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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsQuestion for DU military historians
Dana Loesch said that automatic rifles existed at the time of the Revolutionary War. Was she correct ?
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)1700's they didn't even have "bullets"....
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)raw gun powder and packing....anything remotely resembling an automatic weapon would be like the gattling gun which didn't happen until almost 100 years after the revolutionary war. Not only is she batshit crazy but as stupid as a rock
oneshooter
(8,614 posts)beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)the gattling gun was mass produced and had limited use
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Yeah, I think this kid - even if he could lug one of those around - wouldn't have gotten very far.
Shrek
(3,981 posts)oneshooter
(8,614 posts)oneshooter
(8,614 posts)NutmegYankee
(16,199 posts)The fit between the barrel and lead ball was very tight, making them slow to reload, but they were superior hunting weapons.
Military guns were usually muskets, smoothbore, because they could be reloaded and fired 3 times a minute. Rifles were used in the revolution as sniper weapons to pick off British officers.
njhoneybadger
(3,910 posts)malthaussen
(17,204 posts)Hell, *revolvers* didn't exist at that time. She's either lying outright, or talking about some obscure weapon that she is misrepresenting.
Put it this way: Ben Franklin proposed using longbows and arrows for the Continental army because the rate of fire was faster than a rifle or musket. He didn't factor in the point that it takes years of training to make a good longbowman, but any idiot can shoot a musket.
I wish there were some way to make idiots like this show their sources.
-- Mal
KG
(28,751 posts)just another gun-nut fantasy.
atreides1
(16,079 posts)The Puckle gun was a crew served weapon that could fire 9 rounds per minute, more like a M-60 or even an M-249 SAW.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)There were some very unusual and finicky weapons capable of a low rate of repeat fire.
One of them which is often trotted out is the Girandoni air rifle, which was not even a firearm.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girandoni_air_rifle
Its major claim to fame, being nigh unto useless as a military weapon, is that Lewis & Clark had one in order to be able to shoot critters to eat in the event they ran into gunpowder problems.
It launched balls much like a paintgun:
This gravity operated design was such that the rifle had to be pointed upwards in order to drop each ball into the breech block. Unlike its contemporary, muzzle-loading muskets, which required the rifleman to stand up to reload with powder and ball, the shooter could reload a ball from the magazine by holding the rifle vertically while lying on his back and operating the ball delivery mechanism. The rifleman then could roll back into position to fire, allowing the rifleman to keep a "low profile".
...and it worked like a pump BB gun to "reload":
The air reservoir was in the club-shaped butt. With a full air reservoir, the Girandoni air rifle had the capacity to shoot 30 shots at useful pressure. These balls were effective to approximately 125 yd (114 m) on a full air reservoir.
Okay, so, yeah, you got some guy rolling around on the ground who is going to take out a bunch of people in a mass shooting. Not.
Then, they trot out the "puckle gun":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puckle_gun
The rate of fire of this flintlock revolver was 9 shots per minute.
None of these weapons were common household items.
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)more of a concept
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)grantcart
(53,061 posts)LexVegas
(6,067 posts)hack89
(39,171 posts)Some quasi-semiautos were around but not in widespread use.
DetroitLegalBeagle
(1,924 posts)There were some crude semi autos and hand cranked gatling type guns in existence. There were also multi-barreled volley guns, but those were mounted and for fortification defense.
Marengo
(3,477 posts)During the Austro-Turkish War of 1787-1791. Well-liked and regarded as effective by those troops that used it, the design was too advanced for the technology of the era to keep in working order for long. They were surplused out of the Austrian army, and its a possibility the Lewis & Clark air rifle may have been one of these.