Weapon Evolution~Machine Guns

Ever since the dawn of industrialization, the armies of the world wanted to invent weapons that can let off multiple projectiles at once, because the more projectiles you let off, you can kill multiple enemies. But how did the machine gun evolve? This is what this page will try to cover.

## The first machine gun

Despite that the Chinese were first into making a weapon that can fire multiple times; the Repeating Crossbow it can not be called a machine gun. One of the first industrialized machine guns came in the mid 19th century; the Gatling Gun.

### Gatling Gun

Created by Richard J. Gatling he also created the bicycle wheel among other things. Initially, he invented this gun to prevent war, the Gatling gun was eventually used during the American Civil War. it was hand cranked, but it let out a lot of bullets at once, much more than a rifle can, this gave a fighting force the power of several armies, especially if the enemy still uses old fashioned tactics such as the charge forward. Despite that it would jam frequently (due to the paper casings that it used) in 1864, 12 Gatling guns were bought and used during the Siege of Petersburg in Virginia. By 1865, Gatling improved the weapon to chamber metallic casings which means it would jam less frequently. Even after the Civil War, the Gatling Gun continued to be used during Americas wars with Native Americans, most notably the Battle of Wounded Knee and would also be used during the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War. But as machine guns continue to evolve, there was another guy who invented the "true" machine gun.

### Maxim Gun

Created by British inventor; Hiram Maxim this is the world's first "true" machine gun as it uses mechanics to load and fire the gun. It was a water-cooled and can spread its bullets out at a high rate. Wen it was invented in 1884, armies of the world have bought and tried to create their own variation of the weapon. The Japanese were first to use the weapon during the Russo-Japanese War as they invaded Taiwan. Its wide usage began during World War 1 as the armies of the world had their own variation, but it was also the invention of Barbed Wire which made the Maxim Gun so deadly during the war because Barbed Wire can slow own infantry movement, making the soldiers who are trying to cut the wire easy meat for those using the Maxim Gun. This point was made brutally clear during the Battle of the Somme where the British Army would suffer 58,000 casualties on the first day, this is due to the combination of Barbed Wire and Maxim Gun fire, this would be known in Britain as the bloodiest day in the history of the British military. One of the drawbacks of the Maxim Gun is that it wasn't very mobile, although there are some models of the gun that had wheels which made it easier to move around on the battlefield, but it was very difficult, and it also needed a 2 to 3 men crew to operate. Even by World War 1, there were gun manufacturers that tried to make a machine gun that was light enough to be carried by just one soldier. The French were first in making a light machine gun.

### Chauchat

Designed in 1907, this gun was used by the French army during World War 1. It had the power of a rifle, but the portability of a rifle as well, but it fired on automatic. Despite it's problems that some soldiers struggled with the weight of the weapon and its ammunition as well as jamming regularly, the Chauchat went on to have a good service life until it was replaced in 1948. But the portability of a lightweight gun would need lightweight bullets, and it pointed the way ahead.

## Sub-Machine Guns

Pistol Bullets pointed the way ahead for something called Sub-Machine Guns as they also made machine guns lighter and more portable than heavy machine guns.

### MP-40

Designed by Nazi weapon manufacturer Heinrich Vollmer this was the weapon that would set the standard for Sub-machine guns in Europe during World War 2. It uses the 9MM pistol round and it spreads bullets at a very high rate.

### Thompson Machine Gun/Tommy Gun

Created by John Thompson in 1904, the Tommy Gun had an advantage over the MP-40, it used a bigger, heavier .45 ACP bullet (the bullet which the M1911 used) which gives enough power to knock people down. The Tommy Gun also became symbolic to the gangsters of the 1920s and '30s as it was a favorite for gangsters to use (as well as police officers at the time) Its prominent use was during the Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929 when gangsters who were about of Al Capone's circle of gangs killed bootleggers from Capone's competition George "Bugs" Moran the Thompson was used during the massacre as well as some shotguns, and neither of them were police issue.

### Browning Automatic Rifle

However not every gangster used the Tommy Gun, first fielded in 1918 the Browning Automatic Rifle though not a Sub-Machine Gun as it used a rifle bullet which gave it an advantage over the Tommy Gun, it can penetrate through doors on either a building or a car. Clyde Barrow (from the criminal duo, Bonnie and Clyde) used a Browning Automatic Rifle and sawed off the barrel to improve its stopping power.

## Light Machine Guns

In the ever changing world of firearms, there were also the manufacturing of light Machine Guns, like the Nazis' Machinengewehr (MG) series as they have created the MG-34 and it's deadlier upgrade; the MG 42.

### MG-42

The MG-42 is one of the more formidable machine guns ever made, it fires bullets on a belt and has a very high rate of fire, in fact when it fires it doesn't sound like a machine gun, but ripping cloth. Outpacing the machine guns hat were fielded by the Allies and the Soviets. Its most prominent use was during D-Day when several Nazi soldiers used MG-42s to mow down any Allied soldier that was coming to the beach, they continuously fired only to stop to replace the barrel (which warps when hot) or to get more ammo.

## The Return of the Gatling Gun

After World War 2 and during the Cold War, American weapon manufacturers have revived the long dead Gatling Gun, but it was not the Hand Cranked weapon that was used in the past.

This is the GAU-2 which uses the same rotating motion as the old Gatling Gun but instead of a hand crank, it is operated by electricity and has an insanely high rate of fire.

There is another Gatling Gun-like weapon called the Vulcan which fires special bullets, the depleted uranium bullet which is designed to penetrate the armor of most tanks fielded by the Soviets if they were to invade Europe.

## Assault Rifles

In an ever evolving world of firearms, there was a need for something different. By World War 2, weapon manufacturers from both the Allied and Axis sides wanted to combine the firepower of a rifle, the spray of a heavy machine gun, and the portability of a Sub-Machine Gun. The Nazis were first to create such a weapon.

### Sturmgewehr .44

Created by Hugo Schmeisser, it was originally known as the MP-43 but it fired a different bullet, and it was used by several Nazi soldiers in some battles during 1943, though before mass production can begin, it would have to be approved by Hitler who initially banned the weapon, believing that Rifles and Sub-Machine Guns was all his soldiers needed, but when he was presented with one on a tour of the Eastern Front, he had a change of heart and green lit mass production of the weapon and even used it as some kind of propaganda and renames the gun; the Sturmgewehr (Assault rifle). But Schmeisser wasn't done there, after the war he defected to the Soviet Union and met with a former Tank Sargent named Mikhail Kalashnikov and they also came up with a formidable weapon.

### AK-47

Schmeisser and Kalashnikov came up with this weapon; the AK-47 which was made out of stamped parts which also made it easy to make and mass produce, in fact it would go on to have 75 Million copies of the weapon to b made throughout the Cold War, though it's drawbacks is that it doesn't have a high rate of fire compared to other assault rifles and it's not very accurate up to a certain distance (around 380 Yards), but the weapon is incredibly reliable as it can be covered in water, sand, and mud or even beaten on and it'll still fire. There was a story during the Vietnam War where US soldiers came across a dead NLF (National Liberation Front) soldier (derogatorily known in America as the "Viet Cong") and found his AK-47 buried in his own blood and guts, and were surprised that it still fired even with blood all over it. The AK-47 is still used today by Middle Eastern armies and terrorists.

### M-14

During the early parts of the Cold War, America tried to come up with their own assault rifle similar to the AK-47 as well as a way to replace a lot of the guns that were fielded by the US Army as they would have a multitude of rifles and sub-machine guns in one platoon. By the 1950s, the US Army had their hands on an assault rifle, it was called the M-14, it had an effective range of 500 yards, and had a rate of fire of 750 Rounds Per Minute which made it more of a match for the AK-47, it was fielded in Vietnam and only within 2 years, it was withdrawn since it was heavy as was the ammunition it used (the 7.62 MM bullet). Something else was needed, and that is when weapon manufacturer Eugene Stoner of the Armalite company came up with another weapon for use by the US Army.

### M-16

The M-16 is made out of plastic and jet parts which made it almost futuristic for its time, it also used a smaller bullet (5.56MM) and was lighter than the AK. The Armalite Company also said to the US Army command to try to field it in Vietnam to see how they perform and even told them that it was so advance that it would never jam and never needed to be cleaned. But once it was issued to soldiers in Vietnam, it didn't do as advertised as the gun was jamming at an alarming rate, one of the reasons for that is because the casing would rupture inside the chamber and become stuck.

Stoner would then look at the weapon and even made improvements, like a chrome lined chamber to prevent stuck casings and a forward assist button, soon cleaning kits were also issued, even some issues of PS Magazine (Preventive Maintenance Magazine) would teach soldiers on how to field strip and clean their M-16, and soon the M-16 would then make it's mark to be one of the greatest opponents of the AK-47 for the rest and after the Cold War. Weapon manufacturing wasn't finished there. Soon they would make more assault rifles with a sleeker design and with newer features.

### Steyer AUG

The Steyer AUG is a different assault rifle as it what is called a Bullpup design, that means that the gun's receiver and mechanics are in the back of the soldier's hands instead of being in front, which allows for easier handling. It also has a feature where it can eject spent casings on either side. In fact, the AUG has inspired some armies of the world to adopt their own Bullpup rifle, so it could be the future of assault rifles.

That'll do it for this page, don;t forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis as well, until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.