Jump to content

Gardner gun

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lithographof Gardner Gun

TheGardner gunwas an early type of mechanicalmachine gun.It had one, two or fivebarrels,was fed from a vertical magazine or hopper and was operated by a crank. When the crank was turned, a feed arm positioned acartridgein the breech, the bolt closed and the weapon fired. Turning the crank further opened the breechblock and extracted the spent case.

Development[edit]

The Gardner machine gun was invented in 1874 by William Gardner ofToledo, Ohio,formerly acaptainin theUnion Armyduring theAmerican Civil War.After producing a prototype he went to thePratt and Whitneycompany, who after a year of development produced a military version of the weapon.

An 1887 Gardner machine gun

A demonstration to officers at the United States Navy yard in 1875 was successful, however they recommended that Pratt and Whitney continue with development of the system, incorporating improvements to the feed system, which were designed by E. G. Parkhurst, an engineer at Pratt and Whitney. The army attended the tests, but showed no interest in the weapon.

Parkhurst added many improvements to the gun's firing mechanism which made it more reliable. During 1877 additional tests took place with a.45calibre(11.4 mm) version of the weapon, which determined its muzzle velocity to be 1,280 feet per second (390 m/s).

On 17 June 1879 a further demonstration was carried out at the Navy Yard, during which the weapon was presented byFrancis A. PrattandAmos Whitney.The weapon fired a total of 10,000 rounds during the test, taking a total elapsed time of 27 minutes 36 seconds, with breaks between firing to resolve an issue with one of the extractors. While the test was not without issues the weapon managed to fire 4,722 rounds before the first stoppage,[1]and after the stoppage was resolved it fired approximately 5,000 rounds without incident.

On 15 January and 17 March 1880 duplicate tests were conducted atSandy Hookproving ground in front of an Army review board. The weapon performed well, and they recommended that the Army buy a limited number for field evaluation, noting the low cost of the weapon. However the Army declined to purchase.

At this point, the BritishRoyal Navy,which had successfully deployed theGatling gun,became interested in the weapon, and Gardner was invited to England to exhibit his invention. The Admiralty were so impressed by the demonstrations that they adopted the weapon and purchased the rights to produce it in England. Gardner remained in England to supervise the construction of the weapons.

.45″ Cartridge Machine Gun Ball Mk III

TheBritish Armythen took an interest in machine guns and after a series of trials selected the Gardner gun. During these tests a five-barrelled Gardner gun fired 16,754 rounds before a failure occurred, with only 24 stoppages. When operator-induced errors were taken into account, there were only four malfunctions in 10,000 rounds fired. The Army adopted the weapon, although its introduction was delayed because of opposition from theRoyal Artillery.It saw action in theMahdist War(inSudan), notably at theBattle of Abu Klea,where its mechanism proved vulnerable to desert sand and dust blowing about.

There was also the.577/450 Martini–Henrycalibre Bira gun,[2]based upon the Gardner gun but with dual barrels, an overhead drum magazine, and designed inNepal.[3]

It is noted that the Bira was only ever produced in very small numbers. These are extremely rare and a wonderful example of Victorian firepower. An American company,International Military Antiques,found a limited number of these exceptionally scarce weapons in the Old Palace of Lagan Silekhana in Kathmandu, Nepal, which were included with the purchase of over 50,000 antique firearms from the Royal Nepalese Army in 2003. There is controversy, as the arms cache had to tranship through India and questions remain as to the purchase.

Users[edit]

Conflicts[edit]

A Bira gun

War of The Pacific[11]

Mahdist War

First Matabele War[14]

First Sino-Japanese War[12]

World War I[5]

See also[edit]

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era[edit]

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^An initial warm-up burst of 200, followed by 1,000 rounds, followed by 431 rounds, followed by 3,071 rounds.
  2. ^Shaksham, S."Rarest gun in the history; Bira Gun".BuzzFeedNepal.Retrieved1 April2019.
  3. ^Dahal, Phanindra (25 August 2011)."Lost history: Gehendra-made guns sold off to US company".The Kathmandu Post.Retrieved28 August2016.
  4. ^abc"Rifle Caliber Artillery: The Gardner Battery Gun"(PDF).
  5. ^abaugfc."FIREARMS CURIOSA".Tumblr.Retrieved2022-12-01.
  6. ^"LA ARTILLERÍA EN LA GUERRA DEL PACÍFICO"(PDF).
  7. ^Parliamentary Debates: Official Report;... Session of the... Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.Cox & Baylis. 1885. pp. 1709–1711.Retrieved27 November2023.
  8. ^Famae, Administrador."Historia de las Fábricas y Maestranzas del Ejército – FAMAE".Retrieved2023-01-04.
  9. ^McLachlan, Sean (20 September 2011).Armies of the Adowa Campaign 1896: The Italian Disaster in Ethiopia.Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 39, 43.ISBN978-1-84908-938-8.
  10. ^"Gardner gun in Holland -".The Firearm Blog.2009-02-22.Retrieved2022-11-29.
  11. ^abEsposito, Gabriele (2016).Armies of the War of the Pacific 1879-83: Chile, Peru & Bolivia.Giuseppe Rava. Oxford.ISBN978-1-4728-1406-7.OCLC956263929.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ^abEsposito, Gabriele (2022).Armies of the first Sino-Japanese War 1894-95.Giuseppe Rava. Oxford.ISBN978-1-4728-5130-7.OCLC1350351894.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^"Gardner Home".victorianshipmodels.Retrieved2022-12-01.
  14. ^"South African Military History Society - Journal - THE ORDNANCE AND MACHINE GUNS OF THE BSAC Part One: 1889-1891".samilitaryhistory.org.Retrieved2022-12-01.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toGardner gun.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gardner_gun&oldid=1190907383"