MACHINE GUNS

Introduction
To understand how machine guns work, it helps to know something about
firearms in general. Almost any gun is based on one simple concept: You
apply explosive pressure behind a projectile to launch it down a barrel. The
earliest, and simplest, application of this idea is the cannon.
A cannon is just a metal tube with a closed end and an open end. The
closed end has a small fuse hole. To load the cannon, gunpowder (a mixture
of charcoal, sulphur and potassium nitrate) is poured in, and then a
cannonball is dropped in. The gunpowder and cannonball sit in the breech,
the rear part of bore, which is the open space in the cannon. To prepare the
gun for a shot, a fuse (a length of flammable material) is run through the
hole, so it reaches down to the gunpowder. To fire the cannon, light the fuse.
The flame travels along the fuse, and finally reaches the gunpowder.
When gunpowder is ignited, it burns rapidly, producing a lot of hot
gas in the process. The hot gas applies much greater pressure on the powder
side of the cannonball than the air in the atmosphere applies on the other
side. This propels the cannonball out of the gun at high speed.
The first handheld guns were essentially miniature cannons; first load
some gunpowder, a steel ball and lit a fuse. Eventually, this technology gave
way to trigger-activated weapons, such as the flint-lock gun and the
percussion cap.
Flintlock guns ignited gunpowder by producing a tiny spark, while
percussion caps used mercuric fulminate, an explosive compound you could
ignite with a sharp blow. To load a percussion cap gun, you poured
gunpowder into the breech, stuffed the projectile in on top of it, and placed a
mercuric fulminate cap on top of a small nipple. To fire the gun, you cocked
a hammer all the way back, and pulled the gun's trigger. The trigger
released the hammer, which swung forward onto the explosive cap. The cap
ignited, shooting a small flame down a tube to the gunpowder. The
gunpowder exploded, launching the projectile out of the barrel.
The next major innovation in the history of firearms was the bullet
cartridge. Simply put, cartridges are a combination of a projectile (the

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bullet), a propellant (gunpowder, for example) and a primer (the explosive

cap), all contained in one metal package.

Fig : 2
Needless to say, cartridges were a phenomenal success. In fact, they
form the basis for most modern firearms. In the next section, we'll see how
these sorts of weapons work.
THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS
AUTOMATION
In the last section, we saw that a cartridge consists of a primer, a
propellant and a projectile, all in one metal package. This simple device is
the foundation of most modern firearms. To see how this works, let's look at
a standard double-action revolver.

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Fig : 3
This gun has a revolving cylinder, with six breeches for six cartridges.
When you pull the trigger on a revolver, several things happen:
1. Initially, the trigger lever pushes the hammer backward.
As it moves backward, the hammer compresses a metal spring
in the gun stock (the handle).
At the same time, the trigger rotates the cylinder so the next
breech chamber is positioned in front of the gun barrel.
2. When you pull the trigger all the way back, the lever releases the
hammer.
3. The compressed spring drives the hammer forward.
4. The hammer slams into the primer at the back of the cartridge,
igniting the primer.
5. The primer sets off the propellent.

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6. The exploding propellent drives the bullet out of the gun at high
speed.
The inside of the barrel has a spiral groove cut into it, which serves to
spin the bullet as it exits the gun. This give the bullet better stability as it
flies through the air, increasing accuracy.
When the propellant explodes, the cartridge case expands. The case
temporarily seals the breech, so all the expanding gas pushes forward rather
than backward.
Obviously, this sort of gun is easier to use than a flintlock or a
percussion cap weapon. We can load six shots at a time, and we only have to
pull the trigger to fire. Still there are limitations. We have to pull the trigger
for every shot, and we need to reload after six shots. We also have to eject
the empty shells from the cylinders manually.
In the 1800s, gun manufacturers worked up a number of mechanisms
to address these problems. A lot of these early machine guns combined
several barrels and firing hammers into a single unit. Among the most
popular designs was the Gatling gun, named after its inventor Richard
Jordan Gatling. You can see how this weapon works in the diagram below.

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Fig : 4
This weapon, the first machine gun to gain widespread popularity,
consists of six to 10 gun barrels positioned in a cylinder. Each barrel has its
own breech and firing pin system. To operate the gun, a crank is to be
turned, which revolves the barrels inside the cylinder. Each barrel passes
under an ammunition hopper, or carrousel magazine, as it reaches the top
of the cylinder. A new cartridge falls into the breech, and the barrel is loaded.
Each firing pin has a small cam head that catches hold of a slanted
groove in the gun body. As each barrel revolves around the cylinder, the
groove pulls the pin backward, pushing in on a tight spring. Just after a new
cartridge is loaded into the breech, the firing-pin cam slides out of the
groove, and the spring propels it forward. The pin hits the cartridge, firing
the bullet down the barrel. When each barrel revolves around to the bottom
of the cylinder, the spent cartridge shell falls out of an ejection port.

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The Gatling gun played an important role in several 19th century

battles, but it wasn't until the early 20th century that the machine gun really
established itself. In the next section, we'll look at the next major step in
machine gun evolution.
FULLY AUTOMATIC
The Gatling gun is often considered a machine gun because it shoots a
large number of bullets in a short amount of time. But unlike modern
machine guns, it is not fully automatic. You have to keep cranking if you
want to keep shooting. The first fully automatic machine gun is credited to
an American named Hiram Maxim. Maxim's remarkable gun could shoot
more than 500 rounds per minute, giving it the firepower of about 100 rifles.
The basic idea behind Maxim's gun, as well as the hundreds of
machine gun designs that followed, was to use the power of the cartridge
explosion to reload and re-cock the gun after each shot. There are three basic
mechanisms for harnessing this power:
Recoil systems
Blowback systems
Gas mechanisms
The first automatic machine guns had a recoil-based system. In
nature, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This principle is
responsible for the recoil effect in guns. When you propel a bullet down the
barrel, the forward force of the bullet has an opposite force that pushes the
gun backward.
In a gun built like a revolver, this recoil force just pushes the gun back
at the shooter. But in a recoil-based machine gun, moving mechanisms
inside the gun absorb some of this recoil force.
Here's the process: To prepare this gun to fire, you pull the breech
bolt (1) back, so it pushes in the rear spring (2). The trigger sear (3)
catches onto the bolt and holds it in place. The feed system runs an

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ammunition belt through the gun, loading a cartridge into the breech (more
on this later). When you pull the trigger, it releases the bolt, and the spring
drives the bolt forward. The bolt pushes the cartridge from the breech into
the chamber. The impact of the bolt firing pin on the cartridge ignites the
primer, which explodes the propellant, which drives the bullet down the
barrel. Refer Fig : 5.
The barrel and the bolt have a locking mechanism that fastens them
together on impact. In this gun, both the bolt and the barrel can move freely
in the gun housing. The force of the moving bullet applies an opposite force
on the barrel, pushing it and the bolt backward. As the bolt and barrel slide
backward, they move past a metal piece that unlocks them. When the pieces
separate, the barrel spring (4) pushes the barrel forward, while the bolt keeps
moving backward.
The bolt is connected to an extractor, which removes the spent shell
from the barrel. There are a number of extractor systems in modern guns, but
the basic idea in all of them is fairly simple. In a typical system, the
extractor has a small lip that grips onto a narrow rim at the base of the shell.
As the bolt recoils, the extractor slides with it, pulling the empty shell
backward.

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Fig : 5
The backward motion of the bolt also activates the ejection system.
The ejector's job is to remove the spent shell from the extractor and drive it
out of an ejection port.
When the spent shell is extracted, the feeding system can load a new
cartridge into the breech. If trigger is kept depressed, the rear spring will
drive the bolt against the new cartridge, starting the whole cycle over again.
If the trigger is released, the sear will catch hold of the bolt and keep it from
swinging forward.
In the next section, we'll look at the other main machine gun
mechanisms: the blowback and gas systems.

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BLOWBACK AND GAS SYSTEMS

A blowback system is something like a recoil system, except the
barrel is fixed in the gun housing and the barrel and bolt do not lock
together.
This gun has a sliding bolt (3) held in place by a spring, a spring-driven
cartridge magazine (5), and a trigger mechanism (1). When we slide the
bolt back, the trigger sear (2) holds it in place. When the trigger is pulled,
the sear releases the bolt, and the spring drives it forward. After the bolt
chambers the cartridge, the firing pin sets off the primer, which ignites
the propellant. Refer Fig : 6.

Fig : 6

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The explosive gas from the cartridge drives the bullet down the barrel.
At the same time, the gas pressure pushes in the opposite direction, forcing
the bolt backward. As in the recoil system, an extractor pulls the shell out of
the barrel, and the ejector forces it out of the gun. A new cartridge lines up in
front of the bolt just before the spring pushes the bolt forward, starting the
process all over again. This continues as long as the trigger is held down and
there is ammunition feeding into the system.
The gas system is similar to the blowback system, but it has some
additional parts. The main addition is a narrow piston, attached to the bolt,
that slides back and forth in a cylinder positioned above the gun barrel.
Refer Fig : 7.
This gun is basically the same as a blowback-system gun, but the rear
force of the explosion doesn't propel the bolt backward. Instead, the
forward gas pressure pushes the bolt back. When the bolt swings forward
to fire a cartridge, it locks onto the barrel. Once the bullet makes its way
down the barrel, the expanding gasses can bleed off into the cylinder above
the barrel. This gas pressure pushes the piston backward, moving it along the
bottom of the bolt. The sliding piston first unlocks the bolt from the barrel,
and then pushes the bolt back so a new cartridge can enter the breech.
These diagrams only depict particular examples of how these systems
work. There are hundreds of machine gun models in existence, each with its
own specific firing mechanism.
These guns differ in a number of other
ways as well. In the next section, we'll look at some of the key differences
between various machine gun models.

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Fig : 7
AUTO BULLET FEED
One of the main differences between different machine gun models is
the loading mechanism. One popular system is the spring-operated
magazine. In this system, a spring pushes cartridges in a magazine casing up
into the breech. The main advantages of this mechanism are that it is
reliable, lightweight and easy to use. The main disadvantage is that it can
only hold a relatively small amount of ammunition.
A similar system is the ammunition hopper, such as the one used in a
Gatling gun. Hoppers are just metal boxes that fit on top of the machine gun
mechanism. One by one, the cartridges fall out of the hopper and into the
breech. Hoppers can hold a good amount of ammunition, and they're easy to

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reload, but they are fairly cumbersome and only work if the gun is
positioned right side up.
For sheer volume of ammunition, the belt system is usually the best
option. Ammunition belts consist of a long string of cartridges fastened
together with pieces of canvas or, more often, attached by small metal links.
Guns that use this sort of ammo have a feed mechanism driven by the recoil
motion of the bolt. You can see how this sort of mechanism works in the
diagram below.
The bolt (1) in this gun has a small cam roller (5) on top of it. As the
bolt moves, the cam roller slides back and forth in a long, grooved feed cam
piece (2). When the cam roller slides forward, it pushes the feed cam to the
right against a return spring (6). When the cam roller slides backward, the
spring pushes the cam back to the left. As it moves, the feed cam pivots a
feed cam lever from side to side. The feed cam lever is attached to a springloaded pawl (8), a curved gripper that rests on top of the ammunition belt.
As the cam and lever move, the pawl moves out, grabs onto a cartridge and
pulls the belt through the gun. When the bolt moves forward, it pushes the
next cartridge into the chamber. Refer Fig : 8.
The feed system drives the ammunition belt through cartridge guides
(2) just above the breech. As the bolt slides forward, the top of it pushes on
the next cartridge in line. This drives the cartridge out of the belt, against the
chambering ramp (3). The chambering ramp forces the cartridge down in
front of the bolt. The bolt has a small extractor, which grips the base of the
cartridge shell when the cartridge slides into place. As the cartridge slides in
front of the bolt, it depresses the spring-loaded ejector (6). Refer Fig : 9.

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Fig : 8
When the firing pin hits the primer, propelling the bullet down the
barrel, the explosive force drives the operating rod and attached bolt
backward. The extractor pulls the spent shell out of the breech. As the bolt
keeps moving backward, the spring-loaded ejector pushes on the base of the
shell. When the shell clears the chamber wall, the ejector springs forward,
popping the shell out of the gun through the ejection port.
This system lets the user fire continuously without reloading.
Theoretically, we could make ammunition belts of any length, so they are a
great means of providing a constant supply of ammunition. The problem is
that the belt is fairly cumbersome, and there's a relatively high likelihood of
the feed mechanism jamming.

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Heavy belt-fed machine guns, usually mounted on a tripod or a

vehicle, may need more than one operator. Individual troops usually carry
light weapons, with extendible bipods or tripods for stability. Smaller
automatic guns that use cartridge magazines are classified as automatic
rifles, assault rifles or submachine guns. In a general sense, the term
"machine gun" describes all automatic weapons, including these smaller
weapons, but it also used to describe heavy belt-fed guns specifically.

Fig : 9
CONCLUSION
Gun manufacturers are continually adding new modifications to
machine guns, but the basic mechanism has remained the same for more
than a hundred years. Whether or not we have ever held a machine gun, or

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even seen one, this device has had a profound effect on our life. Machine
guns have had a hand in dissolving nations, repressing revolutions,
overthrowing governments and ending war.

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