Nordenfelt gun

This article is about the rifle-caliber "machine gun". For the anti-torpedo boat gun, see 1-inch Nordenfelt gun. For the naval gun, see QF 6 pounder Nordenfelt.
Nordenfelt gun
Nordenfelt 10 barrel rifle-calibre machine gun (with ammunition feed slots removed). Musée de l'Armée, Paris.
TypeOrgan gun
Place of originUnited Kingdom
Production history
DesignerHelge Palmcrantz
Designed1873
Thorsten Nordenfelt
Sailor operating 10-barrel rifle calibre gun, with right hand on lever
Royal Marines with a Nordenfelt 5-barrel rifle calibre gun, 1890.

The Nordenfelt gun was a multiple-barrel organ gun that had a row of up to twelve barrels. It was fired by pulling a lever back and forth and ammunition was gravity fed through chutes for each barrel. It was produced in a number of different calibres up to 25 mm (0.98 in). Larger calibres were also used, but for these calibres the design simply permitted rapid manual loading rather than true automatic fire. This article covers the anti-personnel rifle-calibre (typically 0.45 in (11 mm)) gun.