The ultimate boy’s toy?

And it’s on sale, no less – for a mere $44,499.99!  (A tip o’ the hat to reader Jim H. for sending me the link.)

Colt Bulldog Gatling Gun Features:

  • Museum Quality
  • Fully Operational
  • Built To Original Size
  • 45-70 Government Caliber
  • Fires Up To 800 Rounds Per Minute
  • Five Fully Brass Encased Direct Drive Barrels
  • Beautiful Brass and Iron Tripod
  • Walnut Stained Hard Wood Tripod Legs
  • V-Notch Rear Sight, Graduated To 1,000 Yards
  • Includes Deluxe Transit Chests, Tools and Accessories
  • Limited One Year Warranty On All Parts and Labor
  • Made In The U.S.A.

If you want to buy the gun nut in your life something special, there’s only one available.  However, keeping it fed might be even more expensive than buying it . . . the cheapest .45-70 ammunition I’ve been able to find costs $1.35 per round!  At its claimed maximum firing rate of 800 rounds per minute, that’s putting over a thousand dollars downrange every sixty seconds!

Peter

18 comments

  1. There are usually one or two of these next to the gun show at Knob Creek during the machine gun shoot. They're pretty, shiny, and have a big "NO TOUCHEE!" sign hanging next to them.

  2. No problem, reloading would lower the price and your arms would be aching from operating the reloading press so you wouldn't be able to crank it fast.

    Al_in_Ottawa

  3. I've seen a couple of them for sale recently; I guess the downturn is more pronounced in that price range!
    The last one I saw, in March, was asking $36,000.

  4. Not full auto if you don't mount an electric motor, so no Fed. Tax Stamp needed. Like most "out there" items, if ya gotta.ask, you can't afford it…..

  5. As to Mark Matis's question, surprisingly no. Technically the Gatling is not an automatic weapon as the crank must be turned a certain amount for each shot. Now hook that crank up to an electric motor on a switch and presto chango you turn it into an NFA category firearm.

  6. It's not a "can't afford it" issue, JohninMd.(HELP?!??). It is instead a desire to not give them access to "inspect" the weapon at their convenience.

    Of course, with a stamp not required, it might be more practical to build one of your own at a lower cost.

  7. I want me a Browning potato digger. One of the Rough Riders got one as a gift from his big sister before he deployed. Katherine gave me a cooler full of girl scout cookies.

  8. Think of the cloud of smoke you could lay down with 45-70 loaded with black powder as it originally was.

  9. I got to try one of those during the range day at the SHOT show a few years ago — yes, in .45-70. Interesting experience. Had it not been for the battery of Gatling guns, there likely would have been so successful assault on San Juan Hill in 1898, no Theodore Roosevelt as war hero, etc. etc.

  10. Many moons ago, I recall seeing an article about a miniature reproduction Gatling Gun in .22 short. Not the 10/22 dual barrel "Gatling gun" I just dug up with Google search, but a scale model of the real thing. Might have been the RG-G version or an ancestor thereof. Worked just like it's bigger brother in .45/70 and looked like it too, but was – comparatively – affordable to feed.

    I wanted one in the worst way. But the reported cost was several thousand dollars even then (late 70s or early 80s) and well beyond my impoverished college student or impoverished newlywed means.

    I still want one. Even though I have no place to fire it close by, and am unlikely to live anywhere firearms-friendly until I reach retirement, I Want One.

  11. My Ingram M11A1 SMG costs ~$10 per *second* with the happy switch flipped to "FULL."

    Peanuts compared to the guy at Knob Creek with the Minigun, the Gatling's electric-powered successor. That thing was awesome. I didn't even know what it was when I heard it run the first few times. It sounds more like God's Own Outboard Motor than a machine gun.

    At 3000 rounds per minute, $5 per round, you're definitely making a "conspicuous consumption" statement.

    Then there's the ultimate Gatling, the GAU-8. The gun so awesome, they put wings and jet engines on it so the gunner can fly it like an airplane. It runs at 3,900 rounds per minute, at only $65 per round…

  12. Thanks for the link, Peter – that does appear to be the one, or very similar.

    I wonder how my wife will react when I show her what I'd like for Christmas . . .

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