The Gatling Gun: 19th Century Machine Gun to 21st Century Vulcan

by Joseph Berk

Book Overview

Here is the first complete 130-year history of what is a truly remarkable and timeless weapon. Author Joseph Berk traces the glorious career of this multi-barreled, high-rate-of-fire gun from its... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0873646444
• ISBN13: 9780873646444
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Paladin Press
• Length: 129 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.6" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

Historical Information on the Gatling Gun

When I was looking for a book on gatling guns, vulkans, and miniguns, I was probably looking for something that I was unlikely to find -- a book that described exactly how these types of weapons work. This book isn't that, although there are diagrams (mostly of old Gatling Guns) demonstrating how a mechanical firing mechanism works with multiple revolving barrels. This book is primarily a historical survey of multi-barrelled guns from the earliest Gatlings to modern Vulkans. It traces different guns built on the Gatling design, follows their evolution and describes the various improvements as the guns were replaced over time. There are details on tripod-mounted weapons, ship-mounted guns, aircraft-mounted vulkans, and various tanks with Gatling and Vulkan turrets. The writing is clear and easy to read, and there are numerous photographs to show the reader what is being discussed. I would guess that this book would be fun reading for a gun enthusiast, or a person interested in war history. As far as I know, it's the only book on the subject. Miniguns are not discussed at all.

Great choice for Gatling enthusiasts!

Nice layout and good supply of information. A little brief in some areas, but overall very interesting and well-written. Good illustrations and detailed charts. An interesting read for the Gatling gun lovers out there! I you ever wondered how it works, this is the book you need!!

How it works, how it was invented, how it evolved.

A fairly concise yet complete review of the many variants of the famous Gatling gun. Here are traced its roots from the invention of Richard Gatling, its priciples of working, its evolution into the 20mm Vulcan and all the subsequent evolution thereon. Also included are a description of the 30mm GAU-8A Avenger cannon, mounted on the Thunderbolt tank-buster aircraft, the Phalanx Close-in Weapon System for ship protection, Vulcan Air defense System, pod mounted Gatling guns and a history of the development of the Gunship Aircraft. Probably the only book in commerce to treat every facet of these related but very specialistic topic. Very worth the price if you are curious about this fearsome weapon system.