Gatling Gun The Gatling Gun is a type of weapon created in nineteenth century by Richard Jordan Gatling in United States during his Civil War . It was designed in 1861 and patented in 1862 . It is characterized by having multiple rotating barrels , which increase it ' s firepower . Can have three , four , six or even eight rotating barrels , and fires a high amount of shots ( over 13 rounds per minute ) , proving to be highly efficient and deadly for the season . Each barrel fires a single shot until it reaches a certain stage in the cycle , when it ejects the spent ammunition and loads a new one , using this process takes time to cooldown . The system solves the problem of overheating of a single barrel guns , but affect the accuracy of the shot . Depending on the definition of machine gun , the Gatling could be considered a world first since it was capable of performing continuous shooting . The original Gatling was based on a system of hand crank to drive the rotation of the pipes . In later systems the rotation of the barrels now being produced by devices with gas or electricity History . The original Gatling gun was a weapon that used multiple rotating barrels , driven by a hand crank , firing ammunition loose ( not attached by straps ) that used a system of loading fall by gravity from a charger . Was used for the first time by Unionist army in the American Civil War . Unlike " guns " before , with limited capacity and long reloading times , the Gatling were more reliable , easy to carry and had a rate of fire higher Modern weapons system Gatling . After the Gatling guns were replaced by lighter and cheaper recoil system , weapons of multiple rotating barrels fell into prostitution . However they reapeared in the decades of 1940 and 1950 When it was necessary to create weapons with a high rate of fire for military aircraft . The new multi - barreled weapons used rotary power from an electric motor instead of manual force of the old Gatling . One of the main reasons for the resurgence of Gatling guns in the system is its ability to tolerate the high continuous shooting cadence . For example , if 20 munitions were fired without a break , with a rate of fire of a gun of a conventional single barrel , this would certainly warm up or jam . Ultimately , the limiting factor is the speed at which the ammunition can be loaded and jackets worn extracted . In a single barrel gun , these actions have to switch . Already , a system of multiple pipes allows them to develop simultaneously with the different pipes in various stages of shooting . A five - barreled gun Gatling system could produce a rate of fire of 2000 tpm . But each of its pipes soar only 400 RPM , so a reduced cadence and acceptable . The 20 mm cannon M60 Vulcan is the most common member of a family of weapons are designed for rotary General Electric and now constructed by General Dynamics . It is a six - barreled gun in the System Gatling capable of a volume of fire of 6 , 000 RPM , cadence unachievable with a conventional weapon . Similar systems are available with sizes of 5 . 56 x45 mm to 30x173 mm . The rate of fire is usually inversely proportional to the size of the ammunition and therefore the size of the pipes . During the Vietnam War was created M134 Minigun , A Gatling gun system of 7 . 62 x51 mm for helicopters . Capable of firing 6 RPM and arm by a strap 400 ammunition , the Minigun proved to be one of the most effective weapons ever , firing non - explosive projectiles and is still used today . Vietnam earned him the nickname " " Puff , the Magic Dragon " " , because of firing tracer ammunition that gave the appearance of the breath of a dragon . The Minigun also demonstrated its efficiency in gunships AC - 47 , AC - 119 and AC - 130 , Converted to cargo aircraft guns were mounted on the side . With sophisticated navigation systems and target acquisition the Minigun can be used in a very effective against hidden targets . Besides the benefits mentioned above , many modern Gatling systems have the advantage of being propelled by external sources and not by the outbreak of ammunition . This increases their level of confidence since the failure at the outbreak of a munition will not break the cycle of fire . Moreover , some other faults , such as feeding and ejection are substantially eliminated with an external source of energy . It must however be noted that there are weapons of the Gatling system whose energy source is the very ammunition . The Gatling gun faster today , the Russian GSh - 6 - 23 Capable of a rate of 10 , 000 tpm , uses a system of action on gas