A non-machine gun "machine gun"...

[SDC]

Here's an oddball that I'd never even heard of until recently; during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5, the Russians had no machine guns, but faced the Japanese who did. During the Siege of Port Arthur (in modern-day China, near the border with North Korea), a Captain Shemetillo came up with this weird thing, necessity being the mother of invention. A system of rods lets the bolts of all 5 rifles (Mosin-Nagants) be operated and fired simultaneously, while the "gunner" aims using the sights on the middle rifle. It's amazing what sort of work circumstances can produce

 

[Chipperman]

Interesting. You don't have any other pics do you?
I'd like to get an idea of how all of the bolts are operated simultaneously. The triggers would be simple enough.

 

[SDC]

No, sorry; I found this one on a tourism site for Vladivostok (covering a museum on the Russians' "Pacific Fleet" there), and it looked so odd I had to try to find some more info on it.

 

[BobbyT]

Makes me think of individual throttle body setups on an I6.

 

[vintagemc313]

Very interesting!! What's the story of the board with nails in the background? I've stepped on many like that in the past.

 

[publius]

Cool.

 

[SDC]

Very interesting!! What's the story of the board with nails in the background? I've stepped on many like that in the past.

The original caption didn't mention it, but I'd have to think it was part of the original fortifications at Port Arthur.

 

[seanie]

That thing is awesome. It reminds me of the 10/22 gatling guns, but cooler.

 

[armoredman]

How bizzare. A beaten zone weapon.

 

[Willie Lowman]

I bet it takes a strong arm to cock 5 Mosin bolts at once.

 

[royke]

I don't believe that those are Mosin Nagant Rifles....Mosin had completely straight stock behind triggerguard and rear sight is wrong as well...... These might be Steyr rifle......

 

[SDC]

You may be right, Royke; it's hard to see the details of the receiver, but they might even be captured Arisakas.

 

[fal308]

I imagine it's a twist linkage setup. Twist a rod (like motorcycle throttle only inline) to open the bolt and pull the linkage rod back to cycle the bolt.