Gatling-Style Machineguns

The oldest machineguns operate by spinning a crankshaft, which will fire each barrel in sequence.

• Hand Crank Frank

Mag-Fed Machineguns

These very bulky “light” machineguns were early attempts at creating a more portable weapon compared to the Maxim gun.

• Hotchkiss 1909
• Madsen 1902

Belt-Fed Machineguns

The earliest and most famous Machinegun of this era was the Maxim gun, which was a water-cooled, recoil-operated belt-fed machinegun. Prior to WWI, the only major rival was Browning’s “Potato Digger,” which instead used a gas-operated lever action system.

• M1895 Potato Digger