Editing Revolver cannon

{{Short description|Type of autocannon commonly used as an aircraft gun}}
{{distinguish|rotary cannon|Hotchkiss gun#The Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon{{!}}Hotchkiss revolving cannon}}
{{more citations needed|date=August 2010}}
[[File:Mauser BK-27 LKCV.jpg|thumb|Modern [[Mauser BK-27]] aircraft 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, to further speed the loading process. Unlike a [[rotary cannon]], a revolver cannon only has a single barrel, so its spun weight is lower. Automatic revolver cannons have been produced by many different manufacturers.

== History ==

=== Precursors ===
[[File:Autocannon MLG27.jpg|thumb|MLG 27 remote controlled revolver cannon on board an {{sclass|Elbe|replenishment ship|1}} of the [[German Navy]]]]
An early precursor was the [[Puckle gun]] of 1718, a large [[flintlock]] revolver gun, manually operated. The design idea was impractical, far ahead of what 18th century technology could achieve.

During the 19th century, [[Elisha Collier]] and later [[Samuel Colt]] used the revolver action to revolutionize [[handgun]]s.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

William A. Alexander of [[Mobile, Alabama]], invented a Rapid Firing Cannon Gun made from a design by Captain Weingard, both of whom also helped build the submarine {{ship||H.L. Hunley}}. The gun was the prototype for the [[Gatling gun]]. It was made in Mobile and was first used in the defense of the city. When the [[Confederate States of America]] had to evacuate Mobile, the weapon was placed on the ship ''Magnolia'' to be transported for use upriver. [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] forces were closing in on the ship so to prevent its capture, it was pushed overboard into the river. Union forces discovered the gun underwater and recovered it. In 1864 Alexander was called back to Mobile from [[Charleston, South Carolina]], to build one of his Rapid Firing Guns.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

The Confederate States used a single [[Confederate Revolving Cannon|2-inch, 5-shot revolver cannon]] with manually rotated chambers during the [[Siege of Petersburg]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chinn |first=George M. |title=The Machine Gun, History, Evolution and Development of Manual, Automatic and Airborne Repeating Weapons |date=1 January 1951 |publisher=[[Bureau of Ordnance]], Department of the [[United States Navy]] |isbn=9781258052447 |volume=1 |publication-place=Washington, D.C., US |page=46 |oclc=185376830 |author-link=George M. Chinn |via=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]}}</ref> The gun was captured in [[Danville, Virginia]] by Union forces on April 27, 1865.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McFall |first=F. Lawrence Jr. |title=Danville in the Civil War |publisher=H.E. Howard, Inc. |year=2001 |isbn=978-1561901197 |publication-place=Lynchburg, Virginia, US |page=107 |language=en |oclc=48461554}}</ref>

The [[Hotchkiss revolving cannon]] of the late 19th century was not a revolver cannon in the modern sense but was rather a [[rotary cannon]], with multiple barrels allowing for feeding and extraction operations in parallel in different barrels.

In 1905, C. M. Clarke patented<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=794852|status=patent |title=Rapid-fire gun |pubdate=1905-7-18 |gdate=1905-07-18 |fdate=1903-11-28 |pridate=1903-11-28 |invent1=Charles M Clarke |url=http://www.google.com/patents/US794852}}</ref> the first fully automatic, gas-operated rotary chamber gun, but his design was ignored at the time. Clarke's patent came as [[Reciprocating motion|reciprocating]]-action automatic weapons like the [[Maxim gun]] and the [[M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun|Browning gun]] were peaking in popularity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chinn |first=George M. |title=The Machine Gun: Design Analysis of Automatic Firing Mechanisms and Related Components |date=1 January 1955 |publisher=[[Bureau of Ordnance]], Department of the [[United States Navy]] |volume=IV |publication-place=Washington, D.C., US |pages=178–209 |chapter=X, XI |asin=B000JX5F5S |via=[[U.S. Government Printing Office]]}}</ref>

In 1932, the Soviet [[ShKAS machine gun]], 7.62&nbsp;mm caliber aircraft ordnance used a twelve-round capacity, revolver-style feed mechanism with a single barrel and single chamber, to achieve firing rates of well over 1,800 rounds per minute, and as high as 3,000 rounds per minute in special test versions in 1939, all operating from internal [[gas-operated reloading]]. Some 150,000 ShKAS weapons were produced for arming Soviet military aircraft through 1945.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McCollum |first=Ian |date=9 January 2013 |title=Russian ShKAS Aerial Gun |url=https://www.forgottenweapons.com/russian-shkas-aerial-gun/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514235909/https://www.forgottenweapons.com/russian-shkas-aerial-gun/ |archive-date=14 May 2021 |access-date=28 May 2022 |website=[[Forgotten Weapons]] |language=en |publication-place=Tucson, Arizona, US}}</ref>

Around 1935, [[Vyacheslav Ivanovich Silin|Silin]], [[Mikhail Yevgenyevich Berezin|Berezin]] and Morozenko worked on a 6,000 rpm 7.62&nbsp;mm aircraft machine gun using revolver design, called SIBEMAS (СИБЕМАС), but this was abandoned.<ref name="bolotin">{{Cite book |last=Bolotin |first=David N. |title=Istorija sovetskogo strelkovogo oružija i patronov |publisher=Полигон [Polygon] |year=1995 |isbn=5-85503-072-5 |series=Military Historical Library |page=235 |language=ru |script-title=ru:История советского стрелкового оружия и патронов |trans-title=History of Soviet small arms and cartridges}}</ref>

=== Modern ===
It was not until the mid-1940s that the first practical revolver cannon emerged.<ref name="Williams2002">{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Anthony G. |title=Rapid Fire: The Development of Automatic Cannon, Heavy Machine-Guns and Their Ammunition for Armies, Navies and Air Forces |date=31 August 2000 |publisher=Airlife |isbn=978-1-84037-435-3 |location=West Sussex, United Kingdom |page=50 |language=en |oclc=1109578149}}</ref>

The archetypal revolver cannon is the [[Mauser MK 213]] from World War II, from which almost all current weapons are derived. However, various problems, such as only moderate improvements in rate of fire and muzzle velocity, coupled with excessive barrel wear, and the effects of the [[Combined Bomber Offensive|Allied bombing campaign]] against German industry,<ref name=":Hunter Weapons">{{Cite book|title=Volume 2, Part 3, Hunter Weapons, The 30mm ADEN Gun, Rocket Projectiles, Air To Air Missiles, Bombs, etc.|pages=2–6}}</ref> meant that at the end of the war only five prototypes (V1 to V5) of either 20 mm MG 213 or 30 mm MK 213 were finished.<ref name=":Hunter Weapons"/> In the immediate post-war era the unfinished weapon, and the engineers who worked on it, were seized by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] to continue development; Both the British and French worked on the 30&nbsp;mm versions of the MK 213, producing the [[ADEN cannon|ADEN]] and [[DEFA cannon|DEFA]], respectively. Switzerland produced the [[Oerlikon KCA]].  The American [[M39 cannon]] used the 20&nbsp;mm version, re-chambered for a slightly longer 102&nbsp;mm cartridge, intermediate between the MK 213's 82&nbsp;mm and [[Hispano-Suiza HS.404]]'s 110&nbsp;mm case lengths.  Several generations of the basic ADEN/DEFA weapons followed, remaining largely unchanged into the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 January 1955 |title=[untitled] |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1955/1955%20-%200109.PDF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812112345/https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1955/1955%20-%200109.PDF |archive-date=12 August 2019 |archive-format=PDF |access-date=11 February 2018 |page=109 |language=en |format=PDF |via=[[FlightGlobal]]}}</ref>

Around that time, a new generation of weapons developed, based on the proposed [[NATO]] [[25 mm caliber]] standard and the Mauser 27&nbsp;mm round.  A leading example is the [[Mauser BK-27]].  In the 1980s, the French developed the [[GIAT 30]], a newer generation power-driven revolver cannon.  The [[Rheinmetall RMK30]] modifies the GIAT system further, by venting the gas to the rear to eliminate recoil.

Larger experimental weapons have also been developed for anti-aircraft use, like the Anglo-Swiss twin barrel but single chamber 42&nbsp;mm [[Oerlikon RK 421]] given the code name "Red King" and the related single-barrel "Red Queen" - all of which were cancelled during development.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Anthony G. |title=The Red Queen and the Vigilante |url=http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/RED%20QUEEN.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520121735/http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/RED%20QUEEN.htm |archive-date=20 May 2011 |access-date=28 May 2022 |website=www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/}}</ref>  The largest to see service is the [[Oerlikon Millennium 35 mm Naval Revolver Gun System|Rheinmetall Millennium 35 mm Naval Gun System]].

Soviet revolver cannon are less common than Western ones, especially on aircraft. A mechanism for a Soviet revolver-based machine gun was patented in 1944.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pulemet s barabannym kamernym pitaniem A.I. Konovalova. 1944 g. |script-title=ru:Пулемет с барабанным камерным питанием А.И. Коновалова. 1944 г. |trans-title=Machine gun with drum chamber feed A.I. Konovalov. 1944 |url=http://rusarchives.ru/victory65/pages/04_14_1.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828131643/http://www.rusarchives.ru/victory65/pages/04_14_1.htm |archive-date=28 August 2012 |access-date=26 July 2013 |publisher=[[Federal Archival Agency (Russia)|Federal Archival Agency]] |location=Moscow, Russia |language=ru}}</ref> The virtually unknown [[Rikhter R-23]] was fitted only to some [[Tu-22]] models, but later abandoned in favor of the two-barrel, [[Gast gun]] [[Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23]] in the [[Tu-22M]]. The Rikhter R-23 does have the distinction of being fired from the space station [[Salyut 3]]. The Soviet navy has also adopted a revolver design, the NN-30, typically in a dual mount in the [[AK-230]] turret.

== Characteristics ==
With a single barrel mated to a cylinder with multiple chambers, this type of [[autocannon]] uses the revolver principle to accelerate the cycle of loading, firing and ejecting multiple rounds of ammunition, achieving a very high rate of fire compared to conventional cannon of the same calibre.

=== Compared to rotary autocannon ===
Automatic revolver cannons generally have a lower maximum sustained rate of fire than that of [[rotary cannon]]s<ref name="Carel, Vulcan and M-39">{{Cite book |last=Carel |first=Maj. Dennis C. |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a179871.pdf |title=Student Report: The History of the Aerial Gatling Gun |date=7 May 1987 |publisher=US Air Command and Staff College |pages=14–16 |language=en |format=PDF |id=87-0415 |access-date=28 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190512222703/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a179871.pdf |archive-format=PDF |archive-date=12 May 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> because their barrel suffers from much higher heating loads, as it alone must fire every round. Rotary autocannons are capable of a rate of fire of up to 10,000 rounds per minute (such as the [[Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-23]]), while revolver cannons are capable of a rate of fire of up to 2,500 rounds per minute (such as the [[GIAT 30]]). However, revolver cannons are generally able to be made much lighter than rotary autocannons, requiring less support and mounting hardware—rotary autocannons spin the whole multiple barrel and breech assembly, which, in equal caliber versions, can weigh hundreds of kilograms more in comparison (though the weight per rounds fired per minute is lower for the rotary).<ref name="Carel, Vulcan and M-39" /> The firing rate of a rotary autocannon is directly related to the rotational speed of the barrel cluster. The need to accelerate this cluster generally requiring a large, external power supply means that the maximum attainable rate of fire is not immediately available. In addition, rotaries suffer from lower accuracy, due to dispersion caused by multiple barrels rotating at a varying speed. As a result of their design, revolver cannons do not suffer from these issues.

== Examples ==
[[File:Rheinmetall RMK30.jpg|thumb|Rheinmetall RMK30 (TechDemo 2008 exhibition)]]
* [[ADEN cannon]]
* [[DEFA cannon]]
* [[GIAT 30]]
* [[M39 cannon]]
* [[Mauser BK-27]]
* [[Mauser MK 213]]
* [[Oerlikon KCA]]
* [[Rheinmetall Oerlikon Millennium Gun]]
* [[Rheinmetall RMK30]]
* [[Rikhter R-23]]

== See also ==
* [[Nächstbereichschutzsystem MANTIS|MANTIS]]
* [[ShVAK cannon]]
* [[ShKAS machine gun]]
* [[Skyshield]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=
}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.canit.se/~griffon/aviation/text/akandata.htm List of Military Gatling & Revolver cannon]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Revolver Cannon}}
[[Category:Autocannon]]
[[Category:Firearm actions]]