GATLING GUN: Though he graduated from Ohio Medical College in
1850 with an MD, Richard Jordan Gatling was an inventor at heart, so he
never practiced medicine. In fact, he was elected as the first president
of the American Association of Inventors and Manufacturers. Two of his
inventions helped transform agriculture in America: one mechanically
sowed rice; the other, aided in the planting wheat; but he is mostremembered
for inventing the rapid-fire, spring-loaded, hand-cranked
Gatling Gun which some consider to be the first successful machine
gun. The basic gun had six barrels revolving around a central shaft, with
each barrel firing one shot per revolution. Turning the crank rotated the
shaft. It was used by Union forces during the Civil War. Forbes magazine
listed the Gatling Gun featured in Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey
Wales as one of the five most iconic movie guns of all time.
MAXIM: How do you know when a firearm is beyond successful?
When both sides in a conflict use it. Such is the case with the Maxim,
designed in 1883 by Sir Hiram Maxim, an American inventor who
moved to Europe. His most successful invention was a recoil-operated
machine gun that didn't need to be cranked by hand, an action required
by operators of the Gatling gun. Instead, the force of the recoil ejects
the spent cartridge and loads a fresh one. The Maxim was so effective
and reliable that both sides used it during World War I. In addition
to that endorsement, the Maxim remained in service into the 1960s.
The United States Army tested the Model 1889 and the Model 1900.
The gun was officially adopted in 1904 and designated as the Maxim
Machine Gun, Caliber .30, Model of 1904. It was the Army’s first riflecaliber,
heavy machine gun.
AR-10: During World War II, Eugene Morrison Stoner joined the
Marines and enlisted for Aviation Ordnance. Little wonder, then, that
firearms became a part of his life. In 1945, he worked in the machine
shop of an aircraft equipment company, eventually becoming a design
engineer. In 1954, he became chief engineer for ArmaLite, a small
engineering firm for which Stoner designed a series of prototype small
arms. The following year, he finished up the initial design of the AR-10,
a lightweight infantry rifle that was submitted for evaluation by the US
Army which was testing a number of rifles to replace the aging M1
Garand. ArmaLite's AR-10 entered the competition with two handbuilt
prototypes. Though it garnered some favorable comments for its
light weight, it did not survive one of the torture tests. Though fewer
than 10,000 of the rifles were ultimately assembled, the AR-10 design,
re-scaled and modified in 1957 to accommodate the .223 Remington
cartridge, was given the designation ArmaLite AR-15. Colt Firearms
acquired ArmaLite’s rights to the AR-10 and AR-15 in 1959.
M16: There’s an old English proverb that goes like this: “From Little
Acorns Do Mighty Oaks Grow.” That saying could be used to portray the
relationship between the ArmaLite AR-15 and the M16, which became
the longest continuously serving rifle in American military history. More
than just a firearm, the M16 became a modular weapon-system in
which various components could be reconfigured to support different
features, though the original M16 rifle was essentially an automatic rifle
with a 20-round magazine. It entered service in 1964, was deployed
for jungle warfare operations during the Vietnam War, and ultimately
replaced the M14. The M16A1 brought a number of improvements,
including a bolt-assist, chrome-plated bore and a 30-round magazine.
Total production of the M16 is in the neighborhood of 8 million. Though
it’s since been generally replaced by the shorter and lighter M4 Carbine,
the M16 is widely used by other militaries around the world.
M4: The United States military officially accepted the M4 carbine into
service in 1994. It weighed 7.3 pounds with a 30-round magazine.
The rifle is a shorter and lighter version of the M16A2 and replaced
the M16 rifle in Army and Marine Corps combat units as their primary
infantry rifle. Because of its lighter weight, compact size, telescoping
buttstock, and effectiveness in close-quarter situations, it has also
replaced most submachine guns and selected handguns. The M4 also
features semi-automatic and three-round burst firing modes and is
capable of mounting the M203 and M320 grenade launchers. As a mark
of its versatility, the M4 can be fitted with night-vision devices, flash
suppressors, laser pointers, telescopic sights, and bi-pods. In a 2006
survey of Army combat veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan,
89 percent felt their M4 carbine was reliable in combat and 80 percent
expressed confidence in their weapon.
In an article for Army Times, Todd South, a Marine veteran of the Iraq
War, has written that, “Over the next five years, the Army plans to buy
a mix of more than 120,000 new light machine guns and rifles, built
around new ammunition, to replace both the M4 carbine and M249
Squad Automatic Weapon for select soldiers.”
South also wrote that three contractors “are expected to deliver 38
prototype rifles and 28 prototype automatic rifles along with 660,000
rounds of ammunition for testing and soldier evaluations next year,
according to budget documents.”
Those contractors are Sig Sauer, General Dynamics-OTS and Textron
Systems; the Army is reportedly expected to announce a winner by
late 2021. In many ways, the company chosen will owe some measure
of its success to Martin Meylin and his little gun shop in in Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania.
Jim Lamb is a retired journalist. He served in Vietnam with the United
States Navy and later went to college on the GI Bill.
70 The TRUMP RALLY Publication