Hotchkiss gun
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The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 1800s. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch (42 mm) light mountain gun; there was also a 3-inch (76 mm) Hotchkiss gun. They were intended to be mounted on a light carriage or packed on mules to accompany a troop of cavalry or an army travelling in rough country.
The 1.65 inch gun and accessories could be packed on two mules. The gun was introduced as a modern replacement for the aging twelve pound mountain Howitzer. The first gun purchased by the U.S. military from the French arms firm of Hotchkiss was employed against the Nez Percés in 1877. Over the next twenty years the U.S would purchase fifty more. They were used in Cuba for the attack on San Juan Hill and in the Philippine-American War. It was also used at the Wounded Knee Massacre.
picture published 1874
The term "Hotchkiss gun" also refers to the Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon, a revolving barrel machine gun invented in 1872 by Benjamin B. Hotchkiss (1826-1885), founder of Hotchkiss et Cie. It was a built-up, rifled, rapid-fire gun of oil-tempered steel, having a rectangular breechblock which moved in a mortise cut completely through the jacket. It was designed to be light enough to travel with cavalry, and had an effective range beyond that of rifled small-arms.
The revolving Hotchkiss cannon had five 37-mm barrels, and was capable of firing 43 rounds per minute with an accuracy range of 2,000 yards (±1,800 meters, or a little over 1 mile). Each feed magazine held 10 rounds and weighed approximately 18 pounds (8 kg). The cannon was accompanied by a horse-drawn ammunition limber, which held 110 rounds plus six loaded magazines, totaling 170 rounds. [1]
