An Extremely Rare 1871 Gatling Gun – The Rarest Gatling Gun in Existence !

Made in England by the Armstrong Company, Licensed by Colt Includes two very rare ‘Broadwell Drum’ magazines This is the very 1st Production Gatling Gun

Sir William Armstrong had produced weapons for both the North and the South in the United States Civil War, a real entrepreneur and opportunist. After the War his ambitions met up perfectly with those of Richard Gatling whose rapid fire ‘Gatling Gun’ had seen limited service in the Civil War; only 6 Gatling Guns were made and issued to the US Navy during the last battles of the Civil War in 1865; Gatling was looking for a new market. Gatling has just sold the rights to the famed Colt Patent Arms of the United States and the Gatling gun was being marketed to warring countries all over the world including Great Britain who was embroiled in colonial wars and tribal conflicts around their crumbling empire.

But it was this first version of the Gatling gun made outside of America that really caused the Gatling gun to take off as an implement of war. With the advent of Sir William Armstrong setting up his operations in 1871 and with the securing of Lewis Broadwell’s innovative revolving cartridge drum, the Gatling gun only came into its own with this 1871 first production model. An extremely rare survivor with only 3 known to exist and this is the only one in existence in private hands, it was bought from a collector in Kansas who placed an AD in the 1974 issue of Gun Report it has not been offered or on the market since then over 40 years ago.