The M61 Vulcan Can Fire 6,000 Round Per Minute
By
Peter Suciu
Just before the outbreak of the American Civil War, inventor Richard Jordan Gatling designed the world’s first successful rapid-fire weapon. Technically not a “machine gun†in the modern sense, it was spring-loaded and hand-cranked. The forerunner to the weapons that were to come, the Gatling gun’s operation centered on a cyclic multi-barrel design that allowed for its rapid-fire, but also facilitated cooling of the barrels.
The Gatling gun did see some limited use in the Civil War but proved its worth during the Spanish-American War when it was employed to great success in the campaign in Cuba. Declared obsolete in 1911 after 45 years of service with the U.S. military, the concept of multi-barrels was explored again at the end of the Second World War.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/01/the-m61-vulcan-can-fire-6000-round-per-minute/
