Editing Rate of fire (section)

==Overview==
For manually operated weapons such as [[bolt-action]] rifles or [[artillery]] pieces, the rate of fire is governed primarily by the training of the operator or crew, within some mechanical limitations. Rate of fire may also be affected by [[ergonomic]] factors. For rifles, ease-of-use features such as the design of the bolt or [[Magazine (firearms)|magazine]] release can affect the rate of fire.

For [[artillery]] pieces, a gun on a towed mount can usually achieve a higher rate of fire than the same weapon mounted within the cramped confines of a [[tank]] or [[self-propelled gun]]. This is because the crew operating in the open can move more freely and can stack ammunition where it is most convenient. Inside a vehicle, ammunition storage may not be optimized for fast handling due to other design constraints, and crew movement may be constricted. Artillery rates of fire were increased in the late 19th century by innovations including [[breech-loading]] and [[quick-firing gun]]s.

For automatic weapons such as [[machine gun]]s, the rate of fire is primarily a mechanical property. A high cyclic firing rate is advantageous for use against targets that are exposed to a machine gun for a limited time span, like aircraft or targets that minimize their exposure time by quickly moving from cover to cover. For targets that can be fired on by a machine gun for longer periods than just a few seconds the cyclic firing rate becomes less important.

For a third hybrid class of weapons, common in handguns and rifles, known as a [[semi-automatic firearm]], the rate of fire is primarily governed by the ability of the operator to actively pull the trigger and, for aimed fire, the operator's shot-to-shot recovery time. No other factors significantly contribute to the rate of fire. Generally, a semi-automatic firearm automatically chambers a round using [[blowback (firearms)|blowback]] energy, but does not fire the new round until the trigger is released to a reset point and actively pulled again. A semi-automatic's rate of fire is significantly different from and should not be confused with a [[full-automatic]]'s rate of fire. Many full-automatic [[small arms]] have a [[selective fire]] feature that 'downgrades' them to semi-automatic mode by changing a switch.

Over time, weapons have attained higher rates of fire. A small [[infantry]] unit armed with modern rifles and machine guns can generate more [[firepower]] than much larger units equipped with older weapons. Over the 20th century, this increased firepower was due almost entirely to the higher rate of fire of modern weapons.

An example of increase in rate of fire is the [[Maxim machine gun]] that was developed in 1884 and used until [[World War I]] ended in 1918. Its performance was improved during that time mainly by advances in the field of [[Engine cooling|cooling]].