Gast Gun
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The Gast gun was a German twin barrelled machine gun that was developed by Karl Gast of Vorwerk und Companie of
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and used during the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Its unique operating system produced a very high rate of fire of 1,600 rounds per minute. The same principle was later used as the basis for the widely used Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23L series of Russian aircraft autocannon.


Description

The weapon combines two barrels into a single mechanism so that the recoil from firing one barrel loads and charges the second. Ammunition feeds into the gun from two vertically mounted cylindrical drums, one on each side. The drums held 180 rounds of German 7.92 mm rifle ammunition, feeding them into the breech using a compressed spring. An experienced gunner could change ammunition drums in a few seconds. The weapon could fire single shots if one side of the mechanism had a problem. The gun's relative lightness at approximately without ammunition led to its airborne use; a
telescopic sight A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a ''reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate p ...
was mounted between the two barrels. Its simple design eased maintenance and enabled it to be field stripped in one minute.


History

In January 1915, Karl Gast invented the gun, which would become known as the ''Gast Maschinengewehr Modell 1917'', while working for the Vorwerk company, the first weapon was produced in January 1916. Gast took out patents on 21 January 1916 and 13 February 1917, describing his weapon as "a double-barreled machine gun with recoiling barrels".Woodman, p. 137 Rates of fire of 1,600 rounds per minute were achieved during trials. In August 1917, Gast's demonstration so impressed ordnance experts that a production order for 3,000 guns, along with spare parts and ten ammunition drums for each gun, was awarded to Vorwerk und CompanieWoodman, p. 138 at a unit price of 6,800 marks each. Delivery of the first 100 guns was promised for 1 June 1918, with production increasing to 500 guns per month by September 1918. Production of the weapon exceeded these initial projections, and the weapons were favorably received with promises of an order for a further 6,000 guns being made in September 1918. A version of the gun in 13 mm ( 13.2×92mmSR), the Gast-Flieger MG, was also under development, which used the same ammunition as the Maxim MG TuF and had two, curved, box magazines. The gun was rarely used in service, and its existence was kept secret until three years after the
Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...
; in 1921 the Allied Control Commission finally became aware of the Gast gun when a cache of 25 of the guns, ammunition, and designs was found near
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. Gast himself had applied for a US patent in 1920, which was issued in 1923. A Gast gun was evaluated by the
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and found to be reliable and mechanically practical. However it was not felt to offer a sufficient advantage over existing machine guns to justify the expense of producing the weapon. Years later the Gast design was copied by Soviet engineers seeking to improve firing rates of their aircraft
autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a automatic firearm, fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary ammunition, incendiary shell (projectile), shells, ...
without resorting to the
Gatling gun The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling of North Carolina. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon. The Gatling gun's operatio ...
concept or powered
revolver cannon A revolver cannon is a type of autocannon, commonly used as an aircraft gun. It uses a cylinder with multiple chambers, similar to those of a revolver handgun, to speed up the loading-firing-ejection cycle. Some examples are also power-driven, ...
. Previous efforts either had relatively poor rates of fire, or used gas operated revolvers, neither of which proved entirely satisfactory. The Gast concept was adopted for the Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23, which quickly replaced many previous designs. It was also used in the larger 30 mm version, the Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-2.


Citations


General references

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gast Gun 7.92×57mm Mauser machine guns Multi-barrel machine guns