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A breech-loading swivel gun was a particular type of swivel gun and a small breech-loading cannon invented in the 14th century. It was equipped with a swivel for easy rotation and was loaded by inserting a mug-shaped device called a chamber, pre-filled with gunpowder and projectiles. It had a high rate of fire, as several chambers could be prepared in advance and quickly fired in succession and was especially effective in anti-personnel roles. It was used for centuries by many countries of Europe, Asia and Africa. ==Characteristics== Although breech-loading is often considered as a modern innovation which facilitated the loading of cannons,〔Turnbull, p. 105〕 breech-loading swivel guns were invented in the 14th century,〔(''Samurai - The World of the Warrior'' Stephen Turnbull p. 105 )〕 and used worldwide from the 16th century onward by numerous countries, many of them non-European. They have been called by many names, sometimes "Murderer" in English, "Perrier à boîte" in French, "Berços" in Portuguese, "Versos" in Spanish,〔''Spanish Galleon 1530-1690 by Angus Konstam p.15 ()〕 "Stangenbüchse" in German, "Folangji" ("佛朗机炮/佛朗機砲, Frankish gun") in Chinese, "Bulang-kipo" ("불랑기포()") in Korean,〔:ko:불랑기포〕 and "Furanki" (仏郎機砲, "Frankish gun") or 子砲 ("Child cannon") in Japanese.〔(''Samurai - The World of the Warrior'' Stephen Turnbull p. 106 )〕〔Musée de l'Armée, Paris.〕 Some of them were used until the 20th century.〔Musée de l'Armée, Paris.〕 Breech-loading swivel guns were developed surprisingly early, and were used from 1370 onward.〔(''Samurai - The World of the Warrior'' Stephen Turnbull p. 105 )〕 The guns were loaded with mug-shaped chambers, in which gunpowder and projectile had been filled in advance. The chamber was then put in place, blocked with a wedge, and then fired. As the loading was made in advance and separately, breech-loading swivel guns were quick-firing guns for their time.〔Perrin, p. 29〕 An early description of a breech-loading swivel gun puts the weight of the gun at 118 kg, equipped with three chambers for rotations, each 18 kg in weight, and firing a 280 g lead shot.〔Turnbull p. 106〕 The guns had a disadvantage: they leaked and lost power around the chambers, but this was compensated by the high rate of fire as multiple chambers could be prepared in advance.〔Turnbull p. 105-106〕 Breech-loading swivel gun could fire either cannonballs against obstacles, or grapeshot against troops.〔''Firearms: a global history to 1700'' by Kenneth Warren Chase p.143 ()〕 During the Middle-Ages, breech-loading swivel guns were developed by the Europeans also partly as a cheaper alternative to the very expensive bronze cast muzzle-loading cannons, as bronze was many times more expensive than iron. As cast iron was not yet technologically feasible for the Europeans, the only possibility was to use wrought iron bars hammered together and held with hoops like barrels. With this method, a one piece design was very difficult, and a fragmental structure, with separated chamber and barrel was then selected.〔''Firearms: a global history to 1700'' by Kenneth Warren Chase p.143 ()〕〔''Tudor Warships (1): Henry VIII's Navy'' Angus Konstam p.34 ()〕 Around 1500, Europeans learnt how to cast iron, and shifted their cannon productions to one-piece iron muzzle-loaders. China started to adopt European breech-loading swivel guns from 1500 onward, limiting at the same time the production of their own muzzle-loaders, because of the high effectiveness of the breech-loading swivel gun as an anti-personnel gun, which to them was more interesting than the sheer power of a cannonball.〔''Firearms: a global history to 1700'' by Kenneth Warren Chase p.143 ()〕 Usage of the breech-loading swivel gun continued in Europe however, with, as early as the 17th century, characteristics very similar to the modern machine-gun or mitrailleuse.〔HISTORY AND DESCRIPTIVE GUIDE OF THE U.S. NAVY YARD, WASHINGTON COMPILED BY F. E. Farnham and J. Mundell. WASHINGTON, D.C.: GIBSON BROS, PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS. 1894 p.19 ()〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Breech-loading swivel gun」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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