Modern Gatling

J

johnwilliamson062

Moderator
Does anyone manufacture a modern center-fire "gatling gun"? Modern materials and design, but using a crank to actuate firing at a high rate? Not necessarily multi-barrel, but with a closed bolt single barrel would cause issues. Maybe something closer to a Bira.It just seems to me like there would be a huge market.

Some sort of XM124 conversion?
 
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uuuuuummmmm there was a device for some time...that you attached..to your trigger guard..of any semi-auto rifle...and you turned a crank and a cam would trip the trigger...worked bout as fast as you could wind it....but seemed rather pointless...other than to burn up ammo


a quick google...shows the "BMF Activator"...at Cabelas....19.95...
 
I remember adds being run back in the 70's for actul Gatling guns similar to the original's . They were very expensive . Seems like there were some for .22lr also . The kits that mount 2 Mini 14's or 10/22's are still available . I have no idea as to reliability of any of these .
 
There are three listed on gun broker right now. Two shoot 45-70 and one 45 Colt but dig deep cuz the minimum will be seven grand....
 
Colt offers Gatling guns in .45-70. Wood tripod or carriage with wheels. Expensive no doubt but they're new. In their on-line catalog, they're under special editions.
 
I am aware of several reproduction true Gatling gun manufacturers. The colt is mostly brass and iron. The gun and carriage supposedly weigh half a ton together. That isn't what I am talking about. A Dillon Aero gun is titanium and the crew served model weighs in at less than 75 pounds. That is without ammo and power source of course.

I was thinking more like a GE mini-gun operated with a crank. Something in 556, X39, 308, or even 50 BMG. The electric motor looks to be a 1/2 horepower at most generating 3-4,000 RPM. A handcrank should be ably to achieve 10000-1500 RPM for bursts without much strain on the operator.

I'm not interested in buying one, more looking at pictures or video of one.
I find it very surprising, given what some of the NFA items are selling for, there is no market for such a thing. I believe The Dillon Aero minigun runs in the $25K neighborhood new. I would expect a crank version to be similarly priced.

You know, just replace this with a crank. I am sure there is a little more to it, but it can't be that difficult. Could someone with an SOT buy an out of commission minigun and work on a conversion? New "receiver" would be necessary of course.

I didn't realize there were kits to link multiple Minis together. The problem with the conversion kits, generally speaking, is they don't handle the heat well, especially since they are closed bolt. Even between bursts they cool much slower than an open bolt gun. Multiple barrels helps a lot.
 
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True Gatling guns get exempted from most regulations because #1 they are manually operated (each set amount of crank movement is equal to pulling the trigger once -firing a single round, and therefore not full auto) and #2, because they are historical antiques, or copies/reproductions.

A mini gun, designed from the start for motor operation, converted to use a crank might not get the same pass from the ATF folks.

It should, but the Fed has a long history of interpreting and enforcing their regulations in ways that seem to defy logic, at least to me.

Quite possibly they might consider a "de-motorized" mini gun as "readily convertible" and have issues with it because of that.
 
Crank Double Carbine Kit - I can't find an M1 kit from them anywhere else although there is alot of talk about their 10/22 kit. This may be a case of seller ignorance.
Double AK Crank Conversion - A one off home product. I wasn't able to locate video.

because they are historical antiques, or copies/reproductions
Click to expand...
Although I would agree there was probably an ATFE meeting at some point where several agents were trying to figure out what to do with Gatling guns and one of them probably said "The design is ancient. No one robs a bank with a 45-70 anyways," I don't think the age of the design or any similar trait that makes a historical replica of the Gatling guns unlikely to be used in crime has ever been cited in a ruling or ATFE opinion on the matter. There are a number of one-offs, commercial .22s, and the rotary trigger kits that have all been accepted.

Readily convertible might be problem, but almost evert rotary system is readily convertible using a belt to drive the crank. Faster and easier then messing with direct drive gear and getting it all bolted down and positioned correctly.

If I were to make one, I would link it to bike pedals with a clutch to fire. Another clutch for elevation and to traverse. Just keep pedaling. On a segway base.
 
I've found some very interesting gas operated russian "Gatling style" guns. Might be much simpler to build, especially with a direct impingement operation like the AR. Gas from one gun cycles the adjacent gun as I understand it. Not sure how that works into a closed bolt crank fired design, but I am thinking about it.
 
While I am not privy to the inner councils of the ATF, I believe that Gatling guns and reproductions are considered Curios & relics (if this is incorrect please enlighten me). The age of the design, plays a part in which niche the Fed puts them in.

Later designed guns, often called "gatling guns" because they also use multiple rotating barrels could well be a different matter.
 
I would expect later designs such as the ones used by the military today to be essentially the same design as the originals, only in different calibers and with an external power source. They really aren't automatic weapons.

There were other early crank-operated designs, too, but I guess you'd say they were dead-ends, design-wise. The design feature that makes a modern Gatling attractive is the multiple barrels and, really, nothing else except perhaps for the high rate of fire. In WWII the same feature was achieved with multiple mountings of guns, such as four Maxim or Vickers on a single mount.

The only real-life Gatling I've seen outside of a museum was in .38 special, if I remember correctly. It was at Clark Brothers near Warrenton, Virginia, several years ago.
 
The key questions on all these "Why don't they make?" is who's your market and how much will they sell, how many do you need to sell to make a go of it?.

Fact is, there would be a tiny market for a modern Gatling type gun and there would be no practical use for one other than as an ammo wasting fun gun.
That pretty much reduces the sales to a boutique item that only a very few well funded people could afford, especially considering the cost of ammo.

All you have to do is take a look around at all the odd-ball guns that have been offered for sale over the years, then take a look at how many were successful and how many of the companies are still in business.

Bottom line is, you have to have a viable market at a price point people can afford.
There just aren't many people who would buy a Gatling type gun.
 
I saw a gas operated auto-ejecting single action revolver once. I can't believe it would be a commercial success. All the same, someone made one. Plenty of people seemed interested in looking at one. I'd be willing to bet someone somewhere would even be willing to drop a suprprising chunk of change to acquire it.

There is also the "Viper" effect. That is, the Dodge Viper was an absolute disaster considering direct financial performance. Indirectly, plenty of people walked on lots to look at them and ended up with other dodge products.

I'm interested in one off pieces or prototypes, but only modern centerfires, and primarily bottleneck rifle or high pressure pistol rounds. Rimfires are much much simpler devices to manufacture.
 
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Several people/companies have tried their hand at manufacturing new Gatlings; I have seen one in .22 LR. But they are very expensive, limited production, and there is just no real market.

FWIW, under a BATFE ruling the Gatling (and any true copy) is not a machinegun because it is manually fired, with a crank. If an electric motor is put on one, it then becomes a machinegun since it "fires automatically".

Back in the late '50's, when GE was displaying their mini-gun at an American Ordnance Assn. convention, I suggested to the salesman that they put a hand crank on it and sell it through the home appliance division. He gave me a very funny look and for some reason they didn't act on my suggestion.

Jim
 
About 15 years ago a hitachi consumer product that had been around for a few decades skyrocketed in popularity. Something that had been relatively obscure with negligible sales started to have significant effects on Hitachi USAs consumer sales in 2002 selling beyond Hitachi's production capacity. The item gained notoriety for a decade until Hitachi refused to brand the item under their name. Stopping production entirely for a year, then begrudgingly agreeing to restart production branded under a third party. The Hitachi "Magic Wand" brought to the attention of the masses in 2002 by Sex and The City.

Neither GE nor Dillon Aero are going to produce civilian crank conversions. Way too much risk in it for them.
 
Greg Clark of Gun Builds will rebuild demilled SG43 Goryunov kits with his "Crank Fire" system. These are Russian heavy machine guns in 7.62x54R.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2eeJ5BZXpE

I've personally always wanted to build a heavy barreled AR 15 on a tripod mount with a gatling trigger and some big anti-aircraft gun style sights on top. Would be a lot of fun with a couple 100 round magazines
 
"Neither GE nor Dillon Aero are going to produce civilian crank conversions. Way too much risk in it for them."

Somehow I didn't expect they would. Besides, mounting the 20mm version on my Corolla might present some space problems. ;)
 
An XM124 would go great on my F150. Plenty of room for ammo.
Even the M134D.

Maybe someone makes a high fire rate paintball gun. That might be more fun and economical. There's always .68 caliber marbles for the zombies.
 
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