- Bira gun
Infobox Weapon
name=Bira gun
caption=
origin=flagcountry|Nepal
type= Machine gun
is_ranged=YES
service=Royal Nepalese Army
used_by=
wars=
designer=Gehendra Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana
design_date=
manufacturer=
unit_cost=
production_date=1896-1897
number=
variants=
spec_label=
weight=
length=
part_length=
width=
height=
diameter=
crew=
cartridge=.577/450 Martini-Henry
caliber=.577/450
barrels=2
action=Reverse Gardner Action
rate=
velocity=
range=
max_range=
feed=
sights= The Bira gun was a.577/450 Martini-Henry calibremachine gun designed and manufactured inNepal during the latter part of the 19th Century. It was a development of, and based upon, the AmericanGardner gun , it was double barreled, but fed through an overhead drum magazine similar to the laterLewis gun . The Bira gun was never deployed operationally.Invented by Nepalese General Gehendra Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana (1871-1905) and similar in some respects to the American Gardner (especially in the reciprocating bolts), the internal mechanism of the Bira Gun is actually quite different in a number of ways, especially as it is hand-crank fired- but the handle is rotated anti-clockwise, as this was found more reliable than the usual clockwise rotation of most other mechanical guns such as the
Gatling gun andNordenfeldt gun . Bira Guns were manufactured in 1896-97 and are literally hand-made, with few parts from one interchangeable with those on another. They were apparently never used in battle but are interesting artifacts, in that they were built at a time when fully-automatic machine guns, such as the Maxim, had been developed and were becoming increasingly common.Image Gallery
* http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/4531/bira1oe4.jpg
* http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/8305/bira2ri0.jpg
* http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3667/bira3em0.jpg
* http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/8553/bira4jt2.jpg
* http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/1459/bira5mj2.jpg
* http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/2779/bira6dr9.jpg
* http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9378/bira7no4.jpgExternal links
* http://www.nrapublications.org/tar/Nepal.asp
* http://www.cannonsuperstore.com/New_Folder9/DSC001071.jpg
* http://www.ima-usa.com/product_info.php/products_id/1853ee also
*
Nordenfelt gun
*Gardner gun
*Gatling gun
*Gast gun
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