existing firearm such that it functions as a fully automatic firearm.[2] Contents [hide] 1 Overview of modern automatic machine guns 2 Operation 3 History 3.1 Early rapid-firing weapons 3.2 Interwar era and World War II 3.3 Future 4 Human interface 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links [edit]Overview of modern automatic machine guns Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun is designed to fire as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to relatively heavy weapons fired from some sort of supp ort rather than hand-held, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of auto matic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are normally used again st unprotected or lightly protected personnel, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice maintained suppressive fire almost continuous ly for hours; other automatic weapons overheat after less than a minute of use. Because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bol t, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also have either a barrel cooling system, or removable barrels which allow a hot barrel to be repl aced. Although subdivided into "light", "medium", "heavy" or "general-purpose", even t he lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than other automatic weapons. Squad automatic weapons (SAW) are a variation of light machin e gun and require only one operator (sometimes with an assistant to carry ammuni tion). Medium and heavy machine guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehi cle; when carried on foot, the machine gun and associated equipment (tripod, amm unition, spare barrels) require additional crew members.

According to U.S. Army doctrine, a machine gun is distinguished from an automati c rifle by how it is used: a machine gun is a crew-served weapon, while an autom atic rifle is used by a single person. While most weapons are designed to be use d exclusively in one manner or the other, FM 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Machine Guns", describes how the M249 can be used either as a machine gun or as an automatic r ifle: "Both the M249 automatic rifle and the M249 machine gun are identical, but its employment is different. The M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automat ic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squa d or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon."[3] The majority of machine guns are belt-fed, although some light machine guns are fed from drum or box magazines, and some vehicle-mounted machine guns are hopper -fed. Other automatic weapons are subdivided into several categories based on the size of the bullet used, and whether the cartridge is fired from a positively locked closed bolt, or a non-positively locked open bolt. Full automatic firearms usin g pistol-caliber ammunition are called machine pistols or submachine guns largel y on the basis of size. Selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridg e from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge (see below) are called assault rifles. The d ifference in construction was driven by the difference in intended deployment. A utomatic rifles (such as the Browning Automatic Rifle) were designed to be a hig h duty cycle arm for support of other troops, and were often made and deployed w ith quick change barrel assemblies to allow quick replacement of over heated bar rels to allow for continued fire, and may have been operated by both the person actually firing the weapon as well as an additional crewman to assist in providi ng and caring for ammunition and the barrels, similar to a reduced version of a squad weapon (above). The assault rifle generally was made for a more intermitte nt duty cycle, and was designed to be easily carried and used by a single person . Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-caliber submachinegun and a full size traditional automatic rifle by firing intermediate cartridges, (or sometimes full power cartridges) and allowing semi-automatic, b urst or full-automatic fire options (selective fire), often with two or more of these available on the rifle at once. The modern legal definition of "assault ri fle" is of significance in states like California, where according to state law, certain weapons that cosmetically resemble true assault rifles, but are only ca pable of semi-automatic (or autoloading), are categorized as "assault weapons" a nd are illegal to purchase or own by civilian residents of the state, even after a less restrictive ban by the federal government was allowed to lapse after hav ing no impact on these weapons' use in crime.[4] Therefore, supporters of gun ri ghts generally consider the use of the phrase "assault weapon" to be pejorative when used to describe these civilian firearms, and this term is seldom used outs ide of the United States in this context. The machine gun's primary role in modern ground combat is to provide suppressive fire on an opposing force's position, forcing the enemy to take cover and reduc ing the effectiveness of his fire. This either halts an enemy attack or allows f riendly forces to attack enemy positions with less risk. Light machine guns usually have simple iron sights. A common aiming system is to alternate solid ("ball") rounds and tracer ammunition rounds (usually one trace r round for every four ball rounds), so shooters can see the trajectory and "wal k" the fire into the target, and direct the fire of other soldiers. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun, are ac curate enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carl os Hathcock set the record for a long-distance shot at 7382 ft (2250 m) with a . 50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight.[5] This le d to the introduction of .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, such as the Ba rrett M82. [edit]Operation All machine guns follow a cycle:

Pulling (manually or electrically) the bolt assembly/bolt carrier rearward by wa y of the cocking lever to the point bolt carrier engages a sear and stays at rea r position until trigger is activated making bolt carrier move forward Loading fresh round into chamber and locking bolt Firing round by way of a firing pin or striker (except for aircraft medium calib er using electric ignition primers) hitting the primer that ignites the powder w hen bolt reaches locked position. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of th e weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring aka ma in spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round f rom a feeding device, belt or box. Light machine guns can be held like a rifle. Cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops fir ing with bolt carrier fully at the rear. The operation is basically the same for all semi automatic or automatic weapons, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Some examples: Machine pistols and submachine guns (like the World War II "grease gun", MAC-10 or the Uzi) are usually blowback operated. direct impingement gas piston Most assault rifles and squad automatic weapons are gas operated. Some weapons, such as the AR-15/M16, do not have a piston, instead using a system of direct im pingement in which the gases operate the bolt carrier by acting directly on it. Others, like the original SA80 patterns, have a bolt carrier that is unlocked an d operated by a piston actuated by gases. A recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate t he action. Heavy machine guns, such as the M2 .50 and Browning .50, are of this type. A cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to opera te the bolt. An externally actuated machine gun uses an external power source, such as an ele ctric motor or even a hand crank to move its mechanism through the firing sequen ce. Most modern weapons of this type are called Gatling guns in reference to the ir driving mechanism. Gatling guns have several barrels on a rotating carousel a nd a system of cams that load, cock, and fire each mechanism progressively as it rotates through the sequence. The continuous nature of the rotary action allows for an incredibly high cyclic rate of fire, often several thousand rounds per m inute. Rotary guns are less prone to jamming than a gun operated by gas or recoi l, as the external power source will eject misfired rounds with no further troub le, but this is not possible if the force needed to eject the round comes from t he round itself. Rotary guns are generally used with large shells, 20 mm in diam eter or more, offering benefits of reliability and firepower, though the weight and size of the power source and driving mechanism makes them impractical for us e outside of a vehicle or aircraft mount. Revolver cannon were developed in World War II by the Germans as the Mauser MK 2 13 to provide high-caliber cannon with a reasonable rate of fire and reliability . A recoil-operated carriage holds a revolving chamber with typically five chamb ers. As each round is fired, electrically, the carriage moves back rotating the chamber which also ejects the spent case, indexes the next live round to be fire d with the barrel and loads the next round into the chamber. The action is very similar to that of the revolver pistols common in the 19th and 20th centuries, g iving this type of weapon its name. Firing a machine gun produces great amounts of heat. In a worst-case scenario th is may cause a cartridge to fire even when the trigger is not pulled, potentiall y leading to damage or causing the gun to cycle its action and keep firing until

it has exhausted its ammunition supply or jammed. To prevent this, some kind of cooling system is required. Early heavy machine guns were often water-cooled; w hile very effective, the water also added considerable weight to an already bulk y design. Air-cooled machine guns feature quick-change barrels, often carried by a crew member. The higher the rate of fire, the more often barrels must be chan ged and allowed to cool. To minimize this, most air-cooled guns are fired only i n short bursts or at a reduced rate of fire. Some designs - such as the many var iants of the MG42 - are capable of rates of fire in excess of 1500 rounds per mi nute. In weapons where the round seats and fires at the same time, mechanical timing i s essential for operator safety, to prevent the round from firing before it is s eated properly. Machine guns are controlled by one or more mechanical sears. Whe n a sear is in place, it effectively stops the bolt at some point in its range o f motion. Some sears stop the bolt when it is locked to the rear. Other sears st op the firing pin from going forward after the round is locked into the chamber. Almost all weapons have a "safety" sear, which simply keeps the trigger from eng aging. [edit]History It would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs c ame into existence. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relativ ely high rate of fire and more importantly machine (automatic) loading, came wit h the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's id ea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally po wered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. The Vandenburg a nd Miltrailleuse volley (organ) gun concepts have been revived partially in the early 21st century in the form of electronically controlled, multibarreled volle y guns. It is important to note that what exactly constitutes a machine gun, and whether volley guns are a type of machine gun, and to what extent some earlier types of devices are considered to be like machine guns, is a matter of debate i n many cases and can vary depending which language and exact definition is used. [edit]Early rapid-firing weapons Replica Puckle Gun from Bucklers Hard The first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle, a Lo ndon lawyer, who patented what he called "The Puckle Gun" on May 15, 1718. It wa s a design for a 1 in. (25.4 mm) caliber, flintlock revolver cannon able to fire 9 rounds before reloading, intended for use on ships.[6] According to Puckle, i t was able to fire round bullets at Christians and square bullets at Turks.[6] W hile ahead of its time, foreshadowing the designs of revolvers, it was not adopt ed or produced. In 1777, Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a "new improved gun", which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five secon ds, automatically, and was capable of being loaded by a cartridge. Congress requ ested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manne r, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.[7][8] In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared whi ch offered multi-shot fire, and a number of semi-automatic weapons as well as vo lley guns. Volley guns (such as the Mitrailleuse) and double barreled pistols re lied on duplicating all parts of the gun. Pepperbox pistols did away with needin g multiple hammers but used multiple barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared magazine using the same barrel and ignitions. Howeve r, like the Puckle gun, they were still only semiautomatic. A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. 1914)

The Agar Gun, otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil W ar. The weapon featured automatic loading through ammunition being loaded in a h opper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through th e turning of a hand crank. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1 861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1 ,300 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 54 of the weapons. H owever, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The Gatling gun, patented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling, was the first to of fer controlled, sequential fire with automatic loading. The design's key feature s were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequ ential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the American Civil War; it was subsequently improved and used in the Franco-Prussian war and North -West Rebellion. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and con tinued to be used into the early 20th century, until they were gradually supplan ted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weigh t of contemporary artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement fo r cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[9] The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerabi lity of their crews.[9] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a clo ud of smoke making concealment impossible until smokeless powder became availabl e in the late 19th century.[10] Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they cou ld not reach and their crews were targeted by snipers they could not see.[9] The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by k illing warriors of non-industrialized societies.[9] The Gatlings were the first widely used rapid-fire guns and, due to their multip le barrels, could offer more sustained fire than the first generation of air-coo led, recoil-operated machine guns. The weight, complexity, and resulting cost of the multibarrel design meant recoil-operated weapons, which could be made light er and cheaper, would supplant them. Recoil-operated machine guns were light eno ugh to be moved by one man, were easier to move through rough terrain, and could be fired from a lower, protected position. It would be another 50 years before the concept was again used to allow extremely high rates of fire, such as in min iguns, and automatic aircraft cannon. British Vickers machine gun in action near Ovillers during the Battle of the Som me in 1916. The crew are wearing gas masks. A model of a typical entrenched German machine gunner in World War I. He is oper ating an MG08, wearing a Stahlhelm and cuirass to protect him from shell fragmen ts, and protected by rows of barbed wire and sandbags. The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rathe r than being hand-powered, enabling a much higher rate of fire than was possible using earlier designs such as the Nordenfelt and Gatling weapons. Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling (via a water jacket around the ba rrel) to reduce overheating. Maxim's gun was widely adopted and derivative desig ns were used on all sides during the First World War, most famously - during sta lemate at The Battle of the Somme. The design required fewer crew, was lighter, and more usable than earlier Nordenfelt guns and Gatling guns. Heavy guns based on the Maxim such as the Vickers machine gun were joined by man y other machine weapons, which mostly had their start in the early 20th century such as the Hotchkiss machine gun. Submachine guns (e.g., the German MP18) as we ll as lighter machine guns (the Chauchat, for example) saw their first major use in World War I, along with heavy use of large-caliber machine guns. The biggest single cause of casualties in World War I was actually artillery, but combined with wire entanglements, machine guns earned a fearsome reputation. The automati

c mechanisms of machine guns were applied to handguns, giving rise to automatic pistols (and eventually machine pistols) such as the Borchardt (1890s) and later submachine guns (such as the Beretta 1918). Machine guns were mounted in aircra ft for the first time in World War I. Firing through a moving propeller was solv ed in a variety of ways, including the interrupter gear, metal reinforcement of the propeller, or simply avoiding the problem with wing-mounted guns or having a pusher propeller. [edit]Interwar era and World War II During the interwar years, many new designs were developed, such as the Browning M2 and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which, along with others, were used in Wor ld War II. The trend toward automatic rifles, light machine guns, and more power ful sub-machine guns resulted in a wide variety of firearms that combined charac teristics of ordinary rifles and machine guns. The Cei-Rigotti (20th century), F edorov Avtomat (1910s), AVS-36 Simonov (1930s), MP44, M2 Carbine, AK-47, and AR15 have come to be known as assault rifles (after the German term sturmgewehr). Many aircraft were equipped with machine cannon, and similar cannon (nicknamed " Pom-pom guns") were used as antiaircraft weapons. The designs of Bofors of Swede n and Oerlikon of Switzerland were widely used by both sides and have greatly in fluenced similar weapons developed since then. Germany developed during the interwar years the first widely used and successful general-purpose machine gun, the Maschinengewehr 34. The Maschinengewehr 42 was developed from it and was much cheaper to produce. The current GPMG of the Germ an Army, the MG3, is a direct evolution of the MG42. Many other modern machine g uns, including the US M60 and the FN MAG borrow elements of the design of the MG 42. [edit]Future A U.S. Navy 7.62 mm GAU-17/A gatling gun. It is externally powered by an electri c motor (seen on top) that powers the loading, priming, and firing mechanism. Al so, note the spade grips, pintle mount and rapid cartridge case ejection. Conventional machine-gun development has been slowed by the fact that existing m achine-gun designs are adequate for most purposes, although significant developm ents are taking place with regard to antiarmor and antimissile weapons. Electronically controlled machine guns with ultrahigh rates of fire may see use in some applications, although current small-caliber weapons of this type have f ound little use: they are too light for anti-vehicle use, but too heavy (especia lly with the need to carry a tactically useful amount of ammunition) for individ ual soldiers. The trend towards higher reliability and lower mass for a given po wer will probably continue. Another example is the six barreled, 4000 round per minute, XM214 "six pack" developed by General Electric. It has a complex power t rain and weighs 85 pounds, factors which may, in some circumstances, militate ag ainst its deployment. Metal Storm has developed a new type of machine gun, with rates of fire up to 1. 62 million rounds per minute. The distinguishing features of this technology are the absence of ammunition feed and casing ejection systems (the only moving par ts are the projectiles), and the electronic ignition of the propellant charges. [edit]Human interface The most common interface on machine guns is a pistol grip and trigger. On earli er manual machine guns, the most common type was a hand crank. On externally pow ered machine guns, such as miniguns, an electronic button or trigger on a joysti ck is commonly used. Light machine guns often have a butt stock attached, while vehicle and tripod mounted machine guns usually have spade grips. In the late 20 th century, scopes and other complex optics became more common as opposed to the more basic iron sights. Loading systems in early manual machine guns were often from a hopper of loose ( un-linked) cartridges. Manual-operated volley guns usually had to be reloaded ma nually all at once (each barrel reloaded by hand). With hoppers, the rounds coul d often be added while the weapon was firing. This gradually changed to belt-fed

types. Belts were either held in the open by the person, or in a bag or box. So me modern vehicle machine guns used linkless feed systems however. Closeup of M2 This machine gun is part of a complex armament subsystem; it is ai med and fired from the aircraft rather than directly Modern machine guns are usually mounted in one of four ways. The first is a bipo d often these are integrated with the weapon. This is common on light machine gu ns and some medium machine guns. Another is a tripod, where the person holding i t does not form a 'leg' of support. Medium and heavy machine guns usually use tr ipods. On ships and aircraft machine guns are usually mounted on a pintle mount basically a steel post that is connected to the frame. Tripod and pintle mounts are usually used with spade grips. The last major mounting type is one that is d isconnected from humans, as part of an armament system, such as a tank coaxial o r part of aircraft's armament. These are usually electrically fired and have com plex sighting systems. For examples of this, see US Helicopter Armament Subsyste ms. Further information: Ground mount [edit]See also Light machine gun Medium machine gun Heavy machine gun Firearm action Squad automatic weapon Breda (machine gun) Weapon General-purpose machine gun List of firearms Revolver cannon Mitrailleuse - The French word for machine gun, but also a type of manual volley gun. Submachine gun PDW Assault Rifle Autocannon Minigun Gatling gun Chain gun List of machine guns List of multiple barrel machine guns [edit]Notes ^ Marchant-Smith, C.J., & Haslam, P.R., Small Arms & Cannons, Brassey's Battlefi eld Weapons Systems & Technology, Volume V, Brassey's Publishers, London, 1982, p.169 ^ In United States law, a Machine Gun is defined (in part) by The National Firea rms Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) as "... any weapon which shoots ... automatic ally more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the t rigger." ^ U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Field Manual 3-22.68 "Crew-Served Mach ine Guns", para. 4-207 https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/ public/6713-1/fm/3-22.68/chap4.htm#sec5 ^ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf ^ Henderson, Charles. Marine Sniper Berkley Caliber. (2005) ISBN 0-425-10355-2. ^ a b original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons Bannerman Mili tary Goods Catalogue #28 (1954) p.103 ^ Harold L. Peterson (2000). Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783. Cour ier Dover Publications. pp. 217 218. ISBN 0-486-41244-X. ^ United States Continental Congress (1907). Journals of the Continental Congres

s. USGPO., pages 324, 361 ^ a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p.70 ^ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedi ngs September 1972 pp.72 [edit]External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Machine guns GunTrustLawyer.com US site with information on the legality of owning a machine gun in each state under the National Firearms Act and individual state regulatio ns. How Stuff Works Article on the operation of Machine Guns, animated diagrams are included. U.S. Patent 15,315 A patent for an early automatic cannon Vickers machine gun site The REME Museum of Technology machine guns Discover Military Machine Guns From Gatling to Browning September 1945 article Popular Sciencemmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm