- Joined
- Aug 25, 2012
Multi-barrel guns were nothing new at the start of the Civil War. What was new was using magazines to feed them. Battery guns like the Billighurst Requa Battery Gun, with a three man crew, could reach of rate of fire of 175 round/min from its twenty-five heavy .58 caliber rifle barrels. The Billighurst Requa Battery Gun was never officially accepted by the army but it was used at the Siege of Port Hudson, Fort Wagner, Fort Sumter, Battle of Cold Harbor, and the Siege of Petersburg. The main complaint was the gun use ammunition too fast. The army did purchase five more guns in 1866 but new technology soon made this type of gun obsolete.
These battery guns could put out considerable bullets per minute but by Civil War standards were they practical? The army did not see much practical use for them.
These battery guns could put out considerable bullets per minute but by Civil War standards were they practical? The army did not see much practical use for them.