Soviet 7.62mm experimental revolver machine gun TKB-18, made ca 1937 in Tula

Was that the prototype for the ShKAS 7.62 mm used by the Soviets in World War II?

http://ram-home.com/ram-old/mgun-shkas.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShKAS_machine_gun

No, the TKB-18 was a parallel and independent project to achieve an even higher ROF

Does the cylinder of this revolver cannon stop and lock up when firing each round?  Do modern revolver cannons work the same, or do some designs pause the cylinder for each shot and others keep the cylinder spinning?

Thanks

yes, i believe in most revolver systems cylinder has to stop to ensure proper alignment with the barrel

Only the Gatling guns can fire during continuous rotation, I think

Thanks.  I figured that early revolver cannons would stop the cylinders but wondered if improvements in ammo components, especially primers, had allowed sufficiently accurate ignition timing to keep the cylinder spinning.   As the size of the cylinders increase, the forces needed to stop and start their spin would get pretty large.   Is the barrel assembly held essentially rigid, or does it rotate over a relatively small arc each time the cylinder is locked up and then return to its original position?

anybody know the ROF?

mpopenker said...

yes, i believe in most revolver systems cylinder has to stop to ensure proper alignment with the barrel

Only the Gatling guns can fire during continuous rotation, I think

That is not correct, at least for the Rheinmetall 35 mm KDG.  This weapon can fire up to 1,000 RPM.  At that speed, it would be impossible to start and stop 1,000 times a minute.  Instead, what the designers did is have a wider barrel section between the revolver and the start of the rifling which accommodates the projectile's sideways travel as it exits the revolver and enters the rifling of the barrel.  The timing of the firing is such that the projectile is nearly centered in the bore as it enters the rifling.

You can see this wider section in this illustration which shows the firing sequence.

TonyDiG said...

At that speed, it would be impossible to start and stop 1,000 times a minute.

Perhaps more difficult for the size of the 35mm rounds, but there are a number of single barrel, single breech, weapons with higher rates of fire than that.

There are also faster firing revolver cannon. Most of them, in fact.

If I remember correctly Oerlikon had to tailor the cartridge case and crimping of the KBB round to withstand the "rock crusher" forces of chambering the round at high rates of fire. Some of that knowhow went into design of the 35mm case and crimp.