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18th Century Machine Gun Reproduction


Fluffy Fishy

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I found these pictures of the 18th century Venetian machine gun made by a German re-enactment group from an example they found in a museum. The weapon was built with sea use in mind although historically it mainly saw action around 80 years after its creation in the Italian wars of unification.

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@Fluffy Fishy

Agreed looks a fascinating weapon. If built with sea use in mind I’d speculate some thoughts... What first springs to mind is it be a boarding weapon, either for defense or attack.

The weapon is mounted on wheels so designed to be moved around quickly at short notice. I assume across a quarter deck only and not upstairs etc. Or on the Poop to target key enemy personnel.

I assume the lit fuse would ignite a single barrel only. The barrels would then manually be rotated and a new loaded one would be ignited and so on. This may imply a single enemy that’s a targeted shot. What are the metal rods between each barrel for? They have a groove in the wood for betting housing? Strength? I doubt it’s a ram rod or a lever for breach loading.

The Baker Rifle as a 30inch barrel length. This machine looks like it as a similar length and obviously not rifled. The Baker as a range of up to 200yards with a high hit rate accuracy. This weapon on such a stable platform, unrifled might still reach 100yards. Perfect for a close in boarding action.

I’d speculate it does fire a single lead ball. However, a small greased cloth bag filled with iron nail shavings could also be used as effective grape. The bag weight however couldn’t be much heavier than a lead ball or more charge would be needed. This producing higher risks of breaching...

 

Just my thoughts, but would love to see some details on this weapon

 

Norfolk.

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Brilliant link thanks @Wagram

So, it did work as a repeating gun. The metal rods at the barrels side held the cartridges for a particular barrel. Through turning and gravity it reloaded the barrel each full turn.

The Puckle Gun 1718 amazing video also.

The craftmanship for the age was phenomenal.  

Thinking and thought processes involved am amazed it took so long to develop cartridges with repeating rifles. Or reliable machine guns for that matter.

 

N.

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