Author Topic: RG-G gatling gun (Read 3499 times)

rampa room artillery · « **on:** April 14, 2011, 05:09:32 PM »

anybody here ever built a gatling gun?? i am thinking about buying a kit from RG-G to build a 22. cal. 10 barrel gatling gun. I would love to build a bigger one that can fit on my praire carriage.

any thoughts and ideas??

Double D · « **Reply #1 on:** April 14, 2011, 05:22:51 PM »

I have plans wanna borrow them?

rampa room artillery · « **Reply #2 on:** April 14, 2011, 05:29:59 PM »

i would love to,

rick bryan

Double D · « **Reply #3 on:** April 14, 2011, 06:00:36 PM »

You have to wait until May when I get home

gulfcoastblackpowder · « **Reply #4 on:** April 14, 2011, 07:01:33 PM »

Dom's built one. He mentioned he was intending to develop the design more too, but I don't know if he has yet:
http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,216577.msg1099171693.html#msg1099171693

His Youtube links are messed up, so here they are:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5roYi7RlHc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81-U2CtXP30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYEi6y_0ZrI

KABAR2 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 15, 2011, 06:39:08 AM »

I would call Dom's a Pepperbox on steroids rather than a Gatling gun bing that it is a muzzel loader

armorer77 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 15, 2011, 01:40:37 PM »

Has anyone here actually built one of these ? I bought the prints 15 yrs ago , a bit overwhelmed . I have made bits & pieces but other things seem to take priority . Ed

rampa room artillery · « **Reply #7 on:** April 15, 2011, 02:15:25 PM »

well the good thing is that i have jamie west just down the road who built a 58 cal and 1. inch cal gatling gun so if i run into fitting problems i can go bug him. I would like to build a 22 cal. then scale it up for 45 long colt.

rick bryan

Zulu · « **Reply #8 on:** April 15, 2011, 02:41:25 PM »

Quote from: rampa room artillery on April 15, 2011, 02:15:25 PM

well the good thing is that i have jamie west just down the road who built a 58 cal and 1. inch cal gatling gun so if i run into fitting problems i can go bug him. I would like to build a 22 cal. then scale it up for 45 long colt.

rick bryan

Rick,
Does a .45 cal., long colt, hand cranked, gatling gun fall under different laws than black powder? Do you need a FFL license for that?
Zulu

rampa room artillery · « **Reply #9 on:** April 15, 2011, 02:48:21 PM »

well aas far as i know it is still considered a semi auto rifle. but i would shoot black powder 45 long colt shells anyway.

Double D · « **Reply #10 on:** April 15, 2011, 03:45:14 PM »

It is not even consider a semi auto, it's at best a revolver...

tkthorn · « **Reply #11 on:** April 15, 2011, 05:09:56 PM »

I built one of these and believe me it was a very interesting and very involved project. I put close to a year working on it in whatever spare time I had. I would like to start a full size model. I'm including a pic of it alongside the .22 cal. Browning 1919A4 that I also built.
tkthorn

RocklockI · « **Reply #12 on:** April 15, 2011, 05:22:52 PM »

There is an ad in the Shotgun News every month with differant kits or levels of prebuilt being avalable .

Sorry if this is old news.
Gary

BTW Welcome aboard tkthorn , those are awsome !

a working .22 gatling gun ....hummmmm

willdj79 · « **Reply #13 on:** April 15, 2011, 06:00:11 PM »

Same here as everyone else, bought plans looked at them, stashed them on a shelf in my garage. It reminded me of building a clock. Neat product but just the material package runs $500-$600 last time i looked

I was at a gun show a few years back in Indianapolis IN. and there was a table that had several of these but the price tag was around $8K.

Winger Ed. · « **Reply #14 on:** April 15, 2011, 10:46:19 PM »

Quote from: rampa room artillery on April 14, 2011, 05:09:32 PM

anybody here ever built a gatling gun??

I've wanted to since I was old enough to reads the adds for the plans on them in all the 'Rifleman' & old 'Field And Stream' magazines.
As I recall, back then--- the plan sheets were a (un-affordable) $10.
That was so much money to have in one place/at one time- I thought it was more the the National debt.

Nowdays-
I still want to build one, from 'scratch',,,,,,
but; it'd have to eat original BP loads-- Chambered in .45-70Govt.

I haven't quite built one yet, but they're really cool.
I wish you the best of luck in building one for yourself buddy.

dominick · « **Reply #15 on:** April 16, 2011, 03:17:35 AM »

Rick, This is an exciting project that you can pursue several ways. The simplest is to build the muzzle loader version which is as mentioned, a large pepperbox gun. I have a few different designs on this. It's not extremely time consuming and not mechanically challenging.

Method # 2 is to make a percussion sleeve gun based on the early model Gatling gun.
I attached a Youtube link showing the mechanism in action. It's not much different than the mug style breech loader swivel guns that I've been making. The percussion sleeves are similar to the mugs and are gravity fed. Study the mechanism and you'll see it's also a very simple design and although it's more labor intensive, the plus is you do not need to send a Form 1 application to the BATF to build this. It is a replica of the pre 98 gun that does not fire commercial ammo. It's still a good idea to send a letter to them and double check. Get it in writing. The easiest method to make the percussion sleeves in quantity would be by CNC lathe. They have to be precisely sized to keep the head space consistant from round to round. Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2fJTG2crSE

Method # 3 is to build a 5 barrel Hotchkiss revolving cannon. This is also a mechanically simple device and can be made either a muzzleloader or percussion sleeve loader. Watch the barrel rotating mechanism and the ecentric cam that fires the gun. This eliminates some complexity and the need for a ring and pinion gear. The gun will fire one shot per revolution. I re-designed it to fire two per revolution. Here's a link to this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkOP8Lwdmgg

These are the ones that I am personally interested in. I have simplified these versions even further and have these designs stored in my head.

If you're interested in pursuing a build, let me know if you want some drawings. I can sketch this out for you.

Dom

rampa room artillery · « **Reply #16 on:** April 16, 2011, 11:40:27 AM »

I guess, i will just have to find some money and buy the kit

rampa room artillery · « **Reply #17 on:** April 16, 2011, 02:42:59 PM »

he dom, i would love to see your plans for some of hte gatling guns. I know there is alot of work involved in these guns but i am ready i hope. I have made 25 golf ball mortars. and i havent even made myself anything so i am ready to just put everything aside and make myself something cool. i have big guns in the works. like my full scale mountain howy and my praire limber, and i f i can come up with the money a hern iron works. 8 inch mortar. and a blakley type 10. but they are things that are alittle hard to shoot by myself. so i need a project that I wont want to sell and keep for myself. tho all those mortars have payed for alot of tooling and large drill bits to get me up to 2.5 in bores. I am thinking about a 2 in bore cannon of some kind. i am limited on length of bore with the length of lathe. to 20 inches or so. so i am thinking about a king daniel howy but not sure.

Victor3 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 17, 2011, 07:53:06 PM »

Years ago I took a look at the RG-G plans and figured that very few guys actually made a working gun from them. I'm a fair machinist and could have made one but their design was just to complex for me to want to mess with.

I wanted a 22 gattling-style gun though, so designed and built a much more simple one. It used a modified/extended 1911 mag and 45 ACP shaped chambers loaded with 22 rounds. Chambers fed from the mag, fired and cammed out the opposite side.

dominick · « **Reply #19 on:** April 18, 2011, 03:25:25 AM »

Victor, Does this set up, chamber and extract the round?

rampa room artillery · « **Reply #20 on:** April 18, 2011, 04:54:53 PM »

well i have thought on this project for many days now, and have decided if i am going to spend the many houndred of hours it will take then i am going to just build a full scale 58 cal. model 1862 gatling gun. i am working on getting the prints now. and we will take a look and see about where to start.

rick bryan

Zulu · « **Reply #21 on:** April 18, 2011, 05:56:25 PM »

Quote from: rampa room artillery on April 18, 2011, 04:54:53 PM

well i have thought on this project for many days now, and have decided if i am going to spend the many houndred of hours it will take then i am going to just build a full scale 58 cal. model 1862 gatling gun. i am working on getting the prints now. and we will take a look and see about where to start.

rick bryan

Go big or go home!!!

Zulu

Double D · « **Reply #22 on:** April 18, 2011, 06:34:13 PM »

If you go 45/70 you will simplify some aspects like barrel acquisition, ammo and tooling. I might even be convinced to loan you my reaamer.

rampa room artillery · « **Reply #23 on:** April 19, 2011, 02:51:24 AM »

that right go big or go home,

45-70 ?? how much money do you think i have. I do have to feed this thing when i build it. and 45-70 rounds are not cheap. but i can mold 58 cal rounds for free. and reuse the tubes that that gun takes.

we wil have to se what the prints look like.

rick bryan

Double D · « **Reply #24 on:** April 19, 2011, 03:14:17 AM »

So you are going to make a muzzle loading 58 is that it?

rampa room artillery · « **Reply #25 on:** April 19, 2011, 03:39:00 AM »

no it wil be a true orginal scale breach loading 1862 gatling gun, with the magizine not hte hopper , people have have to much trouble with jaming,

dominick · « **Reply #26 on:** April 19, 2011, 03:48:55 AM »

The later model 45-70 Gatling gun is a gun that chambers and extracts the rounds. The model 1862 has cartridge sleeves that do no chamber nor extract. The sleeves [like the breech mugs in a Peterara swivel] drop in place behind the barrel.

rampa room artillery · « **Reply #27 on:** April 19, 2011, 03:59:49 AM »

SWEET !!! that was one of my biggest questions. that will make the build much easier. No extractor pins. or cam like the new models have.

I cant wait to get my hands on a set of prints and start getting material together.

Victor3 · « **Reply #28 on:** April 19, 2011, 09:53:36 PM »

Quote from: dominick on April 18, 2011, 03:25:25 AM

Victor, Does this set up, chamber and extract the round?

No. The 22 shells were loaded into individual 45 ACP shaped steel chambers which were then loaded into a 1911 mag. The chamber/22 shell unit fed into the gun, fired and ejected with the 22 shell still in the steel chamber.

dominick · « **Reply #29 on:** April 20, 2011, 04:07:30 AM »

Victor, The sleeves for the one I designed use a small caliber pistol primer and black powder with a 36 caliber round ball. I'm not sure if I want make with an open bolt design like a Sten where the firing pin is fixed with the bolt or make the firing pin separate.

The diagram below is a closed bolt design. The top of the bolt is slotted, along with the top of the receiver tube. The firing pin spring retracts the bolt to allow loading and unloading of the percussion sleeves. The rear plate has a ramp that is aligned with the sear that presses the bolt into the sleeve and barrel at the moment of firing.